1st Report – Service Accommodation

There have understandably been serious concerns about the Defence Infrastructure Organisation’s contract oversight of the implementation of the FDIS contracts for the maintenance and repair of Service Family Accommodation. DIO is accountable for the fact that there was no contractual relationship between the suppliers and no lead prime to take overall responsibility: this contributed substantially to the problems with the rollout of the new accommodation service. (Conclusion, Paragraph 35)

The DIO must prove it has learned lessons from the failures in the delivery of these contracts. (Recommendation, Paragraph 36)

The DIO and its contractors should outline the assurance processes they have in place to ensure maintenance and repairs meet the needs of service families. The DIO should also review the performance measures in the RAMS and NAMS contracts to assess how they could more effectively take account of service families’ satisfaction. (Recommendation, Paragraph 44)

The MOD’s claims of a recovery in performance need to be borne out in a demonstrable improvement in the customer experience and markedly increased customer satisfaction. Service families’ trust has been affected and the DIO and service providers need to demonstrate a genuine “family first” approach to earn that trust back. (Conclusion, Paragraph 45) 41

There needs to be better communication with service families about maintenance work. Part of the solution lies in the introduction of the promised Home Hub portal, to give families access to information about maintenance work and the ability to book their own appointments online. (Conclusion, Paragraph 52)

The DIO must prioritise the development of the Home Hub portal and roll this out to families as soon as possible. (Recommendation, Paragraph 53)

If the housing officer role is to continue being undertaken by Pinnacle, then Pinnacle’s representatives must be more effective at resolving outstanding issues and complaints, working collaboratively with their contract partners. (Conclusion, Paragraph 59)

We understand that MOD were conducting a review of the complaints policy and process, and of the quality of contractors’ responses to complaints to improve the customer experience. We trust that work on this review is now complete and ask the Government to summarise its findings and outcomes in their response to this Report. (Recommendation, Paragraph 60)

The process for allocating housing is a source of great frustration to many service families due to the limited choice of properties and very little information available about them prior to moving in. (Conclusion, Paragraph 63)

The Government should ensure that there are good quality photos and floorplans accessible to service families for every available SFA property, as promised. (Recommendation, Paragraph 64)

The MOD has highlighted the preparation of homes for move-in as an area in which VIVO and Amey need to show improvement to meet their contractual Acceptable Level of Performance (ALP) requirements. (Conclusion, Paragraph 66)

The DIO should clarify what improvements have been and are being made to the move-in process, to guarantee homes consistently meet an acceptable standard of decoration, maintenance and cleanliness in good time. (Recommendation, Paragraph 67)

The MOD successfully delivered in winter 2023–24 on its preparedness planning and carried out the remediation work that it promised. However, this was only achieved through additional resources. Service families need reassurance that DIO and its contractors can continue to provide the same level of service in the future, when substantial emergency uplifts to funding may not be available. (Conclusion, Paragraph 70) 42

It is shocking that, until a policy change in 2022, it was considered acceptable to house families in properties known to have damp and mould. However, issues with damp and mould still exist. (Conclusion, Paragraph 73)

The DIO must resolve outstanding problems with damp and mould across the estate. In its response to this report, the Government should detail the ongoing work to eliminate damp and mould in SFA, including a timeline for remediation of the Estate as a whole. Detailed statistics should be published by June 2025 on the number of properties affected by damp and mould across the whole of the Defence Estate, and its severity, and these should be updated and published annually thereafter. (Recommendation, Paragraph 74)

In a situation in which the contractor has no way of gaining entry to service accommodation without the occupier’s consent to carry out safety checks, and no option to cut supply, a very small number of properties are likely to have overdue gas safety certificates. However, the situation in 2023 with overdue certificates had clearly got out of control. The DIO must put in place measures to ensure that a similar situation cannot happen again. (Recommendation, Paragraph 80)

We welcome the offer from DIO to share its key lessons learned on gas and electrical safety inspections. (Recommendation, Paragraph 82)

While we welcome the MOD’s work in parallel with DLUHC to develop a new Enhanced Target Standard (ETS) for SFA, the MOD needs to review not only the standards it uses to assess the adequacy of accommodation, but also critically the assessment process itself. It needs to have justified confidence in both. (Recommendation, Paragraph 87) Single Living Accommodation (SLA)

Single Living Accommodation (SLA) does not always meet the needs and expectations of today’s recruits, and this is having an adverse effect on recruitment and retention. (Conclusion, Paragraph 102)

We support plans to create much needed new-build SLA, using modular construction techniques. (Conclusion, Paragraph 109)

We recommend that the Government provide an update on the funding and completion status of new-build SLA projects in their response to this Report. (Recommendation, Paragraph 110) 43

The introduction of a new Defence Minimum Standard (DMS) for SLA is a long-awaited and very welcome step forward, if it ensures that personnel are no longer living in unacceptable conditions and does not simply result in sub-standard accommodation being recognised but not rectified. (Conclusion, Paragraph 114)

The Government should provide us with an update following the implementation of the new DMS, clarifying how they are measuring improvements to the condition of SLA and to what extent the new standards are making a difference to morale and meeting their expectations. (Recommendation, Paragraph 115) Allocation of Housing

The MoD’s communication of its new accommodation offer for SFA was inadequate for those adversely affected by the policy change, including those with rank-based benefits, to understand and respond to its impact on them. (Conclusion, Paragraph 133)

We support the MOD’s decision to pause and conduct a review of the accommodation offer for SFA because of concerns around retention of personnel. However, we recognise that this decision has caused potential disappointment for the 45,000 personnel in long-term relationships and/ or with non-resident children, who might have hoped to become entitled to SFA in March 2024, and personnel who had expected to benefit from the new needs-based allocation. (Conclusion, Paragraph 134)

The Government should provide an update to us, and more importantly to Service personnel, on its approach to allocation of SFA, with timescales and metrics for implementation. This should take into account the different needs of the three Services and include a full impact assessment of any potential revisions to the accommodation policy for SFA. (Recommendation, Paragraph 135)

By mishandling the implementation of the Modernised Accommodation Offer (MAO), the MOD has created a situation in which groups of service personnel are now more likely to feel aggrieved, whatever form the scheme takes. With a limited supply of housing, some personnel will inevitably lose out. It is vital that the Government manages the morale and retention consequences. (Conclusion, Paragraph 136)

The former Minister of State said that the Secretary of State would report the findings from the review in the Summer; however, following the change in Government, there has as of 3 December 2024 been no announcement of a new accommodation offer for service families. (Conclusion, Paragraph 137) 44

The MOD has acknowledged that current levels of funding are insufficient to bring all service accommodation up to decent, modern standards and that “it is investment that ultimately will lead to the change.” In the current economic climate, and with so many competing pressures on public funds, we are not confident that the sustained investment required will be forthcoming in future Defence budgets. Both the MOD and the Treasury must make substantial and ongoing funding commitments to improve the Defence estate before it deteriorates beyond repair—and before greater numbers of personnel decide to leave the military because of poor accommodation. (Conclusion, Paragraph 142) 45