‘Dire' military homes to get £7bn refurb to attract more families
The Defence Secretary has vowed to fix the 'dire' state of military homes as part of a £7 billion accommodation reboot to attract more people to join the military.
Under the new scheme, thousands of Armed Forces personnel and their families will benefit from more than £1.5 billion of additional funding to improve military accommodation.
The latest funding for accommodation means more than £7 billion will be spent by Labour on service family accommodation and new build single living accommodation.
It comes amid a recruitment and retention crisis engulfing the military, with just 72,510 full-time troops in the Army, its smallest size since the Napoleonic era.
John Healey said the move, which has been announced ahead of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday, would 'renew the nation's contract' for those who serve their country.
He said: 'Our Armed Forces personnel make extraordinary sacrifices to serve our country.
'For too long, many military families have lived in sub-standard homes, but this Government is taking decisive action to fix the dire state of military accommodation and ensure that our heroes and their loved ones live in the homes they deserve.
'We are investing and acting fast to fix forces housing and renew the nation's contract with those who serve and deliver on our Plan for Change.'
Review to transform defence
Through the upcoming SDR, more than £1.5 billion of new investment will be put into tackling the poor state of military housing.
The report will say the Ministry of Defence (MoD) should improve the overall standard of military accommodation, including prioritising sites that are in most urgent need of repair.
The SDR was launched last year to show how Labour should transform defence over the next decade, with a focus on cyber, space and the future technology that will be needed to fight new wars.
The MoD hopes the latest investment in housing, which will increase from this year, will help to support recruitment, retention and morale.
Recent figures showed that in six years, military families lodged almost 53,000 complaints about their housing.
The worst year was 2022, when 11,593 families complained about the standard of their housing.
In 2023, a report into military housing by the Kerslake Commission found that Armed Forces families were living in damp, mouldy homes with faulty boilers and pests.
Urgent repairs
The new investment in service family housing will include urgent repairs and maintenance, from fixing unreliable boilers and leaky roofs to sorting damp and mould, alongside the development of new forces housing.
This will be guided by the forthcoming defence housing strategy, which has already seen the announcement of a new consumer charter to strengthen housing standards for military families.
The delivery of the Government's new consumer charter will see immediate investment in urgent renovation of 1,000 homes most in need of repair.
The charter will also see basic consumer rights rapidly introduced for military families, including essential property information and higher move-in standards, more reliable repairs, a named housing officer for every family, and access to a robust complaints system.
It comes after the Government's deal earlier this year to bring back 36,000 military homes into public ownership, as part of the Prime Minister's pledge to deliver homes fit for heroes.
Spending commitment
Defence spending at 3 per cent of GDP by 2034 is a firm commitment, Mr Healey has said.
The Government has previously set out its 'ambition to reach 3 per cent in the next parliament', after meeting its pledge to ratchet up defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by April 2027.
But the Defence Secretary has promised a 'certain decade of rising defence spending', according to The Times, and said there was 'no doubt' the UK would meet its target.
Mr Healey told the newspaper: 'It allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.'
The Government is looking at the roles, capabilities and reforms required by the Armed Forces as part of its SDR.
It will explore 'deliverable and affordable' solutions 'within the resources available to defence within the trajectory of 2.5 per cent'.
When Sir Keir Starmer announced the targets earlier this year he said: 'In an ever more dangerous world, increasing the resilience of our country so we can protect the British people, resist future shocks and bolster British interests, is vital.'
The new defence money will be found by reducing UK overseas aid from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of gross national income, according to the Government.
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