Military families ‘struggling' with their homes during VE Day celebrations
Military families were 'struggling' with the state of their housing as Downing Street held a VE Day anniversary street party, an MP has said.
Liberal Democrat defence spokeswoman Helen Maguire described a 'scandal' in service family accommodation (SFA) and urged ministers to take 'concrete action to fix' homes.
The Government logged 442 urgent repair requests for SFA in the week which began on May 5, the early May bank holiday when Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hosted a Downing Street party and the Red Arrows flew over London's Buckingham Palace to mark the 80th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day.
Responding to a written question which Ms Maguire tabled this month, the Ministry of Defence revealed 64,258 urgent repairs for SFA had been made between January 2024 and April this year.
Call-outs peaked in January 2024, with 5,921 urgent repairs for SFA, and 5,546 during the same month in 2025.
'For so many military families to be struggling over the 80th anniversary of VE Day – a week when they should have been able to celebrate and feel recognised by the nation for their service – is a scandal,' Ms Maguire told the PA news agency.
'This Government is more than happy to publicly celebrate our service personnel and veterans with a Downing Street party, but won't take concrete action to fix their homes.
'That's the ultimate hypocrisy.
'It's shocking that almost two-thirds of service personnel are still dissatisfied with the standard of maintenance for their housing.'
The Government has unveiled plans to extend a 'decent homes standard' – the 'minimum standard' which social housing should meet – into the private rented sector.
Lib Dem, Green Party and independent MPs and peers have called for the change to go further, to cover SFA.
Ms Maguire, a former Royal Military Police captain, said: 'We desperately need to bring military housing up to the decent homes standard.'
The Renters' Rights Bill faces further scrutiny in the House of Lords before it can become law.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: 'We're determined to deliver homes fit for our heroes and, for too long, military families have endured substandard housing. This Government is determined to fix that.
'Our deal to bring military homes back into public ownership is saving £600,000 of taxpayers' money each day, allowing us to start to fix deep-set problems in housing and support the development of high-quality new homes.
'Last month, the Defence Secretary announced a new consumer charter to drive up the standards of forces housing, and the forthcoming defence housing strategy will set out further plans to deliver a generational renewal of service family homes across the country.'
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