The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
MoD ‘betraying’ Army families with housing provision changes
THE Ministry of Defence has been accused of an “utter betrayal” over a military accommodation plan that will no longer allocate houses based on rank.
A group of Army wives has launched a campaign calling on the Government to rethink a housing policy that will mean many families are moved into smaller living quarters.
Servicemen and women are, along with their families, provided with accommodation on or near military bases. Staff have historically been rewarded with larger homes as they progress through the ranks. However, from next month, the rules will change across the Army, Navy and RAF so that for the first time houses are allocated on the basis of how many children a serviceman or woman has, not their rank.
The policy, called the Modern Accommodation Offer (MAO), means officers risk having their living space reduced, with the biggest loss incurred by those with smaller families. The move has brought outrage from the families of officers who can be forced to move around the country every two or three years and often have little to no choice over where they live.
Rosie Bucknall, the wife of an Army captain, told the defence select committee
‘The offer, as those serving call it, has been persistently degraded over recent decades’
in written evidence that the “social contract” that exists between the military and its personnel will be “eroded” if the plans go ahead.
She said: “The offer, as those serving call it, has been persistently degraded over recent decades, and now they are dismantling our access to decent housing. For officers and their family members, who have made personal and financial sacrifices for 10 or 20 years, this is utter betrayal.”
Mrs Bucknall waived her right to anonymity when giving evidence to the committee to express her concerns but many spouses have refused to speak publicly, fearing the impact on their partner’s career. A petition set up by the Army wives urging a “review” of the policy has received 16,000 signatures.
The petition warns: “If the policy is implemented as it currently stands, we believe that Armed Forces retention rates are likely to fall to even lower levels than those at present.”
The military is suffering a huge recruitment and retention problem, with the number of people leaving the Armed Forces having jumped by almost a fifth at the end of last year.
An MoD spokesman said: “We will of course look into any individual case raised with us to ensure we are meeting our aim to provide the best possible accommodation to our personnel”.
The lives of military families are being torn up by new conditions in the name of ‘fairness’
ARMY wives are not among life’s complainers, which is just as well because there’s rather a lot to complain about if you ask me.
Most women wouldn’t put up with it for a minute. Packing up and unpacking a home every two to three years, moving to isolated parts of the country to live on a “patch” with other officers’ families, functioning for months at a time as a single parent while your husband is in some dodgy part of the world, the crazy, anti-social hours when he is at home, and all the while trying to piece together some sort of employment for yourself which invariably offers a fraction of the salary and opportunities you enjoyed before marrying into the military. Oh, and then there are the crummy places they give you to live in.
“Mould and magnolia,” are the two M’s invariably used to describe the quarters the UK provides for its military. “There’s mould and magnolia paint everywhere,” reports Suzanna, a former City high-flyer who jokes that she had the bad luck to fall in love with a captain when she could have married a perfectly good chartered accountant. The ceiling above Suzanna’s head when we spoke yesterday was “crawling with damp”, there was a Fifties washbasin in every bedroom and the kitchen had not been updated for 40 years. “Something goes wrong in the house on a weekly basis, but we just deal with it and crack on,” she says with the amused stoicism typical of her breed.
That lovely, cheery fortitude, a quality as unfashionable today as loyalty or common sense, can no longer be taken for granted. Look out, Ministry of Defence bureaucrats; Army wives are on the warpath!
I must admit I was taken aback when a flood of furious, often anguished, emails landed in my inbox from the spouses of lieutenants, colonels, captains and majors, all up in arms about a policy which threatens their homes and their happiness. Such stability as officers’ families have always enjoyed, getting a bigger if not better house as they move up the ranks, is about to be snatched away by something called the New Accommodation Offer (NAO). The MoD is trying to sell it as a policy “fairer” for all that will ensure that everyone’s “lived experience” (a ghastly, tautologous term rightly loathed by the Army wife) will be improved.
If you hack through the forest of official acronyms, what is revealed is a crude cost-cutting measure that tries to cover up the fact that there is no longer enough military housing because vast swathes of the defence estate have been sold off or requisitioned for other purposes, including the controversial housing of Afghan families and asylum seekers on two former RAF bases.
Under the new plan, allocation of housing will be done according to the number of children service personnel can (or cannot) have. Ordinary soldiers, who often marry and start their families younger, and who don’t need to move around the country as their superiors in the hierarchy do, will likely bag the better premises (even if they can’t afford the higher rent and will get into debt; already a big problem in the Forces). Any benefit that officers got previously for the level of increased responsibility, pressure and risk will be at an end.
“There is not a single organisation in the civilian employment market where your overall benefit package is not increased as you become more senior,” says Rosie Bucknall, the only Army wife who dared to waive her anonymity (such is the threat to their husbands’ careers). In a brilliant submission to the Defence Select Committee, Rosie, a programme manager currently leading two strategic projects for the Care Quality Commission, pointed out that “the only part of society in which benefits are increased in line with the number of children you have is within our welfare system which really says it all. This is not ‘equality’ (as the MoD claims), it is ‘equity’, and not something you would expect a Conservative government especially to be enforcing in our country.”
If the plan is not scuppered, this is what will happen: any married captain with fewer than two children will lose out; any married major with fewer than three children will lose out; any married lieutenant-colonel with fewer than four children will lose out.
Disgracefully, a major and his wife in their early fifties, whose young adult children have recently left home, could, from next month, theoretically be bumped to a two-bedroom flat while an Afghan family with multiple kids is moved into their home. I am told that at least 20 larger properties on one patch near Salisbury Plain, comprised of about 130 houses, are occupied by Afghan families who have come to the UK on the Arap (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme for people who worked for the British government in Afghanistan). It is a “temporary measure”, according to the MoD, which claims that only vacant properties have been used for that purpose. But the situation is causing considerable disquiet, not least because the Afghans, unlike UK personnel, aren’t paying rent at a time when officers’ families are likely to be kicked out of larger homes and driven into the unaffordable private sector.
Sara, facing a downsizing to a house with no room for her family’s things, quips: “Great, I suppose it’s time to start selling off those sentimental possessions that afforded some feeling of home when you are in a mouldy, magnolia box miles away from everyone you know.”
In a particularly cruel touch, offspring over 18 (25 if still in higher education) no longer count. So sons and daughters in their twenties won’t have a bedroom at the place they call home.
Presiding over this spiteful debacle is Andrew Murrison, minister for defence people and families, who recently defended “woke” policies, saying he was “guilty as charged” if he believed in making the military a “more inclusive and diverse workspace”. It seems Mr Murrison and the MoD care a great deal about “discrimination” except when the victims of discrimination are a dedicated, largely male and white (oh, no!) officer class.
To take one example, couples who have struggled to have children, or decided against having them to dedicate themselves to their career(s), now face the added distress and humiliation of having to move into significantly reduced accommodation size, regardless of their distinguished service or seniority. “It is the most massive kick in the teeth,” says Carrie, who married Eddie, a Guards officer, two years ago, although their wedding had to be cancelled the first time because Eddie was suddenly called upon to liaise with troops in Ukraine.
“We know this is what we signed up for,” adds Amy, mother of two and devoted wife to Rick. “We know the pay is half of what we could get in civilian life, we know the hours are dreadful and 24-hour days are not uncommon, we know there are big risks and that, God forbid, the worst can sometimes happen. But we are serving our country, the country that we love. So that country will at least make sure that our families are provided with affordable and stable rented housing so the family unit remains intact and the officer can be supported. If you have children, they will provide continuity of education (CEA, most often boarding school) so your kids’ schooling isn’t disrupted by having to move every two years. That’s supposed to be the deal.”
No longer, I’m afraid. That delicate yet vital social contract between nation and military is now being savagely eroded. Rosie says: “The
Offer, as those serving call it, has been persistently degraded with salaries and school allowances a fraction of what they used to be. And now they are dismantling our access to decent housing.”
Seriously, the MoD could not have upset Army wives more had they instituted a shoot-to-kill policy for black Labradors.
The women are understandably wary about appearing “entitled” and “selfish” or looking like they think only officers merit nice accommodation. “Not a single person would not be advocating for better houses to be available for all service personnel,” says Suzanna, “but the fact is our Offer is being denigrated so they can improve someone else’s Offer.”
One consequence obvious to all, except the equity numpties at the MoD apparently, is that officers will respond to this insult and reduction in their living standards by marching off to Civvy Street where they can expect to double their pay and halve their hours. In a poll which the officers’ families pulled together themselves, 78 per cent said that if the New Accommodation Offer does come in as planned next month, they will leave.
“Do those responsible not understand that the Army is in such dire straits already – with some units struggling their way through understaffing rates nearing 50 per cent – that it really cannot afford to bleed any more of its top talent than it already has done?” demands Rosie. “The New Accommodation Offer is a spectacular act of self-harm.”
Another wife jokes that her husband’s artillery company has no guns. When I laugh heartily, she says she’s not joking; all the weapons have been sent to Ukraine. “Guns are a bit bloody useful, Allison, to an artillery company, wouldn’t you think?”
A couple of days ago, several Army wives had “the absolute displeasure of meeting the imbecile Andrew Murrison himself at another briefing which we were told not to record”. I gather things were a teeny bit tense. “Let’s just say we all thought he was utterly despicable with no coherent argument whatsoever. Just a complete disdain for any officer or spouse who dared point out the obvious flaws in the plan. Sadly for him, it has only put more fire in our bellies.”
What grates, I think, is the bureaucrats’ total lack of appreciation for how officers and their families magnificently keep the show on the road, despite declining wages, grotty housing and absent equipment, because they actually believe in the value of what they are doing.
“We feel insulted,” says Suzanna, “My husband was an Army child and he saw it as a vocation not a job. He knew he was well suited to that job
– he is routinely in the top of his cohort. The Tories have forgotten that you can love a job, but feel cruelly undervalued to the point you can’t do it any more. My husband loves his work, but the last thing he wants is to have to choose between no family life or reduced circumstances for his family. The MoD won’t win that battle.”
No, they won’t, and it’s Britain that will take the hit. A maiming loss of vital officers is already under way. Amy tells me about one couple who have just welcomed their second baby and are planning to get out because of the new policy. “The husband has been away 50 per cent of the last five years and this is an erosion too far on family life.”
One theory gaining credence is that there is no appetite within the MoD for a serious uplift of grossly substandard housing. “Accommodation is just a headache to them,” says Rosie. The ultimate aim, some wives reckon, is to push more service personnel to either rent in the private sector or own their own homes. That would reduce the state’s bill for subsidised accommodation and, if you own your own home, a family is not entitled to the educational allowance. It would also break up families, separating husbands from wives and children who would no longer move to live near them. Crucially, it would also mean that the friendship and neighbourly support the wives provide for each other would be lost. A precious part of the ecosystem that supports the morale of our troops would be destroyed for ever.
Hannah emails to say she and her highly decorated husband have reluctantly decided to call time on their family’s service to the military. Moving about so much, Hannah has struggled to gain employment within the career at which she once excelled. She started her own successful small business a couple of years ago when she had two children under five. Her husband has been away 10 out of the past 15 months. Under the new housing policy, the fact that Hannah works from home and contributes to the country’s GDP does not automatically entitle her to an additional room. As her husband’s postings are often far from family, having a spare bedroom gives her the ability to host a friend or relative to help her out with the children. If their accommodation is reduced and she can’t be guaranteed the space to work or have friends staying to help, she will be forced to close her business.
“Two of our officer friends are definitely leaving because of this change to our accommodation,” confirms Suzanna. “There are enough upheavals in service life already. Anyone who’s living in our kind of house is scared they could be kicked out at any time and forced to find somewhere to rent locally because, realistically, we can’t get all our stuff into the two-bedroom terraced we’ll most likely be offered.”
Fearing the worst, Suzanna checked out the rental market near their patch in the South-West. “There are only two properties available at less than £2,500 a month. Even with assistance that’s not doable.” She points out that many landlords would not welcome tenants with the unpredictable schedules of Army familes; another worry is not being able to rent somewhere that permits pets. “Do they seriously expect us to get rid of the dog?”
Well, they seem barking enough. And bloody insensitive to boot. What do the civil servants orchestrating this fresh blow to a military already struggling with recruitment and retention expect to happen?
“Every week brings more ‘woke’ nonsense like them not wanting to recruit white males,” sighs Amy, “which is so rude to my husband and men like him who do a totally brilliant job. Millions are wasted by the MoD on diversity and inclusion, and ‘levelling up’, ‘fairness for all’ blah blah – all the buzzwords, we’re sick of it. This is not the time to be doing this with the world at a very perilous moment. And now getting kicked out of your house which feels really unfair.”
Not just unfair, but potentially catastrophic for the country. Rosie, who made the four-hour round trip to attend the NAO roadshow event at HMS Collingwood, was incredulous at the ineptitude on display. It quickly
‘Anyone who’s living in our kind of house is scared they could be kicked out at any time’
became apparent, she says, “how little basic due diligence was in place, particularly given the scale and significance of this accommodation policy. I find it deeply concerning that, in spite of significant senior oversight, nobody appears to have spotted these glaring gaps and errors. If rolled out as planned, it is abundantly clear this accommodation policy will only damage further the trusted relationship between Army Officers and the institution they serve. The social contract upon which the Army is balanced may be broken irretrievably if NAO is not reconsidered.”
Thanks to passionate campaigning by Rosie, Suzanna, Amy, Sara and other fabulous Army wives, the MoD has a fight on its hands. Politicians like Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Danny Kruger are also speaking out. “As the MP for the biggest Army garrison in the UK – Tidworth-Bulford-Larkhill – I know how important this is,” Mr Kruger said. “The Army depends on the support of soldiers’ families. Officers’ partners live with their loved ones’ relatively low pay, frequent moves, irregular hours and the ultimate risk of death in battle. The least we can do is provide them with a decent home, and the expectation of a better house as they climb the ranks. The Government should rethink the plans to change the accommodation offer and I will be meeting defence ministers to discuss this.”
Yes, the very least we can do. How dare they punish and demoralise one of the few groups in this nation still doing their job to the highest possible standard against all odds? The donkeys at the MoD squander billions on poor procurement decisions, yet somehow cannot find the tens of millions necessary to provide decent, spacious accommodation for our lions and lionesses.
It takes a hell of a lot to make an Army wife complain. Cheery stoicism and cracking on is her signature vibe. Obeying orders goes with the terrain. But with their husbands forbidden to speak out, and not allowed to strike like other public-sector workers, many wives feel they are left with no choice. Even though there have been veiled threats made about setbacks to their partners’ careers, the ladies are in formation and ready to do battle.
Having either talked to or corresponded with so many Army wives over the past few days, two things strike me: how much they love and stand by their men (it clearly helps when the background music to your life is artillery fire) and what a huge amount they have sacrificed as modern, working women, in order that their families may play a part in keeping our country safe. Mould and magnolia, bravely borne. God knows, we owe them more than this pennypinching ingratitude.
Andrew Murrison and the MoD better get their tin hats on to defend the indefensible New Accommodation Offer. They have badly underestimated the strength of feeling. Behind every soldier, there is an even stronger woman who supports him with all her heart. I suggest to the Government that surrendering now would be a good idea. You take away a woman’s home at your peril. The crack regiment of Army Wives are ready for the fight.