MOD launches housing survey after pausing controversial military accommodation plan

Following a backlash from military personnel and their families, the Ministry of Defence has launched a housing survey to help shape the way it provides service families accommodation.

Personnel are being encouraged to take part in the survey to say which parts of the new policy they would like to see changed and provide details of their future housing needs.

While the survey is  anonymous, respondents will need their service number in order to complete it.

This news comes after the MOD was forced to pause planned changes to the way it provides subsidised accommodation to the military and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps admitted that the prospect of senior commanders and junior ranks living side by side in subsidised military housing is "problematic".

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The MOD hopes the survey will help "gain a clearer picture" of its personnel's accommodation needs and will use the data to "improve our understanding of the potential demand for family accommodation and it will help us to create an improved accommodation offer for the Armed Forces".

Part of the Modernised Accommodation Offer, which has been put on hold, would have meant service families accommodation was allocated on need rather than seniority.

Under current rules, senior officers receive housing based on their rank but the new rules will focus on the number of rooms required for any dependants.

This means junior ranks could be entitled to larger MOD housing stock, previously reserved for more senior ranks.

All regular or full-time reserve personnel in the Armed Forces can take part in the survey and will need to complete the questionnaire by 17:00 on Monday 1 April 2024.

The survey can be accessed and completed here. 

Elsewhere, more than 2,500 military personnel are taking legal action against the MOD for alleged discrimination over housing costs, according to their lawyers.