SAC0029

 

Written evidence submitted by Tanner

 

I am writing to express my concern about the MOD’s Future Accommodation Model (FAM), no. 6 on your list regarding call for evidence.

 

My husband and I have been in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) since 2007 the allocation of which has been, until this new model, based on rank. The FAM sees the allocation changing from rank to the number of children one happens to have.

 

This is particularly upsetting as this allocation is now purely based on number of children rather than any aspiration one has in one’s career. Very sadly we have been unable to have children, (which has in itself been very upsetting), and as a consequence we will now always be allocated the lowest level of housing allocation provided by the MOD with no potential of advancement.

This therefore sees a significant reduction in the offer which was promised to my husband when he joined the Army in 2003.

 

We feel that the proposed FAM has had a very opaque and extremely flawed introduction. The pilot on which this model was tested only used a small sample group of volunteers which obviously skewed the feedback from participants.

 

We believe that this reduction in offer and new model, with the low morale and upset it has caused, will provide a strong incentive to leave the Service which no longer appears to value hard work and loyalty. Where the offer of life within the Army family had provided stability and assurance of accommodation suitable to one’s stage of career, this has now been removed.

 

The current SFA quartering system has provided a vital support network to me and other army spouses when my husband has been deployed on operations which cannot be replicated when living within a non-military community.

 

However, under the proposed FAM, the only option most will now have is to buy their own house. This will not only remove the cohesion and support of living within the Army patch but make it impossible to move every couple of years as we are expected to do. Sadly this means for us, and many others, remaining within the Army untenable.

 

The FAM now also sees senior officers and junior soldiers potentially living side by side. This could see instances where one neighbour is putting another through the military discipline system or, when on operations, ordering your neighbour to put themselves in harm’s way. This is unworkable and wholly unsuitable and could put the normal (and until this moment entirely successful) military relationship of officers and soldiers in jeopardy.

 

I am very sad to be raising these concerns about a life we had previously enjoyed and been proud to be a part of but increasingly no longer recognise.

 

22 October 2023