ACCOMMODATION


The Armed Forces Covenant makes a number of commitments to military families about the provision and condition of Service accommodation, both single-living and families. The Covenant also states that military families should have improved access to social or private housing when they need it. We wanted to know


Social and private housing


Do you think that the Armed Forces Covenant will allow Service personnel easier access to social or private housing as they leave the Armed Forces?


306


Figure 4 t


245


whether families agreed with the statements made in the 2012 Armed Forces Covenant Annual Report, which claimed Service accommodation is improving and that the majority of Service leavers are now able to make a smooth transition to private accommodation or social housing.


Commissioned Non Commissioned I don’t know their rank


90 67 39 16 Yes


As with many of the questions about awareness of the specific commitments made in the Covenant, there was a general lack of knowledge and understanding across the ranks, as Figure 4 illustrates. We


are


concerned to note the increasingly frequent misconception that, through the Armed Forces Covenant, military families will be treated as a special priority case and will therefore automatically be entitled to council or housing association accommodation. This is not necessarily the case but clearly many families mistakenly believe that they will not have to consider alternative living arrangements when they leave the RAF, as they will be able to move directly from SFA to council housing.


12 The Armed Forces Covenant 2 No 1 I don’t know


there was a general lack of knowledge and understanding


At the request of a number of individual families, we engaged with several local councils who said that, whilst they recognise the intent of the Covenant, there are standard, legal procedures which they have to adhere to when processing applications. Thus, many councils take a Service leavers financial circumstances into consideration when determining whether a family is eligible for council housing. If personnel are discharged from the Service with a gratuity payment, and/or pension, this may


well be taken into account, leading to the family being treated as low priority and their chances of being allocated a property considerably diminished.


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