On 18 April 2025, Defence Secretary John Healey announced a new Consumer Charter to improve Service Family Accommodation (SFA) for personnel and families. This forms part of the Defence Housing Review that is underway following the MOD’s landmark deal to bring 36,000 UK SFA homes back under DIO’s ownership.
The Charter outlines a list of commitments we will be making to improve our accommodation service offer for you, including:
- A more robust move-in standard so that you can have confidence that the home you are moving into will be ready on time and will be clean and functional.
- Providing you with improved, clearer information ahead of your move, including photographs and floor plans when you apply for SFA.
- More reliable repairs, including a requirement to complete urgent repairs within a set timeline consistent with Awaab’s Law, and an online portal for Service personnel to manage repairs.
- Raising the minimum standard of SFA with a new programme of works, initially targeted at 1,000 homes that need to be refurbished most.
- Better and clearer communication for you, including a named housing officer for every service family who you can contact for specific housing related queries.
- A revised, streamlined complaints process that will look to shorten the process to two stages so that Service Personnel and families have a quicker resolution.
- Modernising our policies to allow more freedom for you to make improvements, giving you a greater sense of pride in your homes.
We know we haven’t always got things right in the past; however, we are already making great progress in transforming the service we provide. Working closely with our suppliers, our dedication to transforming the SFA estate remains our top priority, and we will continue to update you on plans and developments as they happen.
These commitments will be in place by December 2025, and there will be further detail in the Defence Housing Strategy, that will be published later this year following consultation with Service personnel and families.
The strategy will be driven by a new independent review team of housing experts. The review team will be chaired by former Member of Parliament and housing expert Natalie Elphicke Ross OBE, and includes Housing Specialist from the Army Families Federation, Cat Calder, as a representative of the tri-service family federations. The review team bring with them a wealth of expertise from the housing sector and will play a vital part in providing independent advice and challenge to ensure the strategy meets the needs of Service personnel and families.