Military Covenant

Tom Blenkinsop Excerpts

Wednesday 21st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

The military covenant has to be lauded as a fantastic aim and programme put in place by this Government, with cross-party support. It is a collective demonstration of the desire of representatives here and the people we represent to do far more for our deserving armed forces personnel. From a personal perspective, I know why a military covenant is needed: my grandfather fought for four years in the trenches of Flanders; my now 87-year-old father fought in the Combined Operation Pilotage Parties; and my community was home to Stan Hollis, a company sergeant major in the Green Howards who was the only man to receive a Victoria Cross for action on D-day. The people in my area, like those in many others in the United Kingdom, share those values.

Our villages, communities, towns and cities buy in to the need for the military covenant, and the great partnership working by Government and local authority bodies and the voluntary armed forces charities to achieve its aims has been excellent, but today I want to draw the Government’s attention to anomalies that will undoubtedly affect members of the armed forces to their detriment, and, in some cases, take standards backwards for serving and former armed forces personnel and their families.

In April 2013, thousands of families will have their housing benefit reduced by up to £80 a month because of the new bedroom tax. When I am out in my constituency, meeting residents and asking them about their concerns, that issue is becoming more prevalent. The coalition Government have said that persons classed as “of working age” who have an empty bedroom in their house will lose 14% of the rent value, and 25% if there are two or more spare bedrooms. As a result, some people will have to find more than £1,000 extra a year just to stay in their home. Children under 10 are expected to share a room, and children up to 16 are expected to share a room with a same-sex sibling, so a family of four living in a three-bedroom house could still be charged an extra £44 a month even if there are no unoccupied bedrooms. Hundreds of local families will be affected and I could talk at length about them, but that is for another time.

One of the many people to contact me is Alison Huggan from Coulby Newham in Middlesbrough. She has been a tenant of the same housing association for nearly two decades. Why is that relevant to today’s debate? Alison single-handedly brought up her twin boys in her three-bedroom house, which is owned by a local housing association, and both, now 18, are serving as soldiers in the Army. Alison said:

“The Government has made no concessions and have totally disregarded personal circumstances. If the Government forces these changes, when my sons return home after defending our country and serving its people, they will not have a bed to sleep in at their family home. I have spoken to my housing officer about moving to a smaller one-bedroom property, only to be told that they do not have enough one-bedroom properties to meet the need of everyone.”

The problem Alison is facing is shared by people right across my constituency, Teesside and the wider country, and people from all over the East Cleveland area have contacted me about the tax.

What is also highly disappointing is the state of affairs regarding under-25s losing their entitlement to housing benefit. The Government recently decided to disband the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, the Green Howards, with the proviso that the cap badge, regimental heritage and legacy be maintained, with the strong likelihood of their being adopted for the Territorial Army battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment. Again, that is a separate matter and cannot be debated today, but the issue of redundant troops—the real human cost—has yet to be addressed in relation to housing benefit.

A number of parents, who want to remain anonymous for the sake of their sons and daughters serving in the armed forces, have raised concerns about how the housing benefit changes will affect personnel who leave the armed forces under the age of 25, with very little in the way of savings, and who are looking for housing and benefits after April 2013. They are not from wealthy families and do not have the luxury of the bank of mum and dad to help with a deposit—if, indeed, they have a job to go to that will enable them to maintain future payments. Unemployment in my constituency is always high.

As yet, the status of soon-to-be-former armed forces personnel aged under 25 in relation to housing benefit is still in question, but it has to be said that on Teesside—an area with a high level of local young people serving in the armed forces juxtaposed with some of the highest unemployment and, in particular, youth unemployment in the country, and where some of the poorest wards in the country are to be found—we find it incredibly difficult to accept that recently former armed forces personnel aged under 25 will not have access to housing benefit. That is an obvious anomaly and flies in the face of the guarantees stipulated in the military covenant regarding “special considerations”. I dearly hope that the Minister will take this issue on board and quickly resolve it.