Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of any correlation between the standard of Armed Forces housing and levels of (a) recruitment and (b) retention.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) monitors Service personnel attitudes through the Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey (AFCAS). AFCAS includes questions on satisfaction with certain aspects of accommodation and how provision of accommodation influences decisions to remain in or leave the Services. 40% of Regular personnel report that accommodation provision increases their intentions to stay, whilst 30% state that it increases their intentions to leave. While housing is widely recognised as part of the overall employment offer, there is currently no formal assessment in MOD establishing a link between accommodation quality and recruitment levels.

On 1 June 2025, the Defence Secretary, announced £1.5bn of additional funding over the next five years, to deliver longer term and enduring improvements to UK SFA housing. This investment is part of the Government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which sets a path for the next decade to transform Defence housing helping to support recruitment, retention and morale.

To help improve the attractiveness of Service life, in April 2025 we announced the new Consumer Charter, part of the Defence Housing Strategy, designed to deliver tangible improvement for Defence housing and improve the lived experience for our Service Personnel and families across the UK. Progress against the seven Charter Commitments is well underway, with many already completed, and all due to complete by the end of December 2025 - the one-year anniversary of the Annington Deal. As commitments are met, we are communicating progress to Service families.

Our Consumer Charter is raising the minimum standard of 1,000 homes to improve the lived experience for Service families this calendar year.