EXCLUSIVE Fury over damp and mouldy homes for Britain’s armed forces veterans: Military families are being ‘failed’ as complaints about unsuitable living conditions surge by 40 PER CENT in a year

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Military families are being ‘failed’ by ministers as complaints about damp and mouldy homes have increased by 40 per cent this year – with thousands left in unsuitable conditions this winter.

Some 3,770 complaints have been made to Pinnacle, which runs the national complaint service centre, since April – an average of 471 a month. This is up from 2,684 complaints in the same period last year.

Furious personnel and their loved ones have broken ranks to share pictures online of the shameful state of their homes, with a veteran British Army General branding the UK’s woeful military housing stock ‘truly appalling’ and ‘not fit for a dog’.

Thousands of families who were promised ‘mitigation works’ to prepare for this winter will also not see their homes repaired, according to data seen by the Daily Mail. 

It comes after defence minister James Cartlidge announced a ‘winter planning’ package last month to ensure contractors were ‘prepared for winter this year’.

The money would ‘fund damp and mould mitigation packages for around 4,000 families who currently have a damp and mould report raised, representing around 60 per cent of all properties requiring such work.’

But just 1,200 have had the necessary work completed to date, with ministers admitting refits would not be finished in 700 of the homes until next April at the earliest. 

Labour’s Shadow Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said: ‘The Conservatives are failing our forces and their families daily with the dire state of service family accommodation. 

Military families have been lashing out at the shameful state of their armed forces homes, with some riddled with black mould 

This was the state of one roof inside the mouldy military home of a pregnant mother 

One frustrated person had what appeared to be part of a tree growing through a crack in the wall which they say housing bosses haven’t dealt with for months 

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‘Now ministers have admitted that their winter plan to help families through the coldest months won’t even fully deliver until spring. It beggars belief.’

‘A Labour government will ensure our service people have homes fit for heroes and legislate to establish an Armed Forces Commissioner to act as a strong, independent voice for personnel and their families.’

Among the images shared online by families included one by a heavily pregnant woman whose roof was leaking, and another by a mother who claimed her house had been plagued by mould for months.

One person wrote on X: ‘6 months pregnant with a 4-year-old but still not a priority to sort the mould out… 3 months after being re done it’s back again and worse than ever!

‘Both bathrooms now full of mould despite having the extractor fans replaced and used daily.’  

In a separate post, a third person’s military home even appeared to have a tree branch growing through a crack in the wall, which they claimed had been a problem since September, last year. 

They wrote on X: ‘Posting a new picture every week until @PinnacleSF and @VIVODefence stop ”escalating it” and actually do something about it…week 3 of photos but been an issue since Sep 2022.’  

While one soldier’s wife said her ‘unsafe’ living quarters should be ‘condemned’ after leaking pipes led to a mould infestation in her bedroom and kitchen.

‘I can’t believe they expect people to live in this,’ she said, adding: ‘Honestly never ever felt so low and I feel ashamed to post these photos that we’re living in such a dump, but it’s down to no fault of our own. Absolutely disgraceful.’

General Sir Richard Barrons, former head of Joint Forces Command, slammed the shameful state of Britain’s military housing, which he claimed had been a ‘systemic problem’ that’s plagued the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for decades. 

This was the state of one army family’s home. The soldier’s wife, who posted the picture, said ”I can’t believe they expect people to live in this’

The social media user posted about part of a tree growing through their wall, which they claim had been a problem since September 2022

This was the state of one military home in the Gosport area of Hampshire

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In a furious broadside against Whitehall, the veteran officer told the Mail: ‘We have some truly atrocious accommodation that people would not put their dog in. It’s that shocking.

‘It’s an abuse of goodwill if you expect people to live in accommodation that would fail every social housing test – and yet we want them to defend the country. It’s an outrage.

‘Why would you live in a freezing grotty mould infested building as youngster if you could live in a nice, new modern flat somewhere else?’

Defence minister Mr Cartlidge said: ‘Works are being rolled out as fast as the supply chain is able, at a very large number of sites across the UK. Therefore, it is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown by month.

‘However, the most severely affected homes are being tackled first and over 1,200 have been completed to date. We estimate that around 3,300 will be completed by March 31, 2024, with the remaining circa 700 being completed early next financial year.’

Ministers also revealed that 312 service family properties were sitting empty in 2023 due to ‘damp and mould issues’ – meaning they are unsuitable to be allocated.

Black mould is pictured in the bathroom of one military family’s home 

Damp and mould can be seen on the wall of this military home 

Additionally, of the 154 damp and mouldy properties identified by the MoD in December 2022, just 33 have now been occupied by service families. 

READ MORE: Ministers hold urgent meetings with military housing bosses as they are told they must turn around ‘completely unacceptable’ service that has left our troops and their families without heating in rundown homes

More than 25,000 members of the armed forces live in ‘Grade 4’ Single Living Accommodation, the lowest rating given by the MoD, while 1,378 personnel live in accommodation so poor that no rental charge is levied.

The details, revealed in response to written parliamentary questions, come after revelations that a third of military personnel live in the lowest quality of defence accommodation available.

Earlier this year it emerged that Armed Forces housing required almost a quarter of a million call-outs for repair and maintenance in 2022.

Last month, the managing director of VIVO, Jerry Moloney, told a defence committee hearing into the state of service accommodation that the condition of the defence estate ‘was in a far worse state than we ever anticipated’.

An MoD spokeswoman said: ‘The Defence Secretary has made improving the standard of military accommodation for personnel and their families a personal priority.

‘That is why are investing an additional £400 million over the next two years to improve military housing that is available, which will include damp and mould improvements to more than 4,500 properties.’

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