COMPENSATION claims for military families living in “Dickensian” homes has rocketed by 400 per cent since new contractors were appointed last year.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey slammed the squalor our brave heroes and their spouses have to live in.
Close-up Of A Shocked Woman Looking at mouldy room
He is launching a probe to look at the state of housing and work out how to make them “fit for heroes” if Labour get into power.
Mr Healey told HOAR on Sunday that soldiers and their families are “being failed on a daily basis”.
He said: “Our brave troops are being forced to live in Dickensian housing. The shocking state of Armed Forces housing is a running sore.
“The defence of our nation begins at home. This is the first step towards delivering the homes fit for heroes our forces deserve.”
Troops are dropping out of the military because of the appalling state of their homes, he added.
Ministers handed a £144m contract to handle maintenance complaints to Pinnacle in April last year – although other firms are involved in actually carrying out the repairs.
Since then, there has been a torrent of complaints.
Soldiers and their families have complained about living in mouldy homes with crumbling ceilings, leaky windows and broken boilers.
They face endless waits for repairs.
Families can claim compensation in the form of shopping vouchers ranging from £10 to £100 for problems with their homes.
Official stats show 7,928 compensation payments were handed out in the 10 months between April 2022 and the end of January this year.
This equated to 26 a day and cost £542,087.
Over the previous four years – from April 2017 until April 2022 – just 13,279 compensation payments were given.
This averaged at seven a day.
An MoD spokesman said: “We have been clear it is completely unacceptable some of our personnel and their families are not receiving the level of accommodation services they deserve.
“Ministers continue to receive daily updates on progress to resolve problems with service family accommodation, following urgent meetings held with the CEOs of the key contractors.
“We are investing £185 million in 2022/23 to improve housing standards, following more than 14,000 homes receiving an upgrade in the last two years.”
Pinnacle said they are only in charge of handling complaints, and problems with maintenance lie with other contractors.
A spokesman said: “Any delays or inconvenience experienced by families is unacceptable and we apologise for the anger and frustration this causes.
“Under our contract with the MOD, we are responsible for handling incoming calls from customers and allocating homes. We also administer the compensation scheme.
“The MOD’s regional contractors, VIVO Defence and Amey Community, are responsible for all maintenance and repairs to homes.
“The majority of compensation has been paid for repairs and maintenance failures under this part of the contract, including missed trade appointments and loss of heating. This compensation is paid by the regional contractors, and not Pinnacle.
“‘We continually monitor our performance and will do whatever we can to make sure families get the service they would rightly expect.”
