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New figures reveal the shocking condition of British military personnel’s housing. Thousands of families were left cold this winter amid widespread heating failures.
Government statistics seen by Ireveals that 5,540 incidents of military housing requiring “urgent” heating repairs were reported between December and early March.
In more than 1,000 cases, it took more than five days for the heating to be fixed, indicating a crisis in the housing of British military families.
According to the data, on December 16, 2022 alone, 350 unheated homes were registered, of which more than 150 took more than 5 days to resolve.
Military housing standards are under increasing scrutiny following recent reports of dampness and disrepair.
In February mail on sunday reported that 8,000 military homes had moisture problems and over 500 homes were deemed not to meet government standards.
Government contractors responsible for repairs have also faced criticism.Government Data on Contractor Performance Seen by I It was found that 639 delays between December and March were due to contractors not having sufficient resources or spare parts.
Amy, an infrastructure and engineering firm that handles repairs in the North of England and the Midlands for the Ministry of Defence, lists 218 cases of delays of two days or more, of which 148 took five days or more to repair.
Meanwhile, Vivo, a joint venture between outsourcers Serco and Equans covering the South of England, During the same period, there were 421 delays in the two days, 86 of which took more than five days to repair.
Last month, Secretary of Defense John Healy said contractors had missed nearly 15,000 urgent appointments.
Labor MP Beth Winter said I Her local constituents in South Wales were among those affected by heating problems and delays in repairs.
she said: Responses from the government indicate that hundreds of people are left without heating for days at a time.
“It is a moral duty to properly care for the men and women who sign up to serve in our military. Failure to meet even the basic needs of military heating and hot water is unacceptable.”
A Vivo spokesperson said: I: “It is important that everything is done to ensure that military family homes are well maintained. We are working hard to resolve maintenance issues quickly.
“Unusually severe winter weather has created a great demand for our services, especially with respect to heating issues. We are resuming operations within our KPIs in terms of full resolution.
“But we still have work to do. We plan to make further investments later this year.”
Amy’s publicist said: I The company “takes its responsibility to support military service personnel and their families very seriously.”
“With our remediation plan, we have strengthened our capabilities and improved our standards so that we can quickly address loss of heating and other major home maintenance issues,” they added. rice field.
“Since January, Amy’s new chairman and CEO has been working closely with DIO to enhance all areas of the new contract and ensure that military personnel receive the appropriate maintenance levels. .”
Since December, fewer than 50 military installations have experienced heat losses of 48 hours or more, according to the Department of Defense.
A mod spokesperson said:
“We have been working with our suppliers to make sustained improvements. Since December 2022, less than 0.1% of all 47,894 properties have had gross heating losses greater than 48 hours on any given day.
“£185m will be invested in improving housing standards in 2022/23, following the upgrade of over 14,000 homes in the last two years.”