MoD to withdraw Married Accomodation after 8yrs service

Hello Boys and Girls,

As reported in the Times today, under the guise of ‘re-evaluating work/life cycles’ UK MoD is considering a proposal to withdraw the entitlement to Married Quarters for service personnel after a period of between 8-10yrs served.

The justification for this apparently hinges on the premise that, with diminishing personnel numbers in the forces, the need for MQ provision will diminish in proportion and that cost savings can be made.

This, to even be considered, is wholly reprehensible and a fundamental slap in the face to the service personnel who gain great comfort from knowing that their families are securely housed within the mutual support system that generally exists within MQ’s on a base. It also gives those families of deployed personnel the security, practically and emotionally, of knowing that they have people surrounding them who are ‘in the same boat’ and are not alone….as they may well be if they have to move into commercial accomodation off-base.

At a time when UK Govt has claimed that it has closed the funding gap, left over by the preceding mobs inadequacies, in the MoD such a strategy cannot be considered acceptable in any sense. To help express this view to the MoD service families have started an E-Petition on HMGovts website:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/30448

If I could make a request that anyone reading this who is equally unimpressed, by the MoD’s consideration of service personnels families as viable targets for costcutting, please take a minute or two to sign the petition. I know it would be appreciated by those who, even now, are concerned at the potential impact this could bring.