Military Personnel and their families at Royal Air Force Wittering are being given the opportunity to test a new accommodation model offering more choice and greater flexibility as part of a major accommodation modernisation project.
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Royal Air Force Wittering has been selected as a pilot location to test and evaluate proposed changes to how the Royal Air Force accommodates its personnel and their families as part of the Ministry of Defence’s Future Accommodation Model (FAM) Project.
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During the pilot, eligible Service personnel based at the unit will be offered more choice over where, how, and with whom they live, through the introduction of new support to rent or buy a house, alongside existing options of Single Living and Service Families Accommodation.
Air Vice Marshal Maria Byford, Chief of Staff Personnel said:
“The way our people live and work is changing and our accommodation provision needs to reflect this, giving more choice to Service personnel and their families. FAM aims to better support the workforce of the future irrespective of their relationship status or rank, letting our people choose with whom, where and how they want to live their lives. The launch of the pilot at RAF Wittering will give us the opportunity to understand how we might do that best, listening to the feedback from our Service Personnel and their families to shape an accommodation offer that is fit for purpose.”
Under the new proposals, family accommodation support will be extended for the first time beyond personnel in a civil partnership or marriage to include those in a long-term relationship or with responsibility for dependant children. Other changes will see accommodation support being based on family size rather than rank and marital status.
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Group Captain Jo Lincoln, Station Commander RAF Wittering said:
“Our people's home life is a massive contributing factor to their wellbeing and effectiveness. Helping our people to live in the accommodation and location that suit them best is really important. This is a fantastic initiative and I am delighted that Wittering has been selected as the RAF pilot site for the project.”
The FAM pilot will launch at Royal Air Force Wittering on 1 June 2020. The scheme will run over a 3-year period across three defence sites; the other test sites are Her Majesty’s Naval Base, Clyde and Aldershot Garrison.
