Army Families Federation Briefing 2013: Minimising upheaval during refurbishment of SFA

Abstract: Service families move regularly – in the AFF Grab Survey 2012 72% of families had moved at least twice in the last five years however more senior NCOs and officers had moved at least three times and frequently the serving person was away from home. Refurbishments are necessary to improve and maintain the quality of housing stock. However, AFF receives many calls from families concerned about the added disruption to an already transient lifestyle caused by upgrades to kitchens, bathrooms, boilers etc. During a kitchen refurbishment for example, families are expected to pack up their kitchen and store it elsewhere in the house – in smaller houses this is often the sitting room, which leaves little room for living in. Families are, in theory, left at the end of every day with a connected cooker, a metre of clear work surface and running water; however, the reality is often a cooker in the middle of the room, with everything covered in brick dust, in which a spouse is expected to cook for her young children and feed them off their knees as the dining room table is either dismantled or covered with boxes containing the contents of the kitchen. A contact house is provided; however, this is often for several families to use at any one time which is not ideal. There is no financial help given to families either to eat out, to go to a launderette (if there are any locally). There is no compensation for hours lost from work if the spouse works from home, no help with heating or electricity bills which increase due to workmen running tools or leaving doors open during the day nor is there any help with cleaning the house once the works are done. This Briefing Document provides an overview of the 2013 Army Families Federation (AFF) Impact of Refurbishments Survey, which investigates the impact of refurbishments on Army families living in Service Families Accommodation (SFA).