No More SLA Charges? The Modernised Accommodation Offer Explained
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ค. 2024
- No More SLA Charges? The Modernised Accommodation Offer Explained
UPDATE 1 - 05/03/24: In Pinned Comment
The Modernised Accommodation Offer (MAO) has replaced the New Accommodation Offer (NAO) but it’s still going ahead with its release on the 11th March 2024. But there are a few changes.
Most notable, all the elements pertaining to Service Families Accommodation (SFA) have been paused. This includes entitlement for those in Established Long Term Relationship (LTRs) and those with non-resident children. It will also pause access to the Private Rental Sector (PRS).
The reason for the pause however was greatly influenced by the implications of the introduction of needs based allocation for SFA. This part of the New Accommodation Offer stirred up a lot of debate, sparked media headlines and a petition and in the end the MoD decided to put a pause on this aspect of the NAO pending further review.
The NAO was rebranded the Modernised Accommodation Offer and will now only see the introduction of the extended SLA waiver and the refund of legal expenses for first time buyers. Quite a drop from what was initially envisioned.
The extended SLA waiver will see those eligible not pay for their Single Living Accommodation (SLA) as long as the serving person maintains a home elsewhere over 50 miles away from their duty station.
The refund of legal expenses will see first time buyers able to receive up to £1,500 back from their solicitors fees when purchasing a home they intend on living in full time.
Hopefully the aspects of LTR and non-resident children will be reinstated sooner rather than later but I couldn’t hazard a guess as to when that will happen.
Any updates I will put below in the pinned comment.
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Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
0:57 Some Thoughts
3:10 Extended SLA Waiver
5:42 Refund of Legal Expenses
6:40 What’s Happening With LTRs/Non-Resident Children
8:42 Final Thoughts
9:33 Outro
Sources:
sway.cloud.microsoft/P8u0X3HA...
web.archive.org/web/202402232...
web.archive.org/web/202402232...
web.archive.org/web/202402262...
parliamentlive.tv/event/index...
petition.parliament.uk/petiti...
committees.parliament.uk/writ...
DISCLAIMER:
The views and opinions expressed in this video are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the British Army or the Ministry of Defence.
I am not a professional financial advisor and this video is not financial advice. Please do your own research before making any decisions with your money and seek professional financial advice if need be.
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UPDATE 1 - 05/03/24
The 50 miles radius criteria for the SLA waiver has been removed. As long as you have a Privately Maintained Property or retained Service Family Accommodation (SFA), you will receive the SLA waiver, in accordance with current single Service rules irrespective of rank, age or marital status.
Timecodes:
0:00 Intro
0:57 Some Thoughts
3:10 Extended SLA Waiver
5:42 Refund of Legal Expenses
6:40 What’s Happening With LTRs/Non-Resident Children
8:42 Final Thoughts
9:33 Outro
Are there any rules regarding distance from work then?
@@nonplus102 At the moment, no. It has become a bit more relaxed. Not sure if it will stay like this or for how long.
Many thanks for not only this, but also previous videos. I am one of the 5000 who was looking forward to the widening of SFA to those with non-resident children. I currently occupy Surplus SFA 120miles from Duty Unit as this was available and saves a 5hr round trip with my child each Friday and Sunday. As I am PCat 3 I am not entitled to HTD/GYH or SLA waiver as Surplus SFA is personal choice. This update would have saved me approx £310 per month in SLA charges and fuel. A PACCC case was submitted, however this ruled that in line with current guidance not being entitled to HTD/GYH was correct, and therefore reasonable to either do 5hr round trip every Friday & Sunday or pay for welfare house (if available) / hotel... having currently served 27yrs, for me personally the NAO was a good extension to entitlement...
Thanks for sharing your situation. Always good to hear from people both positively and negatively effected by changes such as these.
I'm hopeful and confident, the non-resident children aspect will be reintroduced soon rather than later.
Thanks for the video! The SLA waiver extention has been great to share with my team.
No problem, glad it has helped.
This has hugely affected me and my children. I am now single through no fault of mine and have been waiting for the 11th to hit so I can finials start moving my life forward and have my children live with me. That is all now on hold because of this. Once again my life is thrown into the guessing and waiting game of surplus accomodation.
I’d argue, generally, that the largest issue lies within the needs based allocation which may mix all ranks… providing the largest housing to the largest families is reasonable but segregation of patch’s between ranks should still apply.
As a Cfn I couldn’t stand the thought of living next to a CSM or OC (especially my own) and having to deal with them being noisy etc. or them thinking I’m being noisy etc. when I’m not…
As I Capt I don’t like the idea of making my neighbour feel uncomfortable just because of my rank (which will happen for some soldiers) and I’d be nervous if the person I lived next to happened to be someone who I was having to support through something serious or discipline related, especially as an adjutant.
The problem is that when the houses were built the Army built big houses for officers and small house for soldiers, which was the wrong choice.
Hopefully some middle ground can be found.
The Army quarters I've been around were all mixed with the number of rooms matching the number of dependents. (One junior rank had about 8 kids and they knocked out the walls between two semi detached houses for him!)
Seams odd and old fashioned to me now moving service and hearing people debate mixed rank houses. Theres bigger issues to worry about.
I think that the 'needs must' should apply. Officers having a 4 bedroom house for the parents and 1 child is obsurd, when there is a shortage of 4+ bedroom houses. I get that officers should be treated differently, however they are treated as such at work.
At the end of the day, we are people first.
Your rank doesnt define your need.
Are you able to confirm 2 things - firstly, if I will now receive the SLA waiver (I'm under 37, own my own home over 50 miles away) as my owned property address is 'Permanent Home Address' and not 'Selected Place of Residence' (which I can't find as an option) and secondly, if in claiming the waiver, I will lose my GYH(T)?
Appreciate the help in advance
You shouldn't lose your GYH allowance. As for the address situation, then at a guess, as it only specifies SPR in the policy, PHA I'd imagine will suffice. Seems to be the same thing. It might be a recent introduction with the new version of JPA.
I’ve had my own home since 2013.
I moved in the block last summer as I moved camp . I’m now over the 50 miles away and 39 years old .
I went into the admin office today and they starting quoting I wasn’t eligible as something to do with 6 months past 37 ?
I’m guessing they are not read into this yet ?
I'm having a number of people saying similar things about their HR either not being aware or awaiting official guidance.
As of yet, the draft JSP has not been fully updated to include the waiver and it's still showing the Dual Accommodation Expense, which is no more.
Other then the SWAY presentation, which is public and available to everyone, the link is in the description under the Sources section, there isn't really any official guidance for HR to take.
I'm guessing they will wait until the 11th when the JSP should be launched to then make the changes if they then haven't heard of anything before then. A bit frustrating as the information is out there.
Hiya pal, think your vids are great btw. Can I just ask your opinion on my situation, I’m being posted down to London and buying a house in the North East so that will be my main residence and living in SLA down in London, my completion date will be after 11th March will I still be entitled to refund of legal expenses?
Thanks, glad you enjoy them. No you won't be entitled to the refund I'm afraid as the property must be your residence at work address and if you're in SLA, this usually will be your RWA.
Can you confirm if by “main home” in the SLA Waiver, that includes SFA, or only an owned home?
It can be SFA but if that's the case, it must be retained and may depend on the reason for retaining.
It's worth reading the policy properly. PRS allows dragging your family around the country, forcing you into private contracts with landlords and you'll get 7 days leave to find, secure, pay a deposit on a rental property. No index linking for the payments. Anyone who's ever tried to find a rental privately will tell you that's unworkable. It's also probably unlawful as it places you in choosing between your right to a family life and offer/acceptance basis for a contract. Ultimately this whole policy was extremely poor, and still is.
I agree. Shifts the burden of finding accommodation onto us and an influx of demand into the PRS will probably have a detrimental effect on the rent prices due to supply not being able to meet that demand.
What are the rules on carrying your own knife in the British army and is there any restrictions IE blade length, many thanks
You'd need to be specific. If you mean in the UK, there's no difference. You need an excuse for carrying a knife above the legal limit.
Interesting thing was Op TEMPERER, gurkas and others tried to take bigger blades on the streets. Absolutely no justification, therfore illegal. However, I carry a range of knifes in my car but feel I can justify it in court if there's ever a need
Sorry, should add, if you're deploying to a field then there's good reason to have a blade. But that good reason doesn't extend to mcdonalds on the service station stop back to base. "I forgot" or "I couldn't be bothered taking apart my webbing " will not hold up in court
To be fair i think the officers need to grow up it should be on a needs basis like size of the family