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Camilla carries out Rifles engagement at Beachley Barracks

Hundreds of military families are complaining every month about the number of homes that are unliveable because they are infested with mould. New figures from the Ministry of Defence show the amount of properties plagued by fungus has risen by two-thirds in two years.

Servicemen and their families were denied access to a total of 1,324 residences because of damp and mould problems in 2021, rising 65 per cent from 801 homes in 2000.

Contractors have been called to clean up the problem “thousands of times” during the past eight months, according to the Telegraph.

A national service centre run by the firm the Pinnacle Group received calls from 2,684 military families between April and December in 2021, averaging 336 per month.

Pinnacle serves 49,000 properties across the country. According to the Telegraph, ministers were discussing ending Pinnacle’s housing contract following reports of families forced to spend Christmas in mouldy homes.

Pinnalce said maintenance contractors Amey Defence Services and Vivo Defence Services carry out property repairs.

Last month military families living at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) told the BBC they were at “breaking point”.

In a joint statement, the families said they were: “scared for our children living in unsafe homes with black mould that has not been dealt with for months”.

Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chairman of the defence select committee, said: “The welfare of our troops must receive the same priority as training or soldiers will vote with their feet and quit the forces.”

Luke Pollard, Labour’s shadow Armed Forces minister, said “the Tories must tackle the failings of their contractors”. Richard Drax, a Tory member of the defence select committee, has also backed claims Britain is providing substandard accommodation.

An MoD spokesman said: “Some personnel and their families are not receiving the level of accommodation services that they deserve.”

A spokesman for Amey said: “Unfortunately some older military housing can experience damp, particularly in winter. We are very aware of the impact this can have on residents and their families and make it a priority to respond and provide remedial action quickly, once issues are flagged to us.”

Earlier this week The Ministry of Defence has been accused of “blowing millions” of pounds on hire cars and taxis last year while cutting the size of the Army.

A freedom of information (FoI) request by the PA news agency revealed the MoD spent £16.6 million on hire cars for staff in the year to November, up from £12.9 million the previous year.

Spending on taxis and chauffeur-driven cars increased from almost £583,000 to £967,000.

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