Defence Infrastructure Organisation
For updates on missed appointments in the South East and South West regions, please see the Missed appointments in the South East and South West section.
Overview
The provision of good quality homes for Service personnel and their families is an important priority for the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) manages around 49,000 homes in the UK on behalf of the MOD and is also responsible for planning for future requirements and targeted improvement programmes.
On 1 April 2022 the new Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) Accommodation contracts replaced the National Housing Prime (NHP) contract. These new contracts fulfil the Defence requirement for the delivery of effective and responsive accommodation services for Service personnel and their families.
On behalf of DIO, Pinnacle Group Ltd manage the National Accommodation Management Services (NAMS) contract in the UK. Their National Service Centre is the single point of contact for requests from families living in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) including raising repairs and maintenance issues, the allocations of homes and conducting move-in and move-out appointments. Contact details can be found on the Pinnacle Service Families website.
Four Regional Accommodation Maintenance Services (RAMS) contracts provide statutory and mandatory checks, repair and maintenance services and the preparation of allocated homes for Service families. Amey Community Ltd manage the Northern and Central regions and VIVO cover the South East and South West.
Service Family Accommodation in Buckinghamshire (MOD/Crown Copyright).
The Customer Service Charter is DIOs commitment to Service personnel and their families to provide decent living standards and excellent customer service. We are committed to improving the condition and standard of the Service Family Accommodation (SFA) estate; sustaining improved levels of maintenance and repair performance; and enhancing customer service.
Missed appointments in South East and South West
Update: 7 July 2022
We are very sorry for the unacceptable levels of service some families have received from our maintenance providers.
A number of families have experienced missed appointments in the South East and South West regions. This has been caused by two separate IT issues. A fix has been deployed to resolve one of these issues; a fix for the second is in development and will be deployed as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, procedures are in place to minimise the risk of further missed appointments; and more than 40 additional engineers have been employed to provide extra resource and to clear the backlog of appointments.
A separate IT issue, now resolved, had also caused a smaller number of missed appointments in the North and Central Regions.
With effect from 24 June 2022, extra support has also been put in place for all families who have experienced missed appointments. This includes:
- A dedicated National Service Centre (NSC) call option: A dedicated call option has been introduced for families who experience a missed appointment, irrespective of which region they live in. If families have had a missed appointment but havent already been contacted to rearrange, they should please call the NSC on 0800 031 8628 and select Option 1, followed by 2, which will get them through to the correct team.
- Proactive payment of compensation: Where appointments have been missed, families are entitled to a shopping voucher as compensation. When they call the NSC regarding a missed appointment they will automatically be provided with a case reference number and their compensation claim will be reviewed within 1 working day. Families should receive your Love To Shop vouchers within a week. Most claims raised before 24 June have now been paid, except for a small number of families where email details had to be verified. These payments are being processed and should be received in the next week.
- Rearranging appointments: Whenever a family reports a missed appointment for an Urgent job the task will be reappointed as soon as possible; in the majority of cases this will be the next day. Missed appointments for Routine tasks are being rebooked from the second or third day after the call.
Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS)
The National Housing Prime (NHP) contract, which provided management and maintenance services for SFA was replaced on 1 April 2022 by the Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) contracts.
For further information about the new contracts, who they have been awarded to and to understand what these changes may mean for Service personnel and your families please read the FDIS Accommodation Guidance Note (January 2022) .
On 11 January 2022, the Army Families Federation hosted a Facebook Live event with DIOs Head of Accommodation to answer questions from families about the new Accommodation contracts. Responses to all the questions raised can be viewed at .
You can also watch a recording of the Facebook Live.
The new accommodation contracts what to expect during the transition
As we approach 1 April 2022, and in the first week after it, some housing services will be temporarily affected as the new systems are embedded. We refer to this period of transition between the NHP and new FDIS accommodation contracts as the cutover period. We would like to reassure families that all emergency and urgent enquiries will continue to be responded to as normal and within the timeframes during this cutover period.
Access more information about the services temporarily affected:
Project Speed: additional government funding to improve service families accommodation
On 17 July 2020 the Defence Secretary and the Chancellor of