Defence Infrastructure Organisation
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.
Latest news for SFA residents
Update 16 December
Heating failures
The recent cold weather has led to some families being without heating and hot water, and we are immediately implementing the following measures in response:
- Following their call to the National Service Centre, families will be contacted by a qualified engineer to support the swift diagnosis of faults and enable remote fixes if possible.
- The numbers of heating engineers have been increased across all regions.
- Access to temporary heaters for families without heating is being improved, with the aim of heaters being made available as soon as possible and within 24 hours.
- Increased use will be made of temporary accommodation e.g. hotels, to support families with vulnerable people or where some form of heating cannot be restored in a reasonable time.
- Compensation will be issued to families to cover increased energy costs caused by the use of temporary heaters.
Update 14 December
Support with emergency and urgent issues regarding your home over the festive period
Please contact the National Service Centre (NSC) if you need to raise an urgent issue, such as a loss of heating or hot water, over the festive period. The NSC is open 24 hours a day. Call 0800 0318628, Option 1.
If you experience any significant welfare concerns that you cannot resolve with the NSC then please contact your unit duty welfare staff who will be able to escalate the issue for you.
However, you must raise the issue with the NSC in the first instance.
Reporting incidences of damp and mould
DIO and its suppliers take reports of damp and mould extremely seriously and have a robust plan in place to deal with reports of damp and mould in your homes. We are investing 73m this year on replacement windows, doors, roofs and upgrades to thermal efficiency and ventilation to reduce the occurrence of damp and mould in your homes.
In addition, since early 2022 DIO stopped allocating homes with a known damp or mould issue. This includes homes where a professional survey has recommended works that have not yet been completed, or where the previous family reported damp and mould, but no survey has been completed. Homes are also inspected between Move-Outs and Move-Ins and surveys are undertaken on homes where there are grounds to suspect they might be vulnerable to damp and mould.
If you have any concerns regarding damp and mould in your home then please call the National Service Centre on 0800 031 8628, select Option 1 Repairs and then go to Option 4 to report damp and mould specifically.
If you have a child under the age of 5 in your home, or a vulnerable family member, then your call should automatically become an urgent task that will be responded to within 48 hours.
Any reports of damp and mould are now investigated by a professional surveyor. If the problem cannot be resolved quickly, if it is particularly severe or if a family member has a known vulnerability, then families will be offered alternative accommodation.
Update 13 December
Update for families on Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) Accommodation contracts performance
The level of service many families have experienced so far under the new Accommodation contracts is not what they expect or deserve. DIO and its suppliers Pinnacle, VIVO and Amey are all committed to improving performance for families.
DIO has consistently challenged performance, and a huge amount of work has been undertaken to identify the causes and make the improvements needed.
In September DIO directed each of its suppliers to put in place Rectification Plans owned at Board level - to achieve sustained improvements in contract performance. The key areas of service improvement targeted through the plans are:
Preparation of homes for Move-In
The pass rate for preparation of homes for move-in has improved since July and August but we still have some way to go to meet the contracted Acceptable Level of Performance of 95%. Considerable effort is being made to hit, sustain and then exceed that level.
Repair and maintenance response times
VIVO and Amey have increased staff numbers and taken on additional sub-contractors in order to schedule and plan tasks, complete repairs more quickly, reduce the repairs backlog and achieve more repairs on the first visit to homes.
Amey has increased its internal resource by 15 staff and its sub-contractor capacity by 60%. VIVO has increased its resource by an additional 88 staff and taken on seven additional subcontractors. This has resulted in some reduction in average response times, but these are not yet at acceptable levels and a considerable backlog remains to be cleared.
VIVO and Amey are running community engagement events through their regions. At these events VIVO or Amey managers and operatives will discuss any concerns with families, complete any repairs that they can on the day, and work with supply partners to complete any outstanding gas safety inspections. If the supplier is unable to complete a repair on the day, it will book an appointment for a convenient time. These events are communicated to families via local social media channels, WhatsApp groups, emails, posters and leaflets, so please look out for upcoming events.
Missed appointments
Missed appointments have significantly reduced since the summer and we will continue our efforts to reduce these further.
Complaints
Pinnacle is significantly increasing staffing of the National Service Centres Customer Solutions team, which deals with complaints and compensation, from 14 to 56 staff. A dedicated Customer Service Manager has also been appointed to resolve