Are you a dual serving couple and married or in a civil partnership? Two welcome changes have recently been made to accommodation policy that might affect you.
1. No need to move because of rank difference
- When partners are based in the same location, but the licensee is posted away before their partner, it is acceptable for the couple to swap their PStat Cats to keep their quarter in that location.
- In some recent cases, where there has been a difference in SFA/SSFA entitlement due to rank, the couple have been advised they will need to move properties at the current location.
- The accommodation policy team has recently written to say that it supports the continued occupation of the SFA/SSFA (with the exception of tied accommodation) and that there is no expectation that a family must move in these circumstances.
2. Applying for SFA between two duty stations
- If your duty stations are within 100 miles of each other and it would be too far for the non-licence holder (PStat Cat 5s) to commute from the SFA at their partner’s duty station, the licence holder (PStat Cat 1s) is now entitled to apply for Service Family Accommodation (SFA) at the midway point between the two duty stations.
- This means that if SFA isn’t available at the midway point, then Substitute Service Family Accommodation (SSFA) will now be an option but will only be sourced at the midway location.
Where both spouses or civil partners are serving, either at the same or different duty stations, the main accommodation licence holder has a personal status category of PStat Cat 1s and the other is designated PStat Cat 5s.
For more information specific to your particular circumstances, speak to your unit admin team.