Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20144 on Social Rented Housing: Veterans, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of recording the armed forces status of social housing applicants.

The Localism Act 2011 gave local authorities the power to decide who qualifies for social housing and to set waiting list policies appropriate to their local area. In June 2020 we published new statutory guidance for local authorities that set out how they can identify applications from members of the Armed Forces, veterans and their families, to ensure that they are considered appropriately.

The guidance also asks local authorities to give ‘additional preference’ (high priority) to seriously injured, ill or disabled Service personnel and former members of the Armed Forces who already have ‘reasonable preference’ (priority).

The latest Local Authority Housing Statistics, available at Local Authority Housing Statistics data returns for 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), provide data for those households on housing registers which include members of the UK Armed Forces community with additional preference.