Forces Help to Buy Scheme
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of serving personnel in the (a) Army, (b) RAF, (c) Royal Navy and (d) Royal Marines were using the Forces Help to Buy Scheme as of 24 March 2025.
Answered by Al Carns
Data on the Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) scheme is routinely published by the Ministry of Defence, with the next release scheduled for May 2025. The latest published data as at 31 December 2024 can be found at the following gov.uk link:
Figures in this response relate to active accounts as at 31 December 2024. Therefore, figures will differ from published statistics, which relate to all accounts since the beginning of the FHTB scheme.
As at 31 December 2024, 14,333 regular Serving personnel were using the FHTB scheme.
The following table shows engagement with the Forces Help to Buy scheme by Service as at 31 December 2024.
Service | Forces Help to Buy total engagement by Service (regular personnel only) | % of Service |
Navy | 3,294 | 12.95 |
Royal Marines | 829 | 12.79 |
Army | 6,790 | 8.65 |
RAF | 3,420 | 11.26 |
The following table shows the number of service personnel using the Forces Help to Buy Scheme by rank as at 31 December 2024.
NATO rank | Number of Service personnel |
OF1 | 158 |
OF2 | 2,001 |
OF3 | 1,252 |
OF4 | 325 |
OF5 | 61 |
OF6 | 15 |
OF7 | 2 |
OR2 | 752 |
OR3 | 663 |
OR4 | 3,251 |
OR6 | 2,949 |
OR7 | 1,769 |
OR8 | 765 |
OR9 | 370 |
Total | 14,333 |
The following table shows the number of service personnel using the Forces Help to Buy Scheme by marital status as at 31 December 2024.
Marital status category | Number of Service personnel |
Married or in a registered Civil Partnership | 6,455 |
Married or in a registered Civil Partnership to a Service Person who is Category 1S* | 288 |
Married or in a registered Civil Partnership to a Civil Servant | 81 |
Married or in a registered Civil Partnership to a Service Person who is Category 5S* | 377 |
Prime carer and provider for child | 401 |
Separated providing support as a result of court order | 24 |
Separated providing voluntary support | 914 |
All other members of Armed Forces | 5,793 |
Total | 14,333 |
* Personal Status Categories (PStat Cats) are used to denote the entitlement to allowances and accommodation based on marital and service status. Specifically:
- PStat Cat 1S: This category refers to personnel who are married or in a registered civil partnership with a service person who is designated as PStat Cat 5S.
- PStat Cat 5S: This category refers to personnel who are married or in a registered civil partnership with a service person who is designated as PStat Cat 1S.
These categories are important for administrative purposes within the Armed Forces as they affect the allocation of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) and Single Living Accommodation (SLA), as well as other allowances and entitlements.
The following two tables show the number of service personnel using the Forces Help to Buy Scheme by age as at 31 December 2024.
Age range | Age as at 31 December 2024 | Number of Service personnel | Number of Service personnel by age range |
18 - 25 | 18 | [c] | 777 |
19 | [c] | ||
20 | 18 | ||
21 | 352 | ||
22 | 59 | ||
23 | 133 | ||
24 | 210 | ||
25 | 322 | ||
26 - 40 | 26 | 445 | 10,380 |
27 | 520 | ||
28 | 590 | ||
29 | 700 | ||
30 | 755 | ||
31 | 749 | ||
32 | 731 | ||
33 | 782 | ||
34 | 837 | ||
35 | 790 | ||
36 | 730 | ||
37 | 707 | ||
38 | 740 | ||
39 | 722 | ||
40 | 582 | ||
41 - 55 | 41 | 555 | 3,143 |
42 | 431 | ||
43 | 404 | ||
44 | 333 | ||
45 | 323 | ||
46 | 250 | ||
47 | 175 | ||
48 | 145 | ||
49 | 120 | ||
50 | 103 | ||
51 | 87 | ||
52 | 84 | ||
53 | 67 | ||
54 | 39 | ||
55 | 27 | ||
56 - 65 | 56 | 15 | 33 |
57 | 8 | ||
58 | [c] | ||
59 | [c] | ||
60 | 3 | ||
61 | [c] | ||
62 | [c] | ||
63 | - | ||
64 | - | ||
65 | [c] |
Figures fewer than 3 have been replaced with [c] to limit inadvertent disclosure of personal data.
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