The number of military homes that are too mouldy to live in has risen by two-thirds, figures show, as hundreds of families complain every month.
Maintenance contractors were contacted about damp and mould thousands of times in the last eight months in the latest uncomfortable revelation for ministers around substandard accommodation for troops.
A total of 1,324 properties were not allocated to servicemen and their families because of damp or mould issues last year, according to Ministry of Defence figures.
That is an increase of 65 per cent over the past two years, after 801 properties were not allocated for the same reason in 2020.
Meanwhile, some 2,684 service families called the national service centre run by Pinnacle Group, which serves families in 49,000 properties nationwide, to complain about damp and mould between April and December last year, an average of 336 per month.
'Consistently failing our soldiers away from battleground'
Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chairman of the defence select committee, told The Telegraph: “We rightly proclaim to have the best military in the world, highly trained and well-equipped.
“But away from the battlefield fields and training grounds, we are consistently failing our soldiers by providing substandard accommodation.
“Welfare of our troops must receive the same priority as training or soldiers will vote with their feet and quit the forces.”
Mark Francois, who also sits on the defence select committee, added: "The new contract for maintenance of service families accommodation is a total shambles. We call our service personnel heroes - and they are - but we don’t always treat them and their loved ones accordingly, and then we wonder why they leave."
Luke Pollard, Labour’s shadow Armed Forces minister, said: “This Government is breaking the promises we make to those who serve our country, with families across the country facing miserable conditions and almost one in three homes awaiting repair this winter.
“The Tories must tackle the failings of their contractors and deliver homes that Forces families are happy to live in.”
Richard Drax, a Tory member of the defence select committee, said Britain was “consistently failing our soldiers by providing substandard accommodation”.
Last month, the Telegraph revealed ministers were in talks to axe Pinnacle’s housing contract for military accommodation after families were forced to spend Christmas in mould-infested homes.
Pinnacle said it did not carry out property repairs, which are carried out by maintenance contractors Amey Defence Services and Vivo Defence Services, and pointed to its management of the property allocation process and helpdesks.
The Armed Forces Covenant, the contract between service personnel and wider society, says: “Where serving personnel are entitled to publicly provided accommodation, it should be of good quality, affordable and suitably located.”
Number of troops leaving army soars
Last week, The Telegraph reported the number of people leaving the Army has jumped by almost a fifth amid warnings that subpar accommodation is one of the factors driving troops out of the military.
Official figures published by the Ministry of Defence showed that 16,250 people left the UK regular Armed Forces in the 12 months to last October, an increase of 17.4 per cent compared with the previous year.
This represented the largest number of people leaving the military since 2016 and came as the overall number of personnel fell by more than three per cent.
In November, it emerged military families made more than 9,000 complaints about their accommodation in the space of just 16 months.
A spokesman for Vivo said it undertook phone-based assessments when a service family contacted Pinnacle to report damp or mould in a home in an area where it operated.
"We then appoint an external professional damp and mould surveyor to visit their home and identify and recommend actions we can take to solve it," the spokesman said. "We then implement these to give the family the safe, warm and secure home they deserve."
A Ministry of Defence spokesman insisted the number of calls received by Pinnacle did not equate to the number of mouldy homes as some called more than once, adding: "We have a robust plan in place to deal with damp and mould, backed by £73 million this financial year, and we do not allow the allocation of a home while it has this problem.
"Some personnel and their families are not receiving the level of accommodation services that they deserve, which is why the Defence Secretary and defence ministers are receiving daily updates on progress to resolve these problems and holding contractors to account."
A spokesman for Amey, which is increasing its number of response staff, said: "Unfortunately some older military housing can experience damp, particularly in winter.
"We are very aware of the impact this can have on residents and their families and make it a priority to respond and provide remedial action quickly, once issues are flagged to us by Pinnacle."