Official Statistics

Forces Help to Buy Quarterly Statistics - Quarter 1 2022/23

Updated 4 May 2023

This quarterly statistical release provides summary statistics on applications, payments and purchases made under the Forces Help to Buy (FHTB) scheme. In addition, biannual statistics are provided on the proportions of payments by region and on the age of personnel using the scheme.

FHTB is an advance of salary scheme which was introduced in April 2014 and allows Regular Armed Forces personnel to borrow money to buy their first home or move to a new location.

Main Points and Trends

Since the Scheme began:

• 64,954 First Stage FHTB applications have been received.

• 31,706 of these applications have proceeded to the Second Stage.

• Payment has been made to around 27,608 applicants, totalling over £421 million, an average of approximately £15,280 per claim.

• At least 95% of payments, as at 30 June 2022, have already resulted in a purchased property or extension.

Figure 1: FHTB Payments – Q1 2014/15 to Q1 2022/23

Source: DBS

Figure 1 is a bar chart showing the number of FHTB payments made each financial quarter between April 2014 to June 2022 and the quarterly average for each financial year. The data for this chart is available in table 2a of the supplementary tables.

In Q1 (1 April to 30 June 2022) 2022/23:

• 1,417 First Stage applications were received.

• 600 Second Stage applications were received.

• 529 payments were made to Service personnel.

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Please refer to the Supplementary tables for all data presented in this publication.

Introduction

The FHTB scheme was launched in April 2014 with the aim of supporting and encouraging home ownership amongst Service Personnel whose level of home ownership has historically been lower than the rest of the UK population. Regular Service Personnel can borrow up to 50% of their gross annual salary (to a maximum of £25,000) to buy their first home, move to another or, in exceptional circumstances, extend an existing property, the scheme is due to end on the 31 December 2022.

First stage applications are those which pass initial eligibility checks, and second stage applications are those which pass detailed eligibility checks.

First and second stage application data and the values of FHTB payments are provided by Defence Business Services (DBS). The service and rank breakdowns are provided from Joint Personnel Administration (JPA). The two sets of data are ‘as at’ different dates in a month. DBS data is as at the end of the preceding month and JPA data is produced according to when the last pay run for military personnel was completed. The pay run occurs in the middle of the month and varies according to the month length.

Data on the proportion of payments that result in purchases of properties or extensions under the scheme are provided by Defence Business Services (DBS) on a quarterly basis. Some FHTB payments do not result in the purchase of a property or the extension of an existing property due, for example, to changes in personal circumstances or to the withdrawal of a party from a property chain.

These statistics were published monthly from March 2016 to November 2017 before being released quarterly.

Applications

Figure 2: FHTB First Stage Applications — Q1 2014/15 to Q1 2022/23

Source: DBS

Figure 2 is a bar chart showing the number of first stage applications made between April 2014 and June 2022 with a line representing the quarterly average of first stage applications for each financial year. Q3 2016, 2018 and 2019 are labelled as points where an extension of the scheme was announced. The data in this chart is available in table 1a of the supplementary tables.

There were 1,417 first stage applications in Q1 2022/23, a 38% decrease in applications compared to the same time period last year Q1 2021/22 (2,301).

Table 1: Quarterly average number of First Stage applications by financial year.

Financial year	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
Quarterly average of first stage applications	1,900	1,646	1,928	1,995	1,923	2,210	2,534	1,749

The quarterly average of first stage applications for the financial year 2021/22 has decreased 31% since 2020/21. The stamp duty holiday introduced in July 2020 ended in Q1 2021/22 in Scotland and Wales and in Q2 in England and Northern Ireland. There was a period of stability for first stage applications between the financial years 2016/17 and 2019/20.

Applications

Figure 3: FHTB Second Stage Applications – Q1 2014/15 to Q1 2022/23

Source: DBS

Figure 3 is a bar chart showing the number of second stage applications made between April 2014 and June 2022 with a line representing the quarterly average of second stage applications for each financial year. Q3 2016, 2018 and 2019 are labelled as points where an extension of the scheme was announced. The data for this chart is available in table 1a of the supplementary tables.

There were 600 second stage applications in Q1 2022/23, this is a 39% decrease in applications compared to the same time period last year Q1 2021/22 (980).

Q1 2022/23 is the third lowest number of second stage applications recorded, after Q1 2020/21 (532) and Q3 2021/22 (550).

Table 2: Quarterly average number of second stage applications by financial year

Financial year	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
Quarterly average of second stage applications	1,142	1,031	1,093	1,053	932	879	945	703

The quarterly average of second stage applications for the financial year 2021/22 has decreased 26% since 2020/21, and is the lowest quarterly average recorded since the scheme started. There was a period of stability for second stage applications between the financial years 2015/16 and 2017/18, since then there has been a decline in the quarterly average of second stage applications.

Payments and Purchases

A total of 27,608 payments have been made under the FHTB scheme since it was introduced in April 2014 (as at 30 June 2022). With an average claim of approximately £15,280, this has resulted in expenditure of over £421 million.

Figure 4: FHTB Payments – Q1 2014/15 to Q1 2022/23

Source: DBS

Figure 4 is the same bar chart as in figure 1 with additional reference points, Q3 2016, 2018 and 2019 are labelled as points where an extension of the scheme was announced The data for this chart is available in table 2a of the supplementary tables.

There were 529 payments made in Q1 2022/23, this is a 47% decrease in payments compared to the same time period last year Q1 2021/22 (995).

Table 3: Quarterly average number of payments

Financial year	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
Quarterly average of Payments	762	899	973	941	871	815	772	738

The quarterly average for the number of payments in 2021/22 decreased by 4% compared to 2020/21 and is the lowest recorded quarterly average since the scheme started. The quarterly average number of payments has been steadily decreasing since 2017/18 between 4% to 7% each year.

Payments and Purchases by Rank and Service

Figure 5: Payments by Rank, Q1 2022/23

Source: JPA

Figure 5 is a bar chart showing the percentage of payments made to Officers and Other Ranks in Q1 2022/23.

In Q1 2022/23, the highest percentage of payments were made to Other Ranks, 78%, compared to 22% of payments made to Officers^{[footnote 1]}.

For comparative purposes, the regular full-time trained Armed Forces strength population is made up of 81% Other Ranks and 19% Officers^{[footnote 2]}.

Figure 6: Payments by Service, Q1 2022/23

Source: JPA

Figure 6 is a bar chart showing the percentage of payments made to Army, Royal Navy/Marines and Royal Air Force personnel in Q1 2022/23.

The highest percentage of the payments in Q1 2022/23 were made to Army personnel, 52%, with 26% of payments made to Royal Navy/Royal Marines personnel and 22% to RAF personnel^{[footnote 1]}.

For comparative purposes, the regular full-time trained Armed Forces strength population is made up of 55% Army personnel, 22% RN/RM personnel and 23% RAF personnel^{[footnote 2]}.

It is estimated that at least 95% of payments, as at 30 June 2022, have already resulted in a purchased property or extension. There is a small lag between payments and loan repayments once a property has been purchased or extended. Some FHTB payments do not result in the purchase of a property or the extension of an existing property, due, for example, to changes in personal circumstance or to the withdrawal of a party from a property chain.

Glossary

Forces Help to Buy (FHTB): FHTB is an advance of salary scheme which was introduced in April 2014 and allows Regular Armed Forces personnel to borrow money in order to buy their first home or move to a new location.

Regular Armed Forces Personnel: Full time Service personnel excluding Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel.

First Stage applications: Applications which pass initial eligibility checks.

Second Stage applications: Applications which pass detailed eligibility checks.

Defence Business Services (DBS): Organisation which provides corporate services, such as recruitment and payroll, across the Ministry of Defence.

Joint Personnel Administration (JPA): The system used by the Armed Forces to deal with matters of pay, leave and other personnel administrative tasks. JPA replaced several single Service IT systems and was implemented in April 2006 for RAF, November 2006 for Naval Service and April 2007 for Army.

Q1: April to June.

Q2: July to September.

Q3: October to December.

Q4: January to March.

Rounding

Payment figures in this publication have been rounded to the nearest £1 and the average payment rounded to nearest £10. Percentages are calculated from unrounded data and rounded to the nearest whole number, therefore may not sum to 100%.

Statistics quoted in the narrative may be rounded for clarity, with more precise figures available in the Supplementary tables

Revisions

Corrections to the published statistics will be made if errors are found, or if figures change because of improvements to methodology or changes to definitions. When making corrections, we will follow the Ministry of Defence Statistics, revisions and corrections policy. All corrected figures will be identified by the symbol [r], and an explanation will be given of the reason for and size of the revision. Corrections which would have a significant impact on the utility of the statistics will be corrected as soon as possible, by reissuing the publication. Minor errors will also be corrected, but for convenience these corrections may be timed to coincide with the next release of the publication.

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1. JPA data is produced according to when the last pay run for military personnel was completed. The pay run occurs in the middle of the month, which varies according to the month length. Therefore, the Officer/ Rank and Service breakdowns represent the number of payments recorded between the pay runs in that month and the preceding month. ↩ ↩²

2. Based on figures as at 1 April 2022 taken from the Defence Statistics Quarterly Service Personnel Publication. Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100%. ↩ ↩²