Official Statistics

Forces Help to Buy Scheme quarterly statistics quarter 1 2020/21

Updated 29 April 2021

Main Points and Trends

Since the Scheme began:

• 48,074 First Stage FHTB applications have been received.
• 25,050 of these applications have proceeded to the Second Stage.
• Payment has been made to around 21,400 applicants, totalling around £323 million, an average of approximately £15,100 per claim.
• At least 95% of payments, as at 30 June 2020, have already resulted in a purchased property or extension.

Figure 1: FHTB Payments, Q1 2014/15 to Q1 2020/21

Source: DBS

In Q1 (1 April to 30 June) 2020/21:

• 1,669 First Stage applications were received.
• 532 Second Stage applications were received.
• 378 payments were made to Service personnel.

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Please refer to the Supplementary tables containing 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.

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 2020/21

Source: DBS

Figure 2 shows a 26% decrease in the number of First Stage applications when comparing Q1 2019/20 (2,247 applications) and the latest Q1 2020/21 (1,669 applications). Compared to previous years, 2020/21 Q1 First Stage application figures are the lowest Q1 figures seen to date. The decrease in the 2020/21 Q1 First Stage applications coincides with the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic which has had a largely negative social and economic impact on the United Kingdom.

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
Quarterly average of 1st Stage Applications	1900	1646	1928	1995	1923	2,210

The quarterly average, which increased by 17% between 15/16 and 16/17 financial years, remained relatively stable between financial year 16/17 and 18/19. However, the quarterly average has increased 15% between 18/19 and 19/20 (see Figure 2 and Table 1). It should be noted that the average for 2014/15 is inflated by the high number of applications received when the scheme first opened.

Applications

Figure 3: FHTB Second Stage Applications, Q1 2014/15 to Q1 2020/21

Source: DBS

Figure 3 shows a 44% decrease in the number of Second Stage applications when comparing Q1 2019/20 (956 applications) and the latest Q1 2020/21 (532 applications). This follows a general decline in Q1 second stage applications since 2016/17. When compared to Q1 2019/20, the decrease in the 2020/21 Q1 Second Stage applications coincides with the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic which has had a largely negative social and economic impact of the United Kingdom. 2020/21 Q1 Second Stage application figures are the lowest figures seen to date.

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
Quarterly average of 2nd Stage Applications	1,142	1,031	1,093	1,053	932	879

Although remaining broadly stable between 2015/16 and 2017/18, the quarterly average for the number of Second Stage applications has decreased 11% between 2017/18 and 2018/19 and a further 6% between 2018/19 and 2019/20 (see Figure 3 and Table 2). It should be noted that the average for 2014/15 is inflated by the high number of applications received when the scheme first opened.

Payments and Purchases

A total of 21,417 payments have been made under the FHTB scheme since it was introduced in April 2014 (as at 30 June 2020). With an average claim of approximately £15,100, this has resulted in expenditure of around £322 million.

Figure 4: FHTB Payments - Q1 2014/15 to Q1 2020/21

Source: DBS

Figure 4 shows a 55% decrease between the number of payments for Q1 2019/20 (843 payments) and the latest Q1 2020/21(378 payments). 2020/21 is the third financial year since 2017/18 where there has been a decrease in Q1 payments compared to the previous financial year.
Q1 payments in 2020/21 are at their lowest levels when excluding the initial Q1 2014/15 when the scheme was launched. The decrease in the 2020/21 Q1 payments coincides with the start of the COVID-19 global pandemic which has had a largely negative social and economic impact on the United Kingdom.

Table 3: Quarterly average number of payments

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

The quarterly average for the number of payments increased 18% between 14/15 and 15/16. Averages increased to a peak in 2016/17 (973) but have decreased (between 3% and 7%) each financial year since then. Please note that the average for 2014/15 is reduced by the low number of payments made when the scheme opened.

Payments and Purchases by rank and service

In Q1 2020/21, 16% of payments were made to Officers compared to 84% of payments made to Other Ranks1. For comparative purposes, 19% of Officers and 81% of Other Ranks make up the Regular Full-time trained strength population2.

49% of the payments in Q1 2020/21 were made to Army personnel, with 27% of payments made to Royal Navy/Royal Marines personnel and 24% to RAF personnel1. For comparative purposes, 55% of Army personnel, 22% of RN/RM and 23% of RAF personnel make up the Regular Full-time trained Armed Forces strength population2.

Figure 5: Payments by Rank, Q1 2020/21

Source: JPA

Figure 6: Payments by Service, Q1 2020/21

Source: JPA

It is estimated that at least 95% of payments, as at 30 June 2020, 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.

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 Based on figures as at 1 April 2020 taken from the Defence Statistics’ Quarterly Service Personnel Publication. Due to rounding, percentages may not sum to 100%.

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.

Rounding

Payment figures in this publication have been rounded to the nearest £1 and the average payment rounded to nearest £100. 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

Further Information

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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