The Armed Forces mortgage scheme almost always refers to Forces Help to Buy (FHTB), a Ministry of Defence scheme that lets most regular service personnel borrow up to 50% of their gross annual salary, capped at £25,000, completely interest-free. You repay it straight from your pay over up to 10 years, and you can put it towards a deposit and the other costs of buying a home. It was made a permanent part of Defence accommodation policy from 1 January 2023, so it is not a temporary offer that is about to disappear.
At Spolton Mortgages in Sleaford, we are former bank managers who advise families right across Lincolnshire, including personnel based at RAF Cranwell, RAF Waddington, RAF Coningsby and RAF Digby. This guide explains exactly how the scheme works in 2026, who it suits, who should pause, and how it fits alongside an ordinary mortgage.
What exactly is Forces Help to Buy?
Forces Help to Buy is an interest-free advance on your salary, not a mortgage and not a grant. The MOD lends you the money, and you pay every penny back through automatic deductions from your pay via JPAC. Because it is interest-free, the amount you borrow is the amount you repay, with no extra added on. The scheme has been running as a pilot since 2014, has helped more than 27,000 service personnel onto the property ladder, and had 14,333 regular personnel using it as at 31 December 2024.
There is one small ongoing cost: a modest monthly insurance premium (typically a few pounds a month, scaled to the size of your loan) that clears the outstanding balance in the event of death or invalidity. That is worth knowing about, but it is a long way from the interest you would pay on a personal loan for the same sum.
When does Forces Help to Buy end?
Forces Help to Buy does not end. It began as a temporary scheme but was made a permanent part of the armed forces offer in 2023, so there is no closing date. Under the current rules in JSP 464, eligible regular personnel can still borrow up to 50% of their salary, capped at £25,000, interest-free. If the rules ever change, we will always advise you on what applies at the time.
Who is eligible for the scheme?
Forces Help to Buy is open to most regular service personnel who have completed at least 12 months of service and have more than six months left to serve at the point they apply. Reservists, the Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS) and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary are not eligible, as the scheme is for regular service personnel. There are some exceptions, for example around medical discharge, so the sensible first move is to check your own position on JPA or with your chain of command before you plan around it.
Eligibility for the FHTB advance is separate from qualifying for the mortgage itself. A lender will still run a full affordability assessment on your income, outgoings and credit profile, and the FHTB deductions from your pay count as a monthly commitment in that assessment. In other words, the scheme helps with the deposit, but you still need to satisfy a lender that the mortgage is affordable.
How much can you borrow, and what does it cost?
You can borrow up to 50% of your gross annual salary, up to the £25,000 ceiling. So the cap only bites once your salary reaches £50,000; below that, your entitlement is half your salary. Here is how that plays out at a few illustrative salary levels, with the monthly repayment based on the full term of 10 years.
| Gross annual salary | FHTB advance (50%, capped at £25,000) | Approx. repayment over 10 years |
|---|---|---|
| £28,000 | £14,000 | £117 / month |
| £36,000 | £18,000 | £150 / month |
| £44,000 | £22,000 | £183 / month |
| £50,000 or more | £25,000 (cap) | £208 / month |
You are free to repay faster than 10 years if you prefer, which clears the deduction from your pay sooner. If you leave the Services before the advance is fully repaid, any outstanding balance is recovered from your terminal benefits, so it does not simply vanish.
What can the Forces Help to Buy loan be used for?
The advance is designed to help you buy or improve a home for you or your immediate family to live in. In practice it can go towards:
- the deposit on a first home, or on a larger home when you move
- solicitor’s and conveyancing fees
- estate agent’s costs
- certain costs of extending or improving a property you already own
What it cannot do is fund a buy-to-let. The property has to be for immediate occupation by you or your family, so it is not a route into a rental portfolio. If a landlord purchase is what you are weighing up, that is a different conversation, and our buy-to-let advice covers it properly.
How you repay Forces Help to Buy
You repay the advance directly from your salary, interest-free, over a period of up to 10 years, so you pay back only what you borrowed. If you leave the service before it is repaid, the outstanding balance usually becomes due, so it is worth factoring your plans in from the start. In practice it is usually recovered from your final pay or resettlement, and in some cases you can arrange to keep repaying it after you leave, so check the exact process with JPAC or your unit RAO. A lender counts the monthly repayment as a commitment, and we take it into account when we work out your mortgage affordability.
How does Forces Help to Buy work alongside your mortgage?
The FHTB advance and your mortgage are two separate arrangements that sit side by side. The advance boosts your deposit, and a bigger deposit usually unlocks a lower loan-to-value band, which tends to mean sharper interest rates. As an illustration, as of July 2026 the Bank of England base rate is 3.75%, average standard variable rates sit around 7.13%, and competitive fixed rates start from roughly 4.3%. Moving from, say, a 10% deposit to a 15% deposit with the help of FHTB can be the difference between two of those rate bands.
Not every lender treats the scheme the same way. Some are very comfortable with service income, postings and overseas assignments; others are more cautious. Because we work across the whole of the market, we can steer you towards lenders that understand military pay and the FHTB deduction, rather than leaving you to guess. You can get a rough sense of the numbers first with our Armed Forces Help to Buy calculator and affordability calculator.
How does the scheme fit the Lincolnshire market?
This is where FHTB tends to stretch furthest, because Lincolnshire property is more affordable than much of the country. Around late 2025 the average Lincolnshire property price sat near £236,000, with Lincoln closer to £217,000. In towns and villages such as Sleaford, North Hykeham, Branston and Welton, prices often fall below those averages, so a £25,000 advance can represent a genuinely meaningful slice of a deposit rather than a token amount.
The county is also densely served by RAF stations, which makes the scheme especially relevant locally.
| Station | Nearby towns and villages worth a look |
|---|---|
| RAF Cranwell | Sleaford, Ruskington, Leasingham |
| RAF Waddington | Waddington, Bracebridge Heath, North Hykeham |
| RAF Coningsby | Coningsby, Tattershall, Woodhall Spa |
| RAF Digby | Scopwick, Metheringham, Sleaford |
What other help can serving personnel claim?
Two further points are worth putting on your radar. First, since March 2024 there has been additional support for personnel required to move accommodation on a new assignment who are buying a first home: a refund of up to £1,500 of legal expenses. That sits on top of the FHTB advance itself.
Second, stamp duty. If you are a first-time buyer in England, you pay no Stamp Duty Land Tax on a property costing up to £300,000, and a reduced rate on the portion between £300,001 and £500,000. Those thresholds reverted from the higher temporary levels on 1 April 2025 and are unchanged in 2026. Given typical Lincolnshire prices, many first-time buyers here fall entirely within the nil-rate band. You can check your own figure with our stamp duty calculator.
Who should think carefully before using it?
Forces Help to Buy is a strong scheme, but it is not automatically right for everyone. A few honest cautions:
- The repayment reduces your take-home pay for up to a decade, and lenders count that deduction against your affordability, which can slightly lower the mortgage you qualify for.
- If you expect to leave the Services soon, remember the balance is recovered from your terminal benefits.
- It does not remove the need for a sound overall plan; a larger deposit is helpful, but the mortgage still has to be comfortable month to month, not just on paper.
- It cannot be used for buy-to-let or for a home you will not live in.
None of this is a reason to avoid the scheme. It is a reason to look at it as part of the whole picture, which is exactly the sort of thing our team talks through with families every week.
How do you apply, step by step?
- Confirm your eligibility on JPA or through your chain of command.
- Work out your likely advance and monthly figures using the calculators above.
- Speak to an adviser and get a mortgage agreement in principle, ideally with a lender that is comfortable with service income.
- Submit your FHTB self-service application on JPA.
- Shortlist homes near your station that fit the budget, then proceed to full mortgage application and completion.
Common questions
Is Forces Help to Buy still available in 2026?
Yes. It was made a permanent part of Defence accommodation policy from 1 January 2023 and remains open in 2026 on the same core terms: up to 50% of salary, capped at £25,000, interest-free, repaid over up to 10 years.
Can I use it to buy a new-build home?
Yes. The advance can go towards a new-build as long as it is for you or your family to live in. New-build purchases have their own quirks around timescales and valuations, which our new-build mortgage advice covers.
Does the loan affect how much I can borrow on a mortgage?
The deduction from your pay is treated as a monthly commitment, so it is factored into affordability. The upside is that the larger deposit can move you into a lower loan-to-value band with better rates, which often more than offsets it. An adviser can model both effects together.
More on Forces Help to Buy
Two of you both serving? See Forces Help to Buy joint applications. Wondering if you can use it more than once? See can you use Forces Help to Buy twice. And work out the figures with the Forces Help to Buy calculator.
Talk it through with a Sleaford team that knows the scheme
Forces Help to Buy can be a real leg-up onto the ladder, particularly with Lincolnshire prices where they are. If you are based at Cranwell, Waddington, Coningsby, Digby or anywhere across the county, we can match your FHTB advance to the right lender and mortgage. Start with our Spolton’s Forces Help to Buy advisers, try the calculator, or contact us for a friendly, no-pressure chat.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
