Military morale and satisfaction with the rate of pay have plummeted among military personnel, new data from the Ministry of Defence has revealed.

The UK Regular Armed Forces Continuous Attitude Survey results have shown that satisfaction with the rate of basic pay has decreased considerably in the last two years, falling to its lowest recorded level at 31 per cent.

Satisfaction with service life in general has taken a particularly big hit, having fallen to its lowest level since the question was first asked in 2007.

Morale in the armed forces has also dropped to a five-year low, with frustration particularly widespread due to the standard of military accommodation.

The annual survey has revealed just one in five servicemen and women are satisfied with the speed and quality of maintenance repairs to their properties.

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has said military families have been left exasperated by the service provided by Pinnacle, the company contracted to provide customer service by the Ministry of Defence.

Issues have included waits of over a year for home faults to be fixed, the wrong contractors being sent and calls and complaints not being logged.

Now, the Lib Dem MP has said the Government "must wake up" to the struggles of service personnel, and is urging ministers to sort out substandard forces accommodation.

She said: “This survey shows morale is at rock bottom among our brave servicemen and women and must act as a wake-up call for the Government.

“We rely on our armed forces to keep us safe and it is simply not good enough that they are forced to live in cold, faulty and mouldy homes.

“Here in north Shropshire, families with young children have been left with leaking roofs for years and without heating for weeks due to being messed around by contractors.

“Many of the personnel I’ve spoken to are now weighing up whether it is worth continuing with their military careers when that means putting up with such poor conditions.

“The Government urgently needs to sort out its maintenance contracts and must act to bring service family accommodation up to standard.”

A spokesperson for Pinnacle Service Families said: ‘We provide accommodation management services on behalf of the MOD, such as running the call centre where families report issues with their homes as well as arranging move-ins and move-outs when they change location.

"We do not undertake repairs; these are done by contractors who are separately contracted to the MOD. Our performance, In areas completely within our control, meets or exceeds levels set by the MOD.’