Self Storage For Forces Families Flexible Terms For Postings And Deployments

Posting order in, dates set by someone else — how do you store around that?

A posting order lands and the timeline shifts immediately. The quarter needs to be cleared, furniture needs somewhere to go, and the dates were set by the chain of command, not by you. If the serving member is already on exercise or getting ready to ship out, the whole thing falls to whoever is left holding the keys.

This is not an unusual situation. It is the ordinary shape of a forces family move. What makes it harder than a civilian house move is that the usual storage question, when do I need it and for how long, often does not have a clean answer. You might know the move-in date but not the move-out. You might know the rough tour length but not whether it runs long or cuts short.

This page explains how Wigwam’s terms work in that kind of uncertainty. What the deposit does and when it comes back. What happens to days you have paid for if the posting ends early. Where our nearest units are to the Warminster in Wiltshire garrison area, and what to expect from a quiet, unmanned market-town site you can use on your own schedule.

Why self storage and a posting go together

The practical fit is simple: a posting produces a gap between homes, and self storage fills it. But the version that actually works for a forces family is one where the terms are as flexible as the posting is unpredictable.

The quarter has to be cleared, whatever else is happening

When a posting order comes through, the married quarter typically has to be cleared by a fixed date. That date is not negotiable and it often arrives faster than expected. You need somewhere for the furniture, the boxes, the things that do not travel with you to the next location, and you need it to be ready quickly.

Self storage sits well here because it starts when you need it to start. There is no lead time tied to a removal company’s schedule or a new tenancy. You take a unit, you start moving things in, and the belongings wait for you. Clean, dry, individually alarmed. Nothing ties the start date to anything except the day you begin.

For the partner managing the clear while the serving member is already elsewhere, this matters more than it sounds. One fewer variable in a week that has too many.

Unaccompanied tours, deployments, and the gap in between

An unaccompanied tour might run six weeks or eighteen months. A deployment might be extended at short notice. The gap between one posting and the next permanent address can be a few weeks or the best part of a year.

Wigwam’s terms do not ask you to guess how long you will need the unit. You start when you need to start, and you leave when you are ready to leave, with two weeks’ notice. Whether the storage runs for two months or two years, the mechanics are the same. You pay for what you use. Nothing more is tied up than needs to be.

The partner managing the move without backup

This one comes up more often than providers acknowledge. The serving member is gone, or going, or already on the ground somewhere else. The partner is managing the clear, the removals firm, the handover, the new school, and the storage, all at the same time.

Our market-town sites are quiet and local. Smart entry means you do not need anyone to open the site for you. You arrive, you get in, and you work at your own pace. Between 6am and 10pm, every day of the week, it is yours to use without assistance. If you are fitting access around a school run or a working day, you have the hours to do it.

The terms that matter when dates are not yours to control

Wigwam’s contract bends to military dates rather than the other way around. The deposit comes back, unused days are refunded, and the minimum stay and notice period are both two weeks. Here is exactly what each of those means.

The deposit comes back – here is exactly how

You pay a refundable deposit when you take the unit. That deposit is not a fee and it is not lost if dates change. When you are ready to leave, you give two weeks’ notice, you clear the unit, and the account is settled. Once that is done, the deposit is returned to you. Nothing is held back unless there is something outstanding on the account.

For a forces family managing a move on someone else’s timeline, knowing the deposit comes back is not a small thing. It is the difference between committing to storage feeling financially exposed and committing knowing there is no penalty for leaving when the posting says to leave. Full terms are at wigwamstorage.co.uk/terms-conditions/.

Unused days refunded if you leave early

If your return date moves forward – the tour ends early, the next posting comes through ahead of schedule, the circumstances change – you do not pay for days you have not used. If you have paid to the end of a month and you clear the unit halfway through, the unused days are refunded.

This is the single term that matters most to forces families. Every provider says “flexible.” Wigwam’s version of flexible means you actually only pay for what you use. If the posting runs short, the storage cost runs short with it.

Two weeks minimum, two weeks notice – and nothing longer

The minimum stay is two weeks. The notice period is two weeks. That is the full extent of the commitment. There is no rolling six-month contract, no annual tie-in, no penalty for ending the storage sooner than planned.

In practice this means you do not need a confirmed end date to start. You take the unit when you need it, and you leave it when you are ready, with two weeks’ warning. If dates firm up later, the plan firms up with them. If dates shift again, the two-week notice is all you owe.

Ready to see what a unit would cost for your posting? Get a quote at quote.wigwamstorage.co.uk. No commitment, no long form.

What to put in store before you go

A Wigwam unit holds household goods well. Furniture, boxes, appliances, books, personal effects. The honest standard is clean, dry and secure. Here is what that means for what goes in, and what does not.

Furniture, boxes and the things you cannot take on a posting

The things that typically fill a forces family unit: sofas, beds, wardrobes, dining tables, kitchen equipment, the childrens’ toys and books, the things accumulated across a family home that have no business travelling on a posting. Clothes in wardrobe boxes, books in small boxes, fragile items well-packed.

What you need to know is that we do not offer climate control. We do not manage temperature or humidity. What we offer is clean, dry and secure, which is what furniture and packed boxes need for the months they are with us. If you have items that require controlled conditions, you will need a specialist facility for those. For the standard household contents of a forces family home, a Wigwam unit is the practical and honest choice.

What we do not store (vehicles, caravans, boats)

We store household goods. We do not store vehicles, caravans, motorhomes, motorbikes or boats. If a vehicle is part of what you need to sort before a posting, you will need a specialist vehicle or leisure storage provider for that. We will not be the right fit, and we would rather tell you plainly than have you arrive and find out.

Deliveries and removals – what to know about an unmanned site

Our sites are unmanned. That is by design: it keeps costs down and it means smart entry gives you direct access without needing anyone to be there. But it does mean one thing to plan for when a removals firm is involved.

If a removals company or courier is delivering goods to your unit, someone from your own side needs to be present to receive them. We do not sign for deliveries and we do not manage goods arriving on your behalf. If you are using a removals firm, coordinate with them so that you or someone you arrange is there when the van arrives. It is a simple thing to plan for, and worth confirming before the move day.

How much space you will need

Unit sizing depends on what you are clearing and how much of it you are putting in store rather than taking with you.

From a studio flat to a full family home – a rough guide

A rough starting point: a studio or one-bedroom flat typically fits into one of our smaller units. A two- or three-bedroom house needs something in the mid-range. A larger family home with a full set of furniture, appliances and packed belongings will need a bigger unit still.

These are rough guides. The variables that matter most are how much furniture you are putting in whole versus flat-packed, how densely you can stack boxes, and whether there is anything large and awkward that takes up more floor space than its weight would suggest. If you are unsure, err on the side of slightly more space rather than less. You will find it easier to fit and retrieve things in a unit that is not crammed.

Our storage sizes guide (reference it by name in the quote flow) gives more detail on what fits where.

Where to check current prices

We do not list prices on this page because they vary by location and unit size. The current pricing page is at wigwamstorage.co.uk/how-much-is-self-storage-in-the-uk and gives a clear picture of what to budget before you get a quote.

Keeping your belongings secure while you are away

The security question matters more for a forces family than for most. You are not popping in every few weeks to check. The goods may be in store for months with no one from your side anywhere near. The setup needs to hold without needing you to monitor it.

Individually alarmed units, clean, dry and secure

Every unit at Wigwam has its own alarm. This is not site-level security alone – it is unit-level. If someone opens a unit that is not theirs, it triggers. Your unit is not part of a communal space that relies on a perimeter being unbroken. Its alarm is specific to it.

The units are clean and dry. We maintain that standard because it is what furniture and belongings need. No damp, no debris, no evidence of previous use left behind. What goes in should come out in the same condition.

We do not offer climate control. There is no temperature management, no humidity regulation. What we offer is the honest baseline: secure, clean, dry, and individually alarmed. For most household goods, that is what matters.

Smart entry, 6am to 10pm, every day – on your schedule

Access is by smart entry, seven days a week, between 6am and 10pm. It is not 24-hour. That is a plain fact worth knowing before you book.

The access hours are broad enough to fit around most schedules. If a partner is running the move around work and a school run, there is plenty of time before and after. If a removal van is arriving at 7am, access is open. If a late-evening retrieval is needed, there is time for that too.

“Smart entry” is the right term for how the access works. You do not need to call ahead, you do not need anyone on site to let you in, and you do not need to fit your visit around staffed hours. You arrive, you access your unit, and you leave.

Cover for your goods while the unit is closed for months

Contents protection is mandatory at Wigwam. You cannot store with us without it. That is a condition of storage, not a recommendation. Here is how it works.

The RSA Self Storage Customers’ Goods policy, or prove your own

There are two routes. You can take the RSA Self Storage Customers’ Goods policy, which is available through Wigwam and is specific to goods held in a storage unit. Or you can demonstrate that an existing policy of your own extends to cover goods in a storage facility. If you go the second route, you will need to confirm it in writing.

Whichever route you take, you need to declare the full replacement value of everything in the unit. Under-insurance is not a grey area: if you declare half the value and make a claim, you recover half the loss, no more. Declare what it would actually cost to replace the contents, not what you paid for them originally or what you think they are worth now.

Full details of the cover options are at wigwamstorage.co.uk/contents-protection/.

Declaring the right value – why it matters

For a forces family with a full household in store for a long tour, the total replacement value can be more than it first appears. Add up the furniture, appliances, clothing, personal items, and anything else in the unit, room by room if that helps, and declare the total at replacement cost.

If you have questions about what your cover includes, what a claim process looks like, or whether your existing policy extends to a storage unit, speak to the insurer directly or to an independent broker. Wigwam can signpost but cannot advise on insurance. If your policy covers goods in England and Wales, be aware that cover terms and rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland can differ. Check with your insurer for the position that applies to your specific policy and location.

Our market-town locations, including Warminster in Wiltshire

Wigwam Self Storage operates across our UK market-town locations. These are quiet, local sites in towns rather than industrial edge-of-city facilities, which matters for a partner managing access alone without a long drive.

Warminster in Wiltshire – near the garrison, in the town

Wigwam Self Storage Warminster is well-placed for families connected to the garrison at Warminster. It is a market-town site, local and accessible, not a large out-of-town facility. If you are clearing a quarter in the area or need somewhere within reach of the garrison for the duration of a posting, it is the nearest Wigwam location to that part of Wiltshire.

A specific page for Warminster is being confirmed – in the meantime, the full locations hub lists all current sites and lets you check what is nearest to you. (Verify the Warminster-specific slug before publishing – do not invent it.)

Bath, Lincoln, and our wider network of market towns

Forces families based further afield will find sites across our UK market-town network. Wigwam Self Storage Bath serves the Bath and wider Somerset area. Wigwam Self Storage Lincoln covers Lincolnshire, a county with a long military presence. For the full list and to find the nearest site to your posting area, the locations hub is the right starting point.

Getting a quote for your posting

Getting a quote is straightforward and does not lock you into anything.

What to have ready when you ask for a quote

Two things help: a rough sense of how much you are putting in store – a flat’s worth, a house’s worth, or a specific set of items – and a start date, even if the end date is uncertain. That is enough to get a realistic quote. You do not need exact measurements and you do not need a confirmed departure date before you make contact.

Start at quote.wigwamstorage.co.uk.

If your dates are not fixed yet

The two-week minimum means you do not need a confirmed posting end date before you take a unit. You can start when you need to, and when the return date firms up, the notice period is two weeks from whenever that is. The plan can stay loose until the posting lets it firm up.

If the order is likely but not yet official, it still makes sense to ask for a quote. Knowing what a unit would cost and what sizes are available in your nearest location means you are ready to move the moment you need to.

When the order lands, we are here. Get a quote at quote.wigwamstorage.co.uk.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the serving member’s partner or a family member manage the unit if the serving member is deployed?

Yes, and for most forces families that is exactly how it works, because the move is often run by whoever is left holding the keys while the serving member is already elsewhere. The account is held by a named renter, and that does not have to be the person who is away. The partner managing the clear can hold the account, take the unit, move things in, access it, and close it when the time comes, all without the serving member being present.

A couple of points are worth settling at the start so there are no snags later. Decide who holds the account and who needs access, and raise it with the support team at quote stage; the formal position on access arrangements is in the terms and conditions. Because the sites are unmanned and entry is by smart entry, the person managing the unit uses their own authorised access and does not need anyone to let them in, which is the whole point for a partner fitting a move around a school run and a job. If the serving member is the named holder but is deployed when the unit needs closing, sort the access arrangement before they go, rather than trying to fix it from overseas. The practical reality is that one fewer dependency on the absent person is one fewer thing to go wrong in a week with too many moving parts. Set it up so the person actually on the ground can do everything the unit requires, and the deployment stops being an obstacle to managing the storage at all.

What if the posting is cancelled or changed after I have already taken a unit?

You are not stuck with it, because nothing about the unit is tied to the posting going ahead. If the order is cancelled, brought forward, or changed entirely, the storage flexes the same way it does for everything else: you give two weeks notice whenever you need to, clear the unit, settle the account, and the refundable deposit comes back. There is no fixed term you are locked into and no penalty for the plan changing under you, which it does often enough in service life.

The detail that matters most here is the refund of unused days. If you have paid to the end of a period and the situation changes so you clear the unit partway through, you are refunded for the days you did not use. So a cancelled posting does not leave you paying for storage you no longer need; you only ever pay for the time your things were actually with us. Equally, if the posting is merely delayed rather than cancelled, you can simply keep the unit running until the new dates firm up, since there is no upper limit on how long you stay. The two-week minimum is the only floor, and it does not compound with the two-week notice; they are separate things, the shortest stay and the warning you give to leave. This is the part that takes the financial worry out of committing before dates are confirmed. You can take a unit on a likely posting that has not yet been made official, knowing that if it falls through, closing the unit costs you nothing beyond the time you actually used it. The contract bends to the order, not the other way round.

Does Wigwam offer a forces or military discount, and how does that compare to the flexible terms?

We do not run a published forces discount, and we would rather be straight about that than imply otherwise. What we offer instead is the set of flexible terms described throughout this page, and for a service family those terms are usually worth more in practice than a headline percentage off. The reason is simple: the cost that hurts a forces move is not the rate, it is paying for storage you cannot use because the dates moved.

Consider what the terms actually do. Unused days are refunded if a tour ends early or a posting comes through ahead of schedule, so a shortened stay costs less, not the same. There is no long tie-in, no rolling annual contract, and no penalty for leaving sooner than planned, so a changed posting does not cost you a cancellation charge. The refundable deposit comes back in full when you give notice and clear the unit. And the two-week minimum means you can start the moment the quarter has to be cleared, without committing to a fixed period you cannot predict. A flat discount applied to a contract that punishes early exit or ties you in for a year would often leave you worse off than fair terms that simply charge you for the time you use and refund the rest. If your circumstances mean a particular rate question is worth asking, ask at quote stage and you will get a straight answer. But the honest position is that the flexibility is the benefit built for service life, and it is available to everyone without needing to prove eligibility.

How does storage interact with the official MOD removals and disturbance allowance process?

This is a question for your unit’s admin staff or the relevant MOD removals process, not for us, and it is important to keep the two things separate. Wigwam provides the unit and a clear invoice for what you pay; we cannot advise on entitlements, what the MOD will or will not fund, or how disturbance allowance and official removals arrangements apply to your move. Those rules sit with the service, change over time, and depend on the type of move and your individual circumstances, so the only reliable source is the official process and the people who administer it for you.

What we can do is make the paperwork side easy for whatever that process requires. You will get a proper invoice for the rental, and the terms, the deposit arrangement and the notice period are all set out plainly in the terms and conditions, so if the official process needs documentation or a clear statement of costs, it is straightforward to provide. The sensible order of operations is to check what is funded or claimable through the official channel before you commit, so you take the unit knowing where it sits against any entitlement. If the official removals contractor is delivering goods to the unit, remember the site is unmanned, so you or someone you arrange must be present to receive them; we cannot sign for a contractor’s delivery on your behalf. Beyond supplying the space and the paperwork, the entitlement questions genuinely belong with your admin staff. Ask them first, take the unit second, and the two fit together without surprises.

Can I store firearms, ammunition or regulated military kit in a unit?

No. A self storage unit is not a lawful or suitable place for firearms, ammunition, or regulated military equipment, and you should not store any of it with us. Firearms and ammunition are governed by strict legal requirements about secure storage, certification and who may hold them, and a self storage unit does not meet those requirements; the proper arrangements run through licensed channels and the relevant authorities, not a storage provider. Regulated or issued military kit is subject to its own service rules about how and where it is held, and those rules, not a storage contract, govern it.

More broadly, units are for ordinary household goods only. Alongside firearms and ammunition, that rules out other hazardous or prohibited items, and it is always better to ask before you book than to arrive with something that cannot go in. The honest list of what a Wigwam unit is for is furniture, boxes, appliances, books, clothing and the everyday contents of a family home, stored clean, dry and secure. It does not extend to weapons, ammunition, anything explosive or hazardous, or controlled equipment that the law or the service requires to be held in a specific way. If part of what you need to sort before a posting involves regulated kit or firearms, that is a conversation for your unit’s armoury or the appropriate licensing authority, who can direct you to the lawful storage route. We would rather tell you plainly that we are not the right place for it than have you assume otherwise. For everything else a forces family home contains, the unit is exactly the practical, secure answer it is meant to be.