Here's the Q&A Part
CONTINUITY OF EDUCATION ALLOWANCES QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q. What is CEA for?
A. CEA exists to provide Service children with the continuity of education that would be denied them in the maintained day school sector if they accompanied their parents on frequent assignments both at home and overseas. In claiming CEA, a Service person must fully accept that accompanied service is the overriding principle for maintaining entitlement.
Q. What is INVOLSEP?
A. Unaccompanied service is deemed to exist when a Service person who would normally reside with their spouse/civil partner, lives in a Residence at Work Address other than that in which their spouse/civil partner and/or dependant children normally live. Unaccompanied service for a single parent (PStat Cat 2) is deemed to exist when they are serving away from the home in which their dependant child(ren) would normally live with them. Unaccompanied service may be either Involuntary (INVOLSEP), which is generally for Service reasons, or Voluntary (VOLSEP) when the Service person chooses, for personal reasons, not to be accompanied at their Duty Station by their spouse/civil partner and/or dependant child(ren). Service personnel who are separated from their immediate family, normally for Service reasons, will be classified as INVOLSEP and eligible for benefits related to unaccompanied service in the circumstances set out in JSP 752.
Q. I want to keep my spouse/civil partner in a stable environment when I am away on duty.
A. It is not considered within the spirit of the rules for a Service parent to claim the allowance if they deliberately maintain the family home in the same location for an extended period of time, with the Service person repeatedly moving assignments between local units and with no intention or likelihood of serving elsewhere or moving the family. In these cases, the existence of a stable family home will enable the educational continuity to be achieved within the local State sector.
Q. Seagoers in particular spend more time away from home, surely being considered INVOLSEP is part of our compensation?
A. It is acknowledged that service in an Organisation such as a ship, submarine or other front-line unit is associated with an expectation of a high degree of Separated Service. Separated Service is defined as “absence from normal place of duty or lack of freedom to enjoy leisure at place of duty/residence at work address (RWA)”. Normal place of duty is defined as “the base, station, unit, establishment, or Base Port in the case of ships”. It must be stressed therefore that Separated Service in this context is not absence from family.
In broad terms, Service personnel are considered to be INVOLSEP and eligible for payment of LSA and accrual of Separated Service when at sea, but not when alongside in Base Port. Although a Sea Service billet is mandated as unaccompanied when the unit is deployed, there is no overriding Service requirement to designate such an assignment unaccompanied throughout its duration. In essence, if the Service person wishes to claim CEA, their absence when deployed at sea should not be regarded, in itself, as rendering a sufficient impediment to the requirement to move the family home and serve accompanied when the ship or submarine is alongside in the Base Port.
When a Service person applies for CEA, they must sign a CEA Eligibility Certificate declaring that they are committed to family mobility and intend to serve accompanied. By not complying with this principle, they are not meeting the requirements of the policy intent. Further, by leaving their family home static, their child(ren) could have been educated within the local maintained day school sector.
Q. What if I choose to retain SFA/SSFA at my previous Duty Station/Naval Base Port Area?
A. CEA is related to the mobility of the family, not the Service person. Entitled families occupying SFA may retain their entitlement to SFA at the location of the SP’s previous assignment. However, SFA may be provided at the new Duty Station (Base Port for ships and submarines) provided the entitlement criteria are met. By choosing not to move the family home to the new Duty Station despite having signed a CEA Eligibility Certificate, the Service person is failing to comply with the principle of accompanied service and family mobility and would not meet the requirements of the policy intent. The Service person is exercising personal choice by electing not to relocate their family to the new Duty Station; granting CEA in such circumstances would call into question the integrity of CEA as an allowance designed to provide continuity of education during periods of family mobility.
Q. What if I have been assigned to a unit that was formerly subject to the INVOLSEP concession but I have not joined yet?
A. The transitional arrangements for those currently claiming CEA allow Service personnel who, by the date of this announcement, were already in receipt of a qualifying permanent Assignment Order to either MoD London, JFHQ (PJHQ) or a Sea Service billet in a ship or submarine and who commence the assignment before 1 Sep 11, to continue to be eligible for CEA for the child(ren) for whom they were already claiming the allowance up to the end of their current assignment.
Q. What if I am in a qualifying assignment in respect of the transitional arrangements and subsequently extended in post?
A. Extensions to current assignments purely for the purpose of continued entitlement to CEA without family mobility will not be entertained. Assignment Authorities should expect to be questioned on the business needs for any extensions granted to current CEA claimants.
Q. The allowance is entitled ‘continuity of education’ - why can’t I retain CEA for my child(ren) until the end of their current stage of education?
A. It is a fundamental condition of entitlement to CEA that a child continues to attend the school and completes a stage of education for which CEA is in issue. It is for this reason that before committing to the undertaking, prospective CEA claimants are encouraged to consider taking out insurance protection to cover school fees due to a change in individual entitlement or eligibility that may result in a cessation of CEA. At a time of high operational tempo across all 3 Services and a requirement for greater financial scrutiny and governance, a general blanket exemption from the requirement to serve accompanied is no longer considered acceptable. A CEA claimant is required to complete a new CEA Eligibility Certificate immediately on arrival at each new assignment; and when the eligibility rules are no longer fully met, the individual’s CO must initiate an entitlement check with a view to ceasing the entitlement. To deviate from this accepted practice, by affording continued entitlement to CEA until the end of the current stage of education to all claimants eligible for the transitional arrangements risks damaging both the assurance measures put in place to protect this allowance and its integrity as an allowance designed to support Service family mobility.
CEA is a high-cost allowance, representing a very significant proportion of the overall annual MOD allowances budget. To safeguard CEA for those who genuinely need it, it is crucially important that adherence to the regulations is enforced.
Q. I am ineligible for the transitional arrangements set out in the DIB, but believe that I have good reasons for serving unaccompanied in my current assignment. What should I do?
A. Should a Service person who is ineligible for these transitional arrangements consider that they have genuine and compelling personal reasons for serving unaccompanied which are not satisfied by these arrangements, they may submit a case to the SPVA PACCC for consideration to be treated as INVOLSEP. The case should be fully supported by welfare, medical or Children’s Education Advisory Service reports, as appropriate.
Similarly, should a Service person have concerns that the arrangements will unduly affect the education of their child, they should consult with the CEAS. If, on conclusion of the consultation, the Service parent believes that the prescribed arrangements are unsuitable for their circumstances, then a case should be made to the SPVA PACCC, copied to the CEAS. All cases will be considered on their individual merits in keeping with the underlying rationale for CEA. Cases should be submitted in accordance with JSP 752 Ch 1, Sect 1, Annex A, Appendix 1.
Q. Why has CEA not been cut?
A. CEA rates have not been cut, but rule tightening will reduce the spend. CEA is the subject of a separate independent review instigated by the Secretary of State for Defence. This review team will report directly to the Secretary of State with their findings by early 2011.
Q. Why are CEA claimants not being asked to pay more towards the costs?
A. The current level of Parental Contribution is judged to be at the right level to ensure that all ranks that meet the criteria to claim CEA, are able to afford to do so.
Q. Will the Ministerial Review see CEA being cut?
A. It would be extremely unwise to pre-judge the outcome of the Ministerial review of CEA. A wide range of options will be considered and no assumptions have been made about what needs to change.
Q. What will the change mean for me? How much will I lose under the new rules?
A. Rates of CEA are not being cut under the changes announced today. Therefore all claimants who remain genuinely eligible will retain their current levels of CEA support assuming that all other eligibility criteria are met.
Q. What support will there be if Service personnel are judged not to need CEA anymore? How can we be expected to shoulder the cost on our pay?
A. Any SP found to be ineligible for CEA under the new rules will have a minimum of one full term’s notice of the withdrawal of entitlement. No further financial support will be made available to those who are found to be ineligible. SP currently claiming CEA on the strength of a permanent assignment to a previously INVOLSEP for CEA purposes post will be eligible for the transitional arrangements outlined in the DIB.
Q. Does MOD expect service personnel to leave because of the changes?
A. No, because all SP who remain eligible will retain access to the allowance.
Q. How many children of Service personnel will be taken out of boarding school because of these changes? How many children of those on operations?
A. The decision to remove a child from independent school will be a matter for the SP concerned, therefore the MOD cannot predict the numbers, either for those on operations or in home locations, will make this decision.
Q. How much does the MOD think it will save through these measures? Will these really make a difference to the defence budget?
A. The aim of the measure is to save 15% of the CEA spend, c £28M per year from Year 3 onwards (2013/2014)
Q. How many other allowances are to be cut?
A. Remaining allowances cuts will be announced in due course, and I cannot prejudice this announcement at this time.