Checklist for this page

SCE Deployment Resources Site
Childcare Voucher Scheme - update
Funding for Higher Education for Service Dependents
14-19 and the new diplomas
Childcare Voucher Scheme
Education - The Experience of Service Children
Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA)
Schools Admissions
House of Commons Defence Committee - Educating Service Children
Boarding School – First Steps and Considerations

SCE Deployment Resources Site

SCE now has a deployment resources site: www.sceschools.com/deployment/index.php. This is aimed primarily at SCE schools or schools with service children who are experiencing the effects of deployment. If your school is looking for guidance, then direct them to www.sceschools.com  

Childcare Voucher Scheme - update

Clarification from HMRC on the use of Childcare Vouchers for boarding school fees has been requested and received by the MOD.

It has been confirmed that private tuition fees come within the definition of qualifying childcare, provided that all the other qualifying conditions for employer provided childcare are met.

Boarding school fees qualify to the extent that these relate to care and to supervised activities, including private tuition, which are provided outside the compulsory education. It is therefore important that the costs for these are identified separately from the costs charged for the compulsory education.

If there is no separate identification of these elements, then the total cost would be regarded as being for the compulsory education, and vouchers provided for such costs would be chargeable to tax and NIC.

Therefore, childcare vouchers CAN be used for the boarding element of school fees, and this must be made clear on school bills and invoices.

Changes have also been made to the scheme that make it possible to join and leave at any time, and which enable parents to start claiming vouchers before they have their childcare in place. For further information on the scheme, view the latest SFTF Childcare Voucher Scheme factsheet or visit www.modchildcare.co.uk  

Funding for Higher Education for Service Dependents

The funding arrangements for students in higher education (student loans and grants from the government to help with tuition costs and living expenses) differ between the devolved administrations of the UK (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales). Read more >>

14-19 and the new diplomas

Diplomas are the new courses designed to run alongside GCSEs and A Levels. They will include generic learning including English, maths and IT as well as learning more specific to the type of diploma chosen. They are intended to open up career paths and choices rather than narrow them; they are employment-related learning, not job-related training. Read more >>

Childcare Voucher Scheme

On 10th December 2007 the MOD launched its childcare voucher scheme for Forces personnel. Read more >>

Education - The Experience of Service Children

We all take our children’s education seriously, but what sets the experience of a Service child aside from that of his or her civilian friends? Read more >>

Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA)

Due to our high rates of mobility, boarding school is often the only viable choice for Service children. Families find it an agonising decision – often a decision that they swore never to even consider when their children were younger. Service personnel who claim CEA have to sign a mobility certificate agreeing that they are prepared to move wherever the MOD requests them to. In claiming CEA, a Service person must fully accept that accompanied service is the overriding principle for maintaining their entitlement to the allowance. Read more >>

The termly rates for CEA 2009-2010 are as follows:

Junior CEA (Day) £2556
Junior CEA (Board) £4338
Senior CEA (Day) £3378
Senior CEA (Board) £5621

Schools Admissions

While in most overseas locations our needs are well looked after by SCE, in the UK the responsibility for finding school places rests with the parents. This can often seem like a daunting task, especially when undertaken at a distance. Below are the questions we receive most often, followed by some suggestions about how to go about finding and getting school places for your children. Read more >>

House of Commons Defence Committee - Educating Service Children

The House of Commons Defence Committee called on Government to urgently address the problems in communication between agencies that make transition for children in UK forces schools much more difficult. In their report on the Education of Service Children, published 6 September 2006, the MPs say that they take it as “self-evident” that the children of Service personnel should receive at least the same quality of schooling and educational opportunity as any child in the UK. Education is of course of paramount importance for parents in the Services and the Committee heard that concerns about education could impact on retention of forces personnel and operational effectiveness. Frequent moves are a feature of service life, and children’s personal well-being as well as educational attainment can suffer as a result. Download a pdf copy of the report.

Boarding School – First Steps and Considerations

1. Contact CEAS (01980 618244). They hold the Accredited Schools Database (ASD), a list of schools for which Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA, formerly Boarding School Allowance) is admissable. If you want to receive the allowance, the school you choose must be on this list.
2. CEAS will also provide you with a mobility certificate. Accompanied service is the overriding principle for CEA; it cannot be claimed if you later decide to serve married unaccompanied.
3. When choosing a school, bear in mind its location. How far is it from family? How far is it from train stations/airports? While children at boarding school are entitled to three return trips per school year (School Children’s Visits), travel between school and airport is only refunded at the rate of the rebated rail fare for that journey (i.e. a travel warrant), so parents who prefer their children to make the journey by taxi will not be refunded the full fare. When half term visits are taken into account as well, this can become expensive.
4. Affordability – even with CEA, extra costs must be taken into account. These can include travel (see point 3), uniform, extra-curricular activities, school trips… Parents must also contribute 10% of a school’s termly fees as a condition of receiving CEA.
5. Will your child/children complete a stage of education while at boarding school? If not, or you choose to withdraw them before a stage of education is completed, you may become liable to repaying the CEA already received. If you know that you or your spouse will be leaving the Army before a stage of education is completed, you need to consider whether you can continue to pay the fees yourself, as entitlement to CEA ceases the term after a Service parent has left the Army.

A stage of education is defined as follows:

Primary, junior or preparatory school (8-11/13);
Secondary or senior school (11/13-16);
A-level or academic equivalent (16-18/19).