Checklist for this page

New information on help with childcare costs during maternity leave
Benefits while overseas
Moving back to the UK? think about MONEY
Money Advice Service
MoD Childcare Voucher Scheme
Discounts for the Forces and their families!
Tax Credits/Working Tax Credits
Approval of EMA for Service Schools Overseas

New information on help with childcare costs during maternity leave

New legislation now extends the right to receive childcare vouchers during additional maternity leave (weeks 27-52). For more information on this, and how the entitlement to the childcare element of Working Tax Credit is affected by maternity leave visit www.daycaretrust.org.uk  

Benefits while overseas

Job Seekers Allowance – There is only provision to export this benefit to an EEA country and Switzerland, and entitlement is only for three months while a person is seeking employment. Service spouses in non-EEA areas are therefore not entitled to JSA.

Maternity Allowance – If a spouse qualifies for MA but cannot get it because she has accompanied her husband overseas to a country where MA cannot be paid to her, she may get an ex-gratia payment from the Ministry of Defence. This payment is the equivalent of the MA she would have got. Applications should be made through the serving spouse’s pay office.

Further information on benefits and allowances can be found at:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/ni17a/ma/ma_16.asp  

Moving back to the UK? think about MONEY

If you are moving back to the UK after a stint overseas, it is worth thinking ahead to the changes in your finances that this will bring about. The following points give a general guide of what to expect:

• Loss of entitlement to LOA will mean less cash at the end of the month.
• If you have been in Germany you will no longer be entitled to receive Kindergeld on your return to the UK.
• If spouse was employed overseas, there may be a temporary loss of second salary until a UK job is secured.
• No more petrol coupons! Expect to pay high prices for fuel at UK pumps. It might even be worth considering changing to a more fuel-efficient car. Families with two cars are now reported to be £36.93 worse off every month than they were a year ago, based on the average distance travelled in a mid-sized, petrol-fuelled vehicle (April 2008).
• Loss of tax-free perks on weekly shop and other goods.
• Rising costs of electricity and domestic fuel.
  And don’t forget…

You will now have the privilege of paying for a TV licence, road tax (also on the increase), higher childcare costs, tax on a new car……

Money Advice Service

The Royal British Legion (RBL) and Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) have teamed up to bring Army families a ‘Money Advice Service’. The project is a three-year partnership between the two organisations to provide money and benefit advice to serving Armed Forces personnel, their dependants and veterans. Funded by the RBL, the project is run through a number of bureaux in England and Wales to provide benefits advice, claims and a debt reduction service.

The service is already running successfully in Catterick, where advisors come onto the Garrison once a week to give money and welfare benefit advice. Appointments can be booked through the Army Welfare Service in Catterick Garrison. According to Louise Simpson, AFF GB Co-ordinator for Yorkshire, those using the service have found it extremely useful. It is designed to help people with a range of difficulties such as money problems, tax credit overpayments and benefit entitlement.

The service offers:

Affordable debt management
Access to a Money Advice and Welfare Benefit Caseworker
An increase in money skills for clients
An income maximisation check through welfare benefits
Further information on the service is available from the CAB at www.citizensadvice.co.uk or www.adviceguide.org.uk and from the RBL at www.britishlegion.org.uk

MoD Childcare Voucher Scheme

On 10th December 2007 the MOD launched its childcare voucher scheme for Forces personnel. Serving personnel with eligible children receiving care from registered providers will now be able to exchange up to £243 of their monthly salary for childcare vouchers. Personnel in the scheme will benefit from reduced income tax and NIC contributions on their remaining salary, although individual circumstances will determine whether joining the scheme is worth your while or not. Vouchers will be available in paper or electronic form. The scheme provider is Sodexho Pass Ltd, and you can register your interest now at AFCVS@sodexhopass.co.uk.

All arrangements are made by Sodexho Pass, so there is nothing to sort out on JPA or with unit HR staff. Visit www.modchildcare.co.uk for more information.

Discounts for the Forces and their families!

www.forcesdiscounts-mod.co.uk is the online version of the hard copy forces discounts directory. This website is an ideal first port of call for any currently serving personnel wishing to get a discount on, well, almost anything really!

The brilliant thing about this website is that the immediate family members of serving personnel are also authorised to sign up and start taking advantage of the discounts in their own right, husbands, wives and kids.

There are many discounts listed on the site from which forces families would benefit. Examples of some of the discounted products and services available are:
School Fees - Family Breaks and holidays - Gift ideas - Children’s activities - Sports activities and equipment

New discounts, additional to those that you will find in your hard copy MOD discounts directory, are being added onto the website constantly so it’s worth logging on regularly to see what’s new.

Tax Credits/Working Tax Credits

Many families will be claiming Tax Credits or Working Tax Credits. For those families that are not, they could be missing out on a considerable sum of money each month.

To make your claim, or to contact the Inland Revenue for help and advice, telephone them direct on 0(044) 845 300 3900.

Due to fraudulent claims the on-line application is no longer available. Families should contact the Inland Revenue using the telephone number above, ensuring they have their National Insurance number to hand, and an application form will be sent directly to them.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: The Tax Credit Department of the Inland Revenue should be informed immediately of any changes to your circumstances, and this includes an increase in income. This will affect the majority of Service families as an increase in salary will come into effect in April 2006.

OTHER NEWS: The upper age limit for Child Tax Credit eligibility is increasing. Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit will be payable for unwaged trainees on specific government work-based programmes and young people undertaking courses of full-time, non-advanced education. Entitlement to these benefits will be extended to 19 year olds completing a course, or unwaged training started before their 19th birthday, up to an age limit of 20. For further help and advice contact the Inland Revenue on 0(044) 845 300 3900.

Approval of EMA for Service Schools Overseas

• The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has agreed to extend Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) to include eligible Service children attending Service Children’s Education (SCE) schools overseas.
• EMA is a weekly payment worth up to £30 payable to eligible students who stay on in education at school or college after their GCSEs. It is available for any academic or vocational course (up to level 3) which involves a minimum of 12 hours of guided learning per week. Students may also receive up to five additional bonuses of £100 over two years of study.
• To qualify for EMA students must be 16 or over, their household has an income of £30,000 or less. Boarding school allowance and LOA will not be taken into account in the household income calculations. Evidence of the household income needs to be sent along with the application form. Evidence should be in the form of a Tax Credit Award Notice (TCAN) or P60.
• Students who wish to apply for EMA will be able to pick up an application pack from the Head of Sixth Form at their SCE school or from Dr. Henry Dixon, 14-19 Strategy Manager, HQ SCE, BFPO 40 (Tel: 0049 2161 908 2525)
• Service Children’s Education will support its schools by acting as the link between the Learning and Skills Council and the Assessment and Payment Body in Darlington which administers the EMAs, and by assisting in the training of staff in the administration of EMAs at school level.