EDUCATION Are you aware of the changes? CEA REGULATIONS
The aim of Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) is to assist Service Personnel achieve continuity of education for their children that would otherwise be denied in the maintained day school sector if their children were required to accompany them on frequent assignments. Here the policy makers explain…
T
he regulations governing CEA align with this principle and is the overriding principle for maintaining
eligibility. All personnel with responsibilities within the approval process, particularly claimants, the Assignment Authority and Commanding Officers, should be fully aware of the regulations.
As part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, the Minister for the Armed Forces announced a package of measures designed to improve the governance of CEA. Included within the measures was a commitment to undertake a full review of CEA to establish that the allowance remained justifiable within the wider context of the SDSR.
The review concluded that while no significant changes to the main principles of CEA were required in the near to medium term, the MoD would further improve the governance of the allowance by a clarification of the existing administrative arrangements. That clarification has now taken place in the form of a complete re- write of the CEA regulations.
Main Changes to CEA Regulations The revised regulations satisfy the objective of the CEA Review in that they represent a simplification of the current arrangements while maintaining the core principles of the allowance. The main changes to the extant policy are as follows:
Changing School Within A Stage of Education In cases where a parent wishes to move their child to another school because of suspected safeguarding issues (but wishes to continue claiming CEA), the parent may now withdraw the child before seeking the advice of the Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS), submitting casework later. This reflects current practice and is now formalised within the regulations.
26 Envoy Autumn 2013
Responsibilities (Claimant) The claimant accepts that the deliberate abuse of CEA regulations may lead to disciplinary action or criminal proceedings.
Eligible Service Personnel Where, on assignment the claimant is not classed as Involuntary Separated (INVOLSEP) and is not going to be accompanied by their immediate family within 3 months, they must submit casework to the CEA Governance Team (CEAGT) seeking authority for ongoing entitlement to claim CEA.
Eligible Child Since the beginning of academic year 2012/13 there has been no entitlement to CEA in respect of initial claims for children entering the ‘A’ Level stage of education (School Years 12 & 13). In order to maintain the continuity of education of children attending state schools who are within two years of taking their GCSE examinations, no initial claims for CEA will ordinarily be considered for any child who has already entered School Year 10.
CEA Eligibility Certificate (CEA EC) There are two additional circumstances in which a new CEA EC application is required:
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A new CEA EC application must be submitted when a claimant wishes to withdraw from CEA for one child but retain CEA entitlement for another child or children. The rationale is that the claimant must reaffirm their own – and their other child(ren)’s – ongoing eligibility to CEA.
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Secondly, the CEAGT may, in cases of doubt, request a CEA EC to allow the claimant the opportunity to confirm their ongoing eligibility.
CEA Eligibility Certificate Not Approved Currently, where a CEA claimant is found to be no longer eligible during the CEA EC application process, they receive one final term of CEA. As a currently unregulated concession, where a child is within 2 years of examinations, CEA has generally been allowed to continue until the completion of that stage of education. This enhancement will now be formalised within the regulations.
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