Armed Forces: Private Education
(asked on 29th October 2015) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many personnel of each rank have claimed the continuity of education allowance in the last five years.
The overarching principles of the Continuous Education Allowance (CEA) are accompanied service and educational continuity, i.e. the claimant must be accompanied by their immediate family at their duty station and a child must complete the stage of education at the school for which the allowance is claimed. CEA is available to all Service personnel irrespective of their rank or assignment location.
CEA was reviewed as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 following which improvements in governance achieved a reduction of costs by around £20 million per annum along with an associated reduction in the numbers of claimants both in the UK and overseas. Work continues to further reduce the cost of the allowance.
The table below shows the number of Service personnel who have received CEA since 2008 and where they were serving at the time of their claim.
Academic Year | Total Claimants* | UK | Overseas | ||
% | % | ||||
2008/09 | 5,080 | 4,256 | 84 | 824 | 16 |
2009/10 | 5,203 | 4,377 | 84 | 826 | 16 |
2010/11 | 5,135 | 4,356 | 85 | 779 | 15 |
2011/12 | 4,588 | 3,820 | 83 | 768 | 17 |
2012/13 | 3,858 | 3,232 | 84 | 626 | 16 |
2013/14 | 3,409 | 2,824 | 83 | 585 | 17 |
2014/15 | 3,201 | 2,602 | 81 | 599 | 19 |
* Number of claimants based on Joint Personnel Administration data relating to CEA payments made during the final term (i.e. Summer Term) of each Academic Year 2008/09 to 2014/15.
The table below shows the number of Service personnel, by rank who have received CEA since 2008.
Nato Rank | Academic Year* | ||||||
2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | |
Other Rank 2 | 42 | 56 | 65 | 53 | 39 | 32 | 29 |
Other Rank 3 | 33 | 46 | 71 | 74 | 52 | 51 | 39 |
Other Rank 4 | 292 | 289 | 299 | 294 | 245 | 206 | 201 |
Other Rank 6 | 538 | 569 | 568 | 451 | 376 | 313 | 293 |
Other Rank 7 | 554 | 550 | 531 | 461 | 365 | 306 | 306 |
Other Rank 8 | 361 | 397 | 372 | 295 | 251 | 221 | 209 |
Other Rank 9 | 216 | 232 | 221 | 215 | 189 | 155 | 128 |
Officer 1 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Officer 2 | 552 | 570 | 585 | 533 | 419 | 382 | 341 |
Officer 3 | 877 | 884 | 892 | 796 | 679 | 591 | 562 |
Officer 4 | 1,008 | 1,002 | 964 | 878 | 743 | 679 | 628 |
Officer 5 | 420 | 418 | 397 | 374 | 338 | 325 | 320 |
Officer 6 | 140 | 143 | 126 | 124 | 121 | 107 | 104 |
Officer 7 | 30 | 30 | 32 | 30 | 30 | 31 | 31 |
Officer 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
Officer 9 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Total | 5,080 | 5,203 | 5,135 | 4,588 | 3,858 | 3,409 | 3,201 |
* Number of claimants based on Joint Personnel Administration data relating to CEA payments made during the final term (i.e. Summer Term) of each Academic Year 2008/09 to 2014/15.
An explanation of the Nato Rank Code system is available at this link: