Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the maximum level of Continuity of Education Allowance payments provided by his Department were for (a) primary and (b) secondary pupils in the UK in 2020-21.

Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) assists Service personnel to achieve continuity of education for their children that would otherwise be denied in the state-maintained day school sector due to the mobility of their family. CEA is available to all Service personnel, irrespective of rank, subject to them satisfying the qualifying criteria. Service personnel may select from a wide variety of schools across the UK from within the independent and state-maintained sectors that meet set criteria. Each claimant is required to contribute at least 10 per cent of the fees at independent schools.

During Financial Year (FY) 2020-21 the cost of CEA to Defence was £81.5 million. During that FY, around 4,800 children of Service personnel benefited from CEA. The maximum payment for CEA per academic term was £7,828 (senior) and £5,969 (junior). During FY 2020-21 the cost of CEA to Defence for the specified schools was as follows: