It seems we may be about to lose yet another 'perk'
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91211-1317126,00.html?f=rss
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91211-1317126,00.html?f=rss
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Another 'perk' lost ?
- Thread starter skevans
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K9 FORNICATOR
SAC
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Cea
Cea
Ironically enough I have just posted on another thread about this very subject. It was an allowance I took advantage of for the educational development benefit of my child. This has been a long time coming and there have been rumours abound for years. For those still claiming this I would personally envisage a gradual phasing out rather than a total stoppage from an effective date. This would allow your child to complete the education started instead of causing severe disruption.
Cea
Ironically enough I have just posted on another thread about this very subject. It was an allowance I took advantage of for the educational development benefit of my child. This has been a long time coming and there have been rumours abound for years. For those still claiming this I would personally envisage a gradual phasing out rather than a total stoppage from an effective date. This would allow your child to complete the education started instead of causing severe disruption.
P
PD TC
Guest
I would argue that this would be the loss of the last perk of the job we really have. And as someone who has been considering taking advantage of it, if it were to be taken away, I can honestly say it would put the nail in the Service career coffin.
They're slowly chipping away until all that is good is gone
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BSO to be curtailed possibly, Oh dear pretty soon kids will be attending a school near the place they live and mum and dad will have to sort out the school run. Sounds like the situation the majority of the working population are in on a daily basis.
I know the RAF is very different in terms of commitment to the cause and what may be asked of the individual from ANY civilian organisation but these "perks" especially BSO have gripped me for 20 odd years.
I know the RAF is very different in terms of commitment to the cause and what may be asked of the individual from ANY civilian organisation but these "perks" especially BSO have gripped me for 20 odd years.
DNR/DNN.......Discuss
Corporal
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Done and dusted if you ask me...
Done and dusted if you ask me...
The grants are paid to those employees whose job might entail a foreign posting
Since when under JPA will we get an overseas posting. You get one in while you're single, granted. But, get married, have kids, then when the Overseas list comes round again you won't meet the criteria, cos you've done one already! . GENIUS, problem solved and Brown saves millions.
Done and dusted if you ask me...
The grants are paid to those employees whose job might entail a foreign posting
Since when under JPA will we get an overseas posting. You get one in while you're single, granted. But, get married, have kids, then when the Overseas list comes round again you won't meet the criteria, cos you've done one already! . GENIUS, problem solved and Brown saves millions.
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ldonald101
Guest
Just how many OR's/Offs will walk if this was brought in. I for one would have to seriously consider it.
I do not see it as a perk, the government don't pay for perks do they? It is a fundamental necessity to all who take advantage of this allowance for whatever reason. For all who don't, this is their right of choice.
I have 1 child in BS and it costs just over 18k a year, I get the allowance and pay the difference coupled with all associated costs.
Withdrawal would effect those guys who seem to get moved quite a bit. I have had 4 postings over the last 4 years and decided after the 3rd that BS was the only option for my daughter. We all want the best for our kids no matter what, I made, what is a difficult decision as I did not want her education to suffer and her first and only job to be working in the naafi or saying do you want fries with that.
I do not see it as a perk, the government don't pay for perks do they? It is a fundamental necessity to all who take advantage of this allowance for whatever reason. For all who don't, this is their right of choice.
I have 1 child in BS and it costs just over 18k a year, I get the allowance and pay the difference coupled with all associated costs.
Withdrawal would effect those guys who seem to get moved quite a bit. I have had 4 postings over the last 4 years and decided after the 3rd that BS was the only option for my daughter. We all want the best for our kids no matter what, I made, what is a difficult decision as I did not want her education to suffer and her first and only job to be working in the naafi or saying do you want fries with that.
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The majority of the population dont get posted every 2 to 5 years, the majority of the population have a choice where they work. The majority of the population dont get pinged for OOA.
If you get a posting to somewhere where the schools are sh!te and guess what, your kid suffers. Do you consider that fair? What if youre posted overseas to say Vegas? Do you really want your kid in a local high-school?
propersplitbrainme
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Wow, sticking your head above the parapet there matey
DT_Xtremez_42: These 'perks' are, and always were, available to us all throughout our careers. Some have chosen to avail themselves of the BSA, others haven't or weren't in a position to.
The civilian working population will, on the whole, send their child to a school in the local area and they will then stay at that one school throughout some of the most important formative years of their lives. Many will also get perks through their jobs that the service workforce have no chance of getting (comnpany cars for example), something most of the whingers posting on the Sky news blog will conveniently ignore or be unaware of. Its become de-rigeour for civilians in the private sector to moan about 'perks' that public sector employees get, but ask any of them if they'd switch jobs and take the pay cut, loss of other priveleges and general buggeration factor that goes with it and they'd run a mile. And lets not forget mate, if you were to find another job in the CS elsewhere, you'd probably be entitled to a managed move, something a serviceman or private sector civilian would bite yer arm off for
DT_Xtremez_15: Moving kids from one school to another is a bloody nightmare, I know mate because I was one of those kids. I moved from an English based GCE curriculum school to a Scottish SCE school at a critical point and it could have been the undoing of me had it not been for the fact that the school I attended (Forres Academy as it happens) was of a fairly high standard at the time and the staff were used to kids coming in and having to switch like I did.
Ohh heaven forbid a serviceman might have to actually tolerate having his children in the same building as him!
It may have applied in the dim and distant past when there were "overseas" posting without school facilities, but lets face it folks, those days are long gone. Yes it was a "perk" but its not "required" anymore.
The fact I was starting a family was one of the main reasons I left the RAF, If I had kids I actually wanted to see them and be part of their upbringing, not pack them off to boarding school and leave it to someone else, while I served my country in the dark and desolate wilds of Oxfordshire, where there are no schools/recreational facilities!
Ok I know that some people use this to send their kids to "Non" boarding schools, "better" schools but........that wouldn't be fun would it
INCOMINGDT_Xtremez_42:
It may have applied in the dim and distant past when there were "overseas" posting without school facilities, but lets face it folks, those days are long gone. Yes it was a "perk" but its not "required" anymore.
The fact I was starting a family was one of the main reasons I left the RAF, If I had kids I actually wanted to see them and be part of their upbringing, not pack them off to boarding school and leave it to someone else, while I served my country in the dark and desolate wilds of Oxfordshire, where there are no schools/recreational facilities!
Ok I know that some people use this to send their kids to "Non" boarding schools, "better" schools but........that wouldn't be fun would it
INCOMING
DT_Xtremez_42:- 117
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I've got 2 daughters, one of whom got fed up with the differing standards of schools - particularly between Norfolk and Yorkshire. She went to Morrisons Academy in Crieff where she got an excellent education then finished off in Norwich before going to Reading University. Afterwards she got a bl##dy good job with a financial firm in London and is currently taking part in the Clipper Round The World Race 07-08 - the only non-professional yacht race. I, for one, am glad that I (a 'Other Rank') got BSA (as it was then), that kickstarted this road to success.
Other daughter, on the other hand, did not want to go to BS but stayed with us and moved twice more then wanted to stay in Norwich and not move with us Dahn Sath. Bright as she is, she was frustrated by differing standards between Norfolk, Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire and, in the end, not being able to take the exam subjects she wanted due to clashes - currently she has no job.
If BSA was a 'perk', then so was free rail travel (4 warrants when I joined up). I could list more but have to go and make the Boss's dinner - 'Coming, darling!'
Other daughter, on the other hand, did not want to go to BS but stayed with us and moved twice more then wanted to stay in Norwich and not move with us Dahn Sath. Bright as she is, she was frustrated by differing standards between Norfolk, Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire and, in the end, not being able to take the exam subjects she wanted due to clashes - currently she has no job.
If BSA was a 'perk', then so was free rail travel (4 warrants when I joined up). I could list more but have to go and make the Boss's dinner - 'Coming, darling!'
D
DrunkenMonki
Guest
If this does go, its another one off my 'pro's' list. I fully intend to use it when my daughter is old enough. That would then make the cons list longer by one, at which point i'd promised myself its time for a new job.
Why can't they just leave stuff alone?
Why can't they just leave stuff alone?
By the time my kids reached 8 and 9 they had been to 3 different crap state schools in Cornwall, Somerset and Hampshire, the only school places available were at the schools with poor OFSTED reports because locals had been on the waiting lists for years at the decent schools and my moves were at 6 months notice. In their time at boarding school I went on to be drafted 4 more times, each time to a different region. It's now called CONTINUITY OF EDUCATION ALLOWANCE for a reason. I appreciate that the RAF are getting better at keeping their personnel in one area for a long time but the other services aren't and the RAF is still far from perfect. For those of a more operational persuasion this isn't a perk at all, it's a necessary allowance to ensure a decent education for their kids.
I don't believe anybody enjoys sending their kids off to school, it's gut wrenching (remember the first first day at playschool, how upset Mummy and Daddy were? imagine that every Sunday evening) however my kids are now both grown up with lives of their own. My contribution to the rest of their lives is that they will always be able to earn a living and look after their own families because they are intelligent, outgoing and educated kids with a wealth of experience, we are also very close. I often wonder what they might have been like had they followed me all around our Sceptred Isle.
Your comment about leaving the RAF for the benefit of your kids made me chuckle, whilst they were at school I saw my kids every weekend that I wasn't operationally deployed, 90% of that time they wanted to be somewhere else (football, cricket, hockey, climbing, horse riding, sailing, swimming you name it) with their friends, we still all lead incredibly active lives and have reverted to making appointments - I'm a civvy now!
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Possibly (probably) to the detriment of my career my daughter attended just the one primary school, and is just finishing S6 in the only secondary school that she has been to. In Sept she's off to Edinburgh Uni.
I'm glad that by being fairly static (Moray monorail postings) she has had continuity throughout her schooling and if we had been moved south or abroad I'd have seriously considered boarding for her.
Yet again we seem to be losing another of the benefits of being in the forces. How long before we actually start paying the govenment for the privilidge of serving?
I'm glad that by being fairly static (Moray monorail postings) she has had continuity throughout her schooling and if we had been moved south or abroad I'd have seriously considered boarding for her.
Yet again we seem to be losing another of the benefits of being in the forces. How long before we actually start paying the govenment for the privilidge of serving?
Ohh heaven forbid a serviceman might have to actually tolerate having his children in the same building as him!
It may have applied in the dim and distant past when there were "overseas" posting without school facilities, but lets face it folks, those days are long gone. Yes it was a "perk" but its not "required" anymore.
The fact I was starting a family was one of the main reasons I left the RAF, If I had kids I actually wanted to see them and be part of their upbringing, not pack them off to boarding school and leave it to someone else, while I served my country in the dark and desolate wilds of Oxfordshire, where there are no schools/recreational facilities!
Ok I know that some people use this to send their kids to "Non" boarding schools, "better" schools but........that wouldn't be fun would it
INCOMING
Harsh Rikster - there`s alot of factors affecting peoples choices in childcare and education and proposing that BS is a posher form of abandonment is frankly pretty pap. We joined under a set of conditions that made the "career" worthwhile. Whilst not the primary reason for joining they all added up to make the RAF a more attractive choice than civvy street. Erode this away and the attraction diminishes. As a scaley myself I remember it was pretty traumatic changing schools as you are constantly having to gain acceptance in new friendship groups and whilst my natural wit, charm and good looks got me through others aren`t so lucky.
In a society where education can be the difference between job or nob I think this should stay as is!!:
:I was spending on average a minimum of 6 months of the year away..........if thats ok with you then fine, its not acceptable to me
DT_Xtremez_21:It was only ONE of the reasons I left, having w4nkers in charge/watching nobs get promoted because they played cricket/golf/rugby etc/ were factored into my decision, there are of course 49,500 other little reasons...............
DT_Xtremez_30:
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CEA is conditional on the Serviceman signing a Mobility Certificate, ie indicating that he accepts this is an allowance based on his liability to have to move to the other end of the country at the drop of a hat.
By all means remove CEA, but also remove our liability to move at the drop of a hat.
By all means remove CEA, but also remove our liability to move at the drop of a hat.
Another "Perk" lost
Another "Perk" lost
CEA may be under review as there are some personnel who are abusing the system as they always have! Whilst he Mobility Certificate indicates that the serviceman is liable to move it is generally just signed off as a matter of course. there are people out there who have lived in the same MQ for the last two or three tours, who are still in receipt of CEA particularly in the Army and it is this that is being addressed. The Armed forces could not push through a removal of the allowance.
Another "Perk" lost
CEA may be under review as there are some personnel who are abusing the system as they always have! Whilst he Mobility Certificate indicates that the serviceman is liable to move it is generally just signed off as a matter of course. there are people out there who have lived in the same MQ for the last two or three tours, who are still in receipt of CEA particularly in the Army and it is this that is being addressed. The Armed forces could not push through a removal of the allowance.
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I don't think it will go, not for a while anyway.
Why? Well, who uses it most? I would say Officers, who makes the decisions...? They we go, of course I realise the Government may pull the plug but only after consultation with our leaders.
Why? Well, who uses it most? I would say Officers, who makes the decisions...? They we go, of course I realise the Government may pull the plug but only after consultation with our leaders.