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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think this Army boarding school allowance thing is a bit jammy?

63 replies

PostBellumBugsy · 10/06/2013 15:52

I know that if you are overseas alot, you want to give your DCs continuity and that is fine BUT, if you are UK based and your wife & DCs don't even live with you, is it really fair to claim the boarding school allowance?

Met up with some old friends at the weekend & very boasty guy was there who nailed me to the floor with tales of his cushy life. He is quite high up in the army (Lt Col) and he was bragging about how the Army paid for his pied a terre in London, whilst his wife and the DCs lived out in Dorset (at her Dad's huge mansion) and the army paid whatever percentage they pay for his DCs to go to boarding school.

I'm not sure if it was just his manner but it didn't quite seem right to me. Surely that allowance is for those in the army who are deployed all over the show & who haven't spent the last 4 years in London?

Am so not armed forces bashing, as I have a great deal of respect for them and the sacrifices they make. Anyway, no doubt I'll probably be flamed, but was just curious.

OP posts:
ArabellaBeaumaris · 10/06/2013 16:01

I don't really know much about it, but I wouldn't want my DC to be moving school every 4 years - even if it is in the UK - if I could avoid it for them.

kim147 · 10/06/2013 16:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsOakenshield · 10/06/2013 16:11

he just sounds like a nob. But he may have spent the last 4 years in London, but the previous 4 here, there and everywhere - and who knows where for the next 4. Lots for forces children at my school - at that time most would have had parents in the UK, but moving around a fair bit.

meditrina · 10/06/2013 16:11

The situation you outline in OP would count as fraud: there is a hotline to report potential abuse, and the person making a fraudulent claim faces both the sack and having to pay back all fees.

The LtCol must have been making it up. Or if you think he was serious, please report him. Abuse of the system needs to be stamped on firmly.

GoblinGranny · 10/06/2013 16:12

We moved every 1-3 years, the army can post you at a minimum 2 weeks notice, without prior warning, That may have changed since I was an army brat.
Dad was a squaddie, not an officer, and we went to boarding school for different periods of time. I went for the shortest time, the longest was in for a decade. I had a dozen different addresses to my name by the time I was 18, and several countries.
YABU, but you are pissed off because you met an arrogant entitled person who tweeked your prejudices.

meditrina · 10/06/2013 16:13

The anonymous fraud helpline is 0800 161 3665.

Please report the potential abuse ASAP.

fridayfreedom · 10/06/2013 16:15

I knew people who did this. I can understand the need for continuity when moving every 4 years but when they had a permanent home and he was land based it was taking the piss. He said he couldn't refuse the perk at the amount he paid. I Was fairly put out as as a tax payer I was contributing to his kids £28,000 a year school and his wife said my dd would do ok at the local comp!!

Groovee · 10/06/2013 16:16

My friend has sent her dd to a school near her parents as they seem to get moved every 18 months to 3 years and now she's a teen they wanted continuity for her.

It sounds like he's just a tosser.

GoblinGranny · 10/06/2013 16:18

So, you are on a cycle that rotates on a yearly, two year, three year cycle.
OK, you can deal with that.
You live in random rented accommodation, which isn't yours and you have no choice over.
OK, you can deal with that too.
The curriculum changes every time you move, you do somethings several times and others you miss entirely.
OK....
But your friends are living a similar life, so you may have them for a few months or a year or two and then it's off one of you goes again.
You spend a lot of time either coping with the change, or fighting in every new location, often with teachers who think' FFS not another one.'
Sometimes boarding school is your best bet.

SuperScribbler · 10/06/2013 16:18

The CEA (Continuity of Education Allowance) is payable only when the serving member and their spouse live together and move together on posting. We move every 2-3 years and therefore our children move school that frequently, often to their educational disadvantage. Boarding school is one solution to this issue. The circumstances you describe would constitute a serious fraud and, if discovered, the serviceman would be compelled to repay the allowance and face court marshall.

Pied a terres are generally funded when a serviceman is serving unaccompanied by their spouse and no Mess is available. I believe they have to pay a contribution towards this, comparable to living in a Mess.

axure · 10/06/2013 16:19

BSA allows forces children to have stability in their education, however if it's a serviceman is claiming it, his wife is expected to move with him every time he's posted. You can't have your cake and eat it, carry on living in your own house, DH in the mess and kids at boarding school. Flouting these rules is taken very seriously.

GoblinGranny · 10/06/2013 16:21

So, this Lt Colonel is a bit jammy, not the 'boarding school allowance thing'

Original poster
PostBellumBugsy · 10/06/2013 16:22

He was very annoying Goblin, but I'm not prejudiced - honest! Wink I have very good friends in the Army, living in quarters, who have moved around all over the place & I can see that for them that it is essential.

This man's wife & children live at her father's house in Dorset and that is where he spends Christmas, Easter and weekends. Doesn't have to do the "ghastly commute" of course, because the Army are coughing up for his London flat. As far as I can tell, the DCs don't need to go to boarding school because they have continuity there.

I won't be grassing them up, because I may have missed some crucial element, or he could just be a giant nob bragging more than is true. and they might somehow know it's me who grassed

OP posts:
meditrina · 10/06/2013 16:25

You won't "grass them up", but will have a pop at the whole system on a public forum?

The hotline is anonymous. And if there are extenuating individual circumstances which mean that this is not, after all, serious fraud then the claimant has nothing to worry about.

GoblinGranny · 10/06/2013 16:27

He's a nob.

We had to chose a pet on the understanding that it would either die or be rehomed. How tough is that on a child?

SuperScribbler · 10/06/2013 16:29

Please do report this. CEA is constantly scrutinised by the govt and remains under threat. It is a precious allowance that should not be abused. It is no different to benefit fraud and any fraudsters should be held accountable.

Original poster
PostBellumBugsy · 10/06/2013 16:32

Meditrina - I'm not having a pop at the whole system. I have said repeatedly that I understand how important continuity is for those moving around alot. I also said I was curious - I'm not a member of the armed forces & for all I know, I could have been missing something.

OP posts:
meditrina · 10/06/2013 16:34

If you did not mean to have a pop at the whole system, you could perhaps have avoided a thread title that does exactly that.

GoblinGranny · 10/06/2013 16:36

Stop whinging and report him, then he'll either lose the allowance or keep it.
Target the problem rather than a general 'my hard-earned taxes' wail.
It worked for all the greedy, arrogant MPs who were claiming every possible penny.

bakingaddict · 10/06/2013 16:39

Surely it's just a perk of the job...nothing more nothing less. Some people will flout the rules or stretch them to the limit but i'm sure it's offered for a perfectly good reason so i'd not get all green eyed monster about it. Nod politely at people like that in the future or better still develop a nob radar

PassTheCremeEggs · 10/06/2013 16:41

Giving him the benefit of the doubt - it's possible his current posting is one that doesn't allow wife and children to accompany him. Seems unlikely he would be loudly flaunting the fact he is claiming the allowance fraudulently. It's not "jammy" - try moving your children to a new school every 12-18 months! (officers can move jobs and location this often) Your thread title is likely to put a lot of people's backs up, it did mine. Also - when you're separated from your other half except for weekends and holidays it's really not that great!

chestnut100 · 10/06/2013 16:51

This guy sounds like a prat. In his defence however, there are various jobs in the army where you may be married unaccompanied and still entitled to a quarter, rather than live in mess accommodation. The service person makes a contribution towards the cost of the quarter at the same rate as living in the mess. I know this because this is our situation. We live apart in order to keep our children in one school. My husband, due to his role, is not to live on the mess

Original poster
PostBellumBugsy · 10/06/2013 16:53

He said they'd turned down a house in Northolt & gone for the pied a terre option instead, as the DCs had a better quality of life down in Dorset.

OP posts:
SuperScribbler · 10/06/2013 16:55

For the benefit of those who know little about service life: I have been married 22 yrs and have moved 13 times. My 6 yr old is already in his 4th house and 2nd school. We move again in July/August but to date have no clue where we are going - not even the country of destination.

Service life frequently makes family life "tricky" and the so-called "perks" are there to help compensate for all the turbulance of following the flag.

GoblinGranny · 10/06/2013 17:11

But the OP understands all that SuperScribbler, because she has friends that are in the Forces.
Just like I know what it's like to be a black bloke with one leg.

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