Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Forces sweethearts

If you have a family member in the Royal Navy, RAF or army, find support from other Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

For those who claim CEA - IMPORTANT

17 replies

Mum72 · 27/01/2011 23:21

Found this on a Military Wives website:

IMPORTANT! DASA Continuation of Education Allowances Survey

All 5,500 serving personnel currently claiming CEA and 13,500 personnel matching similar criteria, will today, have received a survey on Dii (or will have received a postcard asking them to follow a link to the survey).

The survey is being used to feed into a Ministerial review team?s report into CEA. AFF has reviewed the survey and is advising those completing the survey to exercise extreme caution.

AFF is concerned that the questions are leading and biased and believe that they will give an unrepresentative view of the importance of CEA.

AFF will represent your feelings on the survey to command. Please email us at [email protected] to express your concerns.

OP posts:
Original poster
Mum72 · 27/01/2011 23:22

Link if anyone wants to Email them with their concerns/questions etc:

[email protected]

OP posts:
Original poster
Mum72 · 27/01/2011 23:22

Link if anyone wants to Email them with their concerns/questions etc:

[email protected]

OP posts:
goinggetstough · 28/01/2011 18:01

Thanks I was on the same website, you beat me to it! I shall be very interested to see the questions.........

onimolap · 29/01/2011 09:19

DH didn't know if he'd got one of these, as he said his inbox is deluged and he deletes everything that isn't immediate for current role!

Is there any way to join in? We don't claim CEA (he beansteals, so we have continuity that way, but were wondering about it for the teen years).

Original poster
Mum72 · 29/01/2011 16:33

No idea! We claim and still have a good few years to go. DH has not had his survey yet.

I am intrigued to see it and see the questions tbh. CEA is an expensive allowance and they although I agree there are people abusing the system that need to be cracked down on - I do get the feeling they want to to just get rid of it alltogether. Am wondering if completing the survey is a good idea or not - will have to wait until we get it to see it.

If you have any general queries or concerns now is probably a good time to pass them onto the AFF, as they say they are trying to put the point across of how important serving families view the allowance - it must be of some importance to you if you are even (lightly) considering claiming at some point in the future.

OP posts:
1980chick · 29/01/2011 17:45

Survey not actually out yet but when it does come out I would imagine CEAS Upavon may have extras.

madwomanintheattic · 29/01/2011 19:36

no 'invitation' here yet either, and we must be in the demographic, even though we aren't in receipt...
i loathe mod surveys. they are appallingly written, and the subsequent reports make me want to scream. hopefully this one will be different.

goinggetstough · 29/01/2011 20:27

1980 chick It is out already. I have friends who have completed it as an online survey if you have the correct computer system at work. If not they are sending them by post. So I guess we just have to wait....

madwomanintheattic · 29/01/2011 21:27

going - quite, big 'if', if dii access and the continued roll-out was as poor as it was last year. Grin they can't surely be using dii as the preferred medium?

1980chick · 30/01/2011 11:00

Thanks 'going'. Wonder where your friend got theirs from? DH and I only got notification via Dii that the survey would be sent out soon. Oh well, I'll have to be patient! Hope there is a space for me to vent about the families that live in one place for years and have their kids at the local boarding school.....grrrrr :)

goinggetstough · 30/01/2011 17:53

1980 it was on Dii. My friends mainly work in HQs or MOD.
I agree with your sentiments about people not moving and having their children in the local boarding school etc. However I am not sure how one would write the policy so it didn't happen as the individual would say well I could be moved..... but they posted me here!
I think CEA should be lower if you live in UK( or higher if you live abroad) as it much more expensive to have boarding children when you live abroad - maybe that would persuade them to move. In the current economic climate they are of course trying to decrease the amount they spend on CEA rather than increase it!

Hope you receive the survey. I am not holding my breath!

madwomanintheattic · 01/02/2011 07:42

still no sign of this one - but i did get a continuous attitude survey through the post today lol....

madwomanintheattic · 01/02/2011 14:21

Julie McCarthy sounds livid:
"This survey is not an opportunity for families to express how important CEA is. It has been carefully crafted to produce statistics to dramatically alter or cut CEA. How can a review into CEA be a fair and balanced study when it is clear from the questions asked that it is to cut CEA. Initial reactions to it have been disbelief and a feeling of betrayal. Is it fair to ask families to choose between SFA and providing a stable education for their children? To decide on the reduction in an allowance by how many people it will encourage to leave the Army? Families are right to be concerned about the future of CEA but AFF will continue to lobby hard on the future of this and other very important allowances. Be assured we have already made the Adjutant General aware of our concerns over this survey."

AFF is working hard on this issue and the Chief Executive has spoken to AG. Please encourage your friends and colleagues to email [email protected] with your views in CEA, pensions and allowances ? the more enquiries we receive the stronger our voice.

fb message today from AFF.
i think they are also tsking comments via their facebook page.

madwomanintheattic · 01/02/2011 14:23

it does rather look like they are just aiming for the maximum number of people they can convince to resign as a result (smae for loa cuts/ changes to allowances, ). saves on the redundancy money...

scaryteacher · 01/02/2011 14:28

Hang in there and don't resign! We've been hit by the LOA cuts as well (£470 a month) and the married unaccompanied out here by £700+ a month. What I can't work out is that the LOA here was raised last year because the differential in the cost of living between here and UK had increased, so either the LOA team's maths sucked, or the MoD is bankrupt as dh suggests.

Am waiting to see if dh has had this survey, or is it just Army? We are looking at claiming CEA and sending ds back to UK for sixth form, which will save the taxpayer a shedload and cost us more.

madwomanintheattic · 01/02/2011 14:59

oh, i don't doubt the mod is bankrupt Grin nor do i doubt the loa team's maths sucked! Grin both are pretty much a given, i think!

englishmom · 02/02/2011 05:41

www.aff.org.uk/linkedfiles/aff/20110127-ceasurvey.pdf

Here's a link to the survey. It's read only as the replies can only be submitted on Dii.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread