Enhanced learning credits

Enhanced learning credits. The biggest educational funding scheme in the Forces … ever.
No. This is not an exaggeration. The MoD is putting its money where its mouth is, its hand in its pocket and giving everyone who stays in the Services for over four years a total of £3,000. People staying in for eight years can collect £6,000. For 200,000 Service people at an average of £4,500 each, that is £900 million. And that is serious money by anybody's standards.
Of course not everyone will want to take advantage of the scheme and many people will not spend long enough in uniform to qualify for it; otherwise the financiers would be having nightmares about the defence budget. However, for the first time, it makes a grant available for people who want to gain from personal development that is big enough to make a real difference and buy some serious learning.
Everyone joining the Services can enrol in the scheme during their first year or, if they have left school so recently that they have no interest in learning, they get another six-month window during the first half of their eighth year. Those who delay until then will not be able to claim at the lower level until they have served 12 years or until they have had 16 years in uniform for the higher level.
People serving in the Forces at present have until the end of March 2004 to register, although the authorities will be flexible for people who may have other priorities at present and in the foreseeable future.
The four-year period for the lesser amount or the eight-year period for the higher level starts at the later of 1 April 2000 or the date of enlistment. The date of enrolment on to the scheme is irrelevant provided that it is within the required window. For people who register during their eighth year, the qualifying four or eight years start at the eighth anniversary of their enlistment date. The money is paid over three years (£1,000 or £2,000 a year depending on which level is chosen) and the individual will have to pay 20 per cent of the learning costs themselves.
So, for a course costing £1,250 a year, the individual pays £250 and the MoD pays £1,000. If it costs £1,000 a year the individual pays £200 and the MoD pays £800. If it costs £500 a year the individual pays £100 and the MoD pays £400. If it costs £2,000, the individual pays £1,000 and the MoD pays £1,000.
The situation with the tax authorities is that, provided the learning is work-related, there is no tax to pay on the money provided by the MoD - so people will actually see the amount they are expecting. This will certainly apply to anyone in uniform learning anything that could be of use to them during their Service career or in any job they could reasonably expect to do once they have left. So, IT, driving, a degree, a language or improving a Service qualification will certainly qualify; while flower-arranging and ballet might be more difficult to justify.
However, claims under the scheme can continue for up to ten years after the individual has left the Services, but it is likely that anyone using it then will be liable to be taxed on it. The answer is simple: get your learning while you are serving.
ELCs can be used for a very wide range of learning that leads to a nationally recognised qualification; and this learning can be academic (theory) or vocational (practical or on-the-job). They can be for full- or part-time study, either in a class or through distance learning. The learning provider will usually have to be on a long list of preferred providers held by the Customer Service Provider (CSP) - a commercial company (Group 4 Falck) operating in partnership with the MoD.
So ELCs cover academic courses from GCSEs to postgraduate degrees, and anything in between. They also cover professional self-development, accreditation of prior learning, vocational courses including taking a Service qualification to a higher level, exam fees, and entry fees for professional bodies and institutes. Training that helps people to overcome dyslexia will also qualify for ELCs, provided the condition has been diagnosed by an expert.
They are not, however, to be used to send someone on a course that is directly needed for them to do their Service job and so is training that should be financed by the Service concerned. Adventure training and sports courses are therefore not allowed unless they form part of an individual's long-term personal development as shown in their Personal Development Record (issued to everyone in recent years, so anyone who has lost it had better get another one). Borderline cases will be looked at by education staffs and judged on their merits.
People cannot use ELCs for a course and also claim Standard Learning Credits or the Individual Resettlement Training Cost for the same course. The learning for which the ELC is claimed must also be completed within 12 months of its start. However, when several courses are taken with one training provider that combine to produce one overall result - like a modular university degree - ELCs can be set against the total cost of the course.
Education staffs or personal learning advisers will have to approve individuals' registration on the scheme, and will have to approve the courses and training provider they eventually choose. Their line manager or commander will also have to approve their choice and confirm that they will probably have the time available to do the necessary study. A junior rank with no GCSEs about to embark on a tour in Bosnia will not have the time or indeed the background knowledge to take an MBA, so MoD money will not be wasted by paying for a course that will not be finished.
People on Full Time Reserve Service, Non-Regular Permanent Staff and Military Local Service Engagement can join the scheme, but they will have to fulfil the same time and service requirements. Qualifying time only includes time on full-time service after 1 April 2000, but it can include a mix of regular and non-regular service and does not have to be four continuous full-time years.
The financial year, the accounting period for all grants and allowances, runs from April to March, and the academic year, the enrolment and teaching period for many academic courses, is from September to August. So an ELC claim in one year can be for courses in one of either of the years it straddles. For example, a claim for ELCs in the financial year April 2007 to March 2008 can be for a course in either of the academic years September 2006 to August 2007 or September 2007 to August 2008.
The introduction of ELCs was promised in the Strategic Defence Review, but it has taken some time to work out the fine print so that individuals do not lose a great deal of the financial benefit in tax. The 20 per cent personal contribution follows government guidelines that call for individuals to put something towards schemes that ultimately benefit them.
MoD chiefs hope that as many people as possible will take up ELCs, and anticipate a big response in registrations before reality about the commitment to studying kicks in and people fully understand what they are taking on. However, somewhere around the age of 40 every Service person changes job - from the unit service that forms much of the early part of a career - to a more managerial occupation. Some stay in and others leave; but the ELC scheme will give everyone the chance to develop the qualifications that may make them more effective in these new roles; or they can use it to develop other skills that they want to use in their work or their lives.
The ELC scheme registration opened on 1 April, and the first applications were received at 10.15am on 3 April. For more advice talk with your education staff or individual learning adviser, or look at Defence Council Instruction JS 61/03. Alternatively you can visit the website at www.enhancedlearningcredits.co.uk.
Civilian employers train staff specifically in the skills they need for the job and develop a few high-flying managers through very expensive courses. ELCs provide a significant chunk of money for all employees who want to take up a training course. The scheme is way ahead of anything available outside the Forces. Anyone who does not take full advantage of it is really missing out.
For further details Please go to the website at: www.enhancedlearningcredits.co.uk