Help yourself – and benefit your Service too

ARTICLES

If you use your ELC wisely while still in uniform it will also be of benefit to your Service …

The main purpose of ELC is to encourage serving personnel to pursue learning that benefits both themselves and the Armed Forces. This is to comply with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) rules, which state that any money provided for your personal development has to be of immediate benefit to both the Armed Forces and the individual.

The best of both worlds is offered by those courses that will benefit your own career and promotion prospects in the Services – and ultimately help you find employment on leaving – as well as offering a benefit to the Service while you remain in uniform.

Some of the areas of education that your Service role might require, but that are also highly likely to prove useful once you leave the Forces, could include accountancy and management qualifications, or courses related to health and safety, and facilities or project management, for instance. You can read about all of these careers and more in the Quest Careers Hub 

Depending on your Service role, you could find yourself in a position to embark on a range of studies that will turn out to have a very useful crossover into the civilian workplace when the time comes for you to make the transition. A great many study and training areas are likely to serve you well in future – not forgetting the benefit to your Service branch now, of course!

* Although the NQF has been replaced by, first, the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) and subsequently the RQF, national standards and qualifications remain defined within the nine levels of the NQF, which is still referred to in JSP 822. Further details of the different qualification frameworks and levels can be found in JSP 822, downloadable from the ELCAS website