Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of VAT on school fees on military families.

The Ministry of Defence recognises the unique circumstances faced by our Service personnel and that frequent mobility can disrupt children’s education. Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) helps by providing the children of Service personnel with a stable education that would not otherwise be available in the state-maintained day school sector, due to their family’s mobility.

Termly rates of CEA are recalculated to account for changes to fees made by schools for the new academic year. This is usually an annual event but as schools changed their fees for January 2025 in response to the Government’s new VAT policy, the CEA rates were recalculated in December 2024. New rates will be calculated ahead of changes in school fees for September 2025.

The single Services will monitor the impact on retention in service for those claiming CEA following the introduction of VAT on independent school fees. The Pay and Allowances Casework and Complaints Cell (PACCC) will monitor the impact on Service personnel changing schools and withdrawing from CEA. Where a Service person does not meet the eligibility criteria as laid out in JSP 752 and has made a personal choice to use a private school for their child’s education, the MOD is not involved.