MOD shells out £246m for families’ private education

MILITARY families have been given £246million of taxpayers’ money during the past three years to subsidise their children’s private education, it has emerged.

Schools such as Eton, Harrow and Gordonstoun received nearly £2 million last year, under a Ministry of Defence scheme that helps servicemen and women pay school fees. Tony Blair’s old school, Fettes College, was paid £441,027 and Eton, which has educated 19 prime ministers including David Cameron, was given £270,000.

While the overall annual figure of £80 million remains almost unchanged, Eton, Harrow, Marlborough College and Shrewsbury all enjoyed increased MOD amounts. The payments of up to £21,000 per year, under the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA), ensure military children do not have their education disrupted.

The data, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, show that 5,216 pupils benefited from the scheme last year. A further £400,000 was spent on the education of civil servants working for the MOD who are posted abroad.

The scheme has drawn criticism. Labour MP Justin Madders, co-chairman of the All-party Group on Social Mobility, said the subsidies mostly boosted the life chances of a “narrow and privileged group” in society. In 2011, the Government came under pressure to scrap the scheme but a coalition government review concluded that the grants made “a key contribution to operational effectiveness”.

Clifton College was suspended from the scheme in 2016 after a German master was jailed for three years and nine months for taking and possessing indecent photos of 130 pupils.

An MOD spokesman said: “The aim of the programme is to make sure the children of service personnel don’t suffer educational disadvantage by having to regularly uproot to follow their parent around the Uk/world as they serve their country. CEA is available to all service personnel irrespective of rank.”