ELCs At A Glance

ELCs or Enhanced Learning Credits is a Government Scheme set up for members of the Armed Forces as well as certain members of the Public and Private Sectors. Soldiers will generally sign onto the scheme during Ph 1 Training.

• The scheme is ‘dormant’ (that is to say in a state of hibernation) for the first four years of the scheme so these credits cannot be used during this period.

• When the scheme goes ‘live’, each individual will be initially be granted 3 x grants or installments of £1000, this is the ‘lower tier’. After a further four years on the ‘lower tier’ (eight years from the original date of enrolment), any installments that have not been used will increase in value to £2000. This is the ‘higher tier’. In short, every soldier has potentially £6000 worth of credits in bite size chunks of £2000 each

• The application forms for these grants need to be submitted in advance, this must be done by logging onto the ELC website at www.enhancedlearningcredits.com. In order to do this soldiers must inform the RCMO SNCO so he can apply for their login and password which will be sent to them via an e-mail complete with a link to www.enhancedlearningcredits.com.

• ELCs will only be able to be used against ELCAS approved courses which are Level 3 (A Level level) or higher. All ELCAS Course Providers will have a 3 or 4 digit Course Provider Number. If they are unable to quote this then they are not with Enhanced Learning Credits. For a list of providers and courses, you can log onto www.enhancedlearningcredits.com. Alternatively you can browse www.questonline.co.uk , www.courses4forces.co.uk or just Google ‘ELC courses’ in whatever particular trade or job interests you.

• Once you leave the Army, you will still be on the ELC scheme for a further 5 years to the day after you leave the army. During this time you are still eligible for and should still move automatically onto the ‘higher tier’ regardless of whether you are still serving or not so long as you have completed 8 years since enrolling onto the scheme and still have time left within the 5 x year run out date after leaving the Army. Once you have exited the Armed Forces the SRA will not be able to process claims for you, all ELC paperwork and transactions will be dealt with directly by logging onto the ELCAS website directly.

• Any excess to the course in terms of price will need to be paid by the student to the Course Provider prior to the course starting. For example, if the cost of a course is £1,500 and the student is on the lower tier of ELCs, he can enter an ELC claim for £1000 but must pay the £500 himself prior to the course starting.

• All students must be prepared to pay 20% of the course cost up front as a financial incentive to turn up to the course. This 20% must be paid before the course starts. This is part of a financial ‘buy in’ to ensure the learner is genuine and will carry through and complete the course. If there is an excess to pay and the excess is more than 20% then the 20% will comprise part of the excess which must be paid up front anyway.

• ELCs are a ‘one shot weapon’ and can only be used once. For example, if a student is on the lower tier (£1000) and claims for a course worth £700, he does not have £300 in reserve or a spare kitty. That £300 is gone so it pays to be cost effective with the course.

• If a learner has completed 6 x years service and is in Resettlement, he can use all three instalments of £1000 in one go as a one off payment of £3000.

• The claim must be made and all paperwork/forms submitted a minimum of 28 x days prior to the start date of the course.

• ELCAS will issue a CAN (Claim Authorisation Note) for any courses that have been bid foor and the soldier/ student must be in possession of the CAN and send it to the course provider (along with any excess cost and/or the 20% ‘buy in cost’) prior to the course commencing.

• Only one claim can be made per financial year (Apr 01^st – Mar 31^st the following year).