I love a spreadsheet in the morning!
This is what I did.
Or sort of…
Just printed a blank register and ticked off when received.
1 Like
If I had forgotten about it during a busy life I think I’d probably be pretty annoyed that Little Jane had just been suspended without any prior reminder.
People forget things; It happens. I don’t think it would be too much to issue a few reminders in the interest of showing the cadets and parents that we care enough to help them to avoid suspension.
2 Likes
Reading that extract above the suspension isn’t automatic. The unit commander MAY (not must) recommend suspension to the WExO
2 Likes
From memory I thought the IBN did say cadets would be suspended by WHQ after a certain point?
I re-read it. I am wrong.
Some WEXOs may take that stance though, consent is an important legal issue.
Suspension of cadets is to be treated as a last resort and unit commanders are to take appropriate steps to minimise this requirement where practicable.
It’s a last respite but there is a 3.5 month window from project start to this point, if you’ve not received it by then the stick needs to be applied, and that’s stick is suspension.
1 Like
I think a reminder announcement from HQAC wouldn’t go amiss. We’ve seen already on here people have forgotten this exists. I’ve certainly seen no reminder about it.
That details current numbers completed too.
1 Like
Something not discussed really, maybe not considered much either is…
I suspect that HQAC are using this exercise as a tool to provide an accurate enrolled baseline number from which all future calculations are based.
E.g. how many Sqns have been keeping 'dead wood’on their registers, simply to appear bigger and avoid review.
Everything from Sqn viability to building size to flying slots is based on the enrolled size of a Sqn.
Using the new 3822A and a hard deadline is a convenient method of accurately determining exactly how many cadets the org actually has.
As an aside, pre pandemic we all had a figure of approx 42000 as the cadet strength.
I was told last week that as of MAY 21, the total number is down to 31000.
I suspect come September it will be anything from 25000 to 35000.
But certainly nothing higher.
Probably. The CCF have the benefit of regular visits by permanent staff to assess actual rather than paper numbers; the ATC less so I believe.
To be fair, if I were the new Comdt I would also want to know the real size of the organisation I took over, however painful it is to find out.
Easier said than done, though.
We’ve been sending out periodic surveys and messages throughout all this nonsense to see how many of our cadets will be coming back (sometimes through the staff team, sometimes using the NCO team) and keep getting back plenty of positive responses.
But then when it comes to actual attendance, we’re missing some… So we’re still left in a quandary where we likely have more on the books than we should do, but they’ve told us to leave them on.
1 Like
Easy.
- Are they paying subs.
- Have they returned the new 3822A and H.
If both are yes. They are still a member.
If one or both arent. Then I suspect nope.
In my experience these visits do nothing to stop people padding the numbers and claiming more grant than entitled to
Sorry what?
I can’t remember the exact figures but we get something small like £1.50 per cadet per year. I know the ATC doesn’t get that, but we get zero funding towards accommodation so swings and roundabouts.
Wow. That hardly counts as a grant…
Odd it’s so little! Bet the effort to administer it, costs more than the value of the grant.
I will recommend that we do a reminder at the beginning of September once the summer holidays are out of the way. If we do it now, it will get lost in the noise.
Yes and no. Yes in that the final outcome will help provide accurate statistical reporting on the number of cadets.
No in that it was not a stated goal of the project. The goal is to ensure that we have the right consents in place for the cadets.
4 Likes
It’s a lot more than that. If your Contingent Commander says it’s that small then he’s creaming off the rest for the Army Section 
Ballpark is something like £15-20 per cadet per year. ISTR it’s been reduced in recent years; as Cont Comd I used to get a cheque for ~£4k for around 200 cadets.
The money is hard to spend - there are so many rules around what you can spend it on, and anything over £500 needs approval from Brigade (though to be fair 11 Inf Bde were great). And at one stage the Army started issuing new rules on what it could be spent on which purported to supersede those in JSP535. This mattered because I used some of the money to maintain RN section boats which were listed in JSP535 but not in the Army’s list.
PS inflating cadet numbers on Westminster to increase the grant is fraud, and people have been done for it.
1 Like
I’m not surprised if he was creaming it off on my old contingent, but I wasn’t a money man so may have just misremembered how much it was.
I know someone who was barred by the Army from being an SSI or CFAV in the ACF/CCF(Army) because of this and other problems. But despite being informed HQAC are more than happy for them to continue being a Sqn OC in the ATC. Perhaps because they were one of those superior officers who did OASC?