in addition to what paracetamol has indicated about it not being viable for VA, how on earth does anyone make a Remembrance Parade last the required minimum 8 hours to qualify?
Ok I accept that the day is 8 hours long so travel can be included in that, but who is travelling significant distances to attend a 1hr30 - 2 hour event and back again and clocking up 8 hours?
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you only get relief at your tax rate so with 20p difference it would be 4p per mile for basic rate and 8p per mile for higher rate so may not add up to an awful lot but something is better than nothing and if you do a lot of mileage for cadets then it could help offset some of the tax paid on VA.
Having had a couple of days VA now for SSIC I notice that RAFAC don’t deduct NI, does anyone know if this is because it’s not payable on VA or can I expect the friendly tax man to hit me with a demand at the end of the financial year 
We do two parades on the day. In the morning we meet at the local RAF memorial and church service. We then have tea and cake in the church hall… Then we head off to squadron for shoe polishing and a sandwich before heading out to the larger village parade and church service, finishing with more tea and cake in the second church hall.
We leave at around 0830 and finish up at around 1630 or 1700.
So it can be done if your determined!
hats off to you for that - i can’t imagine two parades is “typical” though…
it is of course moot as VA cannot be claimed but i stand corrected that if it could there are a handful who would be able to
Yes it is clear Remembrance is not claimable. We just like all the cake!
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weird, none deducted from my VA payment, only income tax
Will get to April and deal with it then
We do 2 parades one on the morning and one in the afternoon with lunch at the Squadron in between.
We did three Remembrance Events this year! Sent different Cadets to each one to save Parents racing around the countryside and Staff did either two or all three of them.
Could we get back to remuneration? We established a while ago that Remembrance Day is not claimable.
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Festive drink parties has probably led to some reading ‘remuneration’ as ‘rememberance’…
It was a work meeting
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Nice. Very nice.
I saw what you did there… 
Remuneration, VA, pay or whatever they may like to call it seems to have become a real a bone of contention over the years among some who feel they should get more, aside from the need to be in uniform to get it. Maybe it’s time for a completely different system. It is interesting that with all the changes suggested VA/pay/remuneration isn’t specifically mentioned. Which I would proffer is deliberate. It amuses me that we have to do 8 hours to claim, yet in most instances we are on a 24 hour day, which knocks the hourly rate down severely, as we are looking after cadets. It’s the same as people who refer to themselves as part-time parents, because they have a job, when the actual job they have is being a parent and their job is in effect part-time.
Personally two routes: bin VA completely and go to expenses, (which would be inline with as I imagine other youth groups/orgs) and proper business mileage rates, or, start over with a tax free annual “bounty” for every “substantive” CFAV. Some caveats could be built in, but in essence move away from the what you can / can’t claim for in terms of activity and the 28 day nonsense. The focus IMO should be on parade nights and one caveat would be minimum attendance. All Wing staff bar the Wg Cdr would be seconded to sqns. Sector Cdrs would be expected to do 2 nights a week around their patch, either doing checks or just helping as required. This would end the going onto Wing to “hide”.
It would be interesting to know where, why and how the 28 days came about along with what is/isn’t permissible, as it must have been agreed by someone at some point and signed off, on the volunteers behalf. No point in asking the question as HQAC are crap at historic records.
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this has been discussed before and is “pending”
pre C19 i was in casual discussion with a CFAV who has close connections with HQAC who indicated the “director” and “participant” level in SMS events will reflect the VA offered, recognising those who managed the event and those who had a lesser/junior role
i disagree “most instances” - personal experience I accept, but I am sure I am not unique in saying that at least 50% of my claimed days are on a shooting range or an single day AT event (walking/climbing) with the odd other training day thrown in assisting with a Wing course.
I only go away on one camp for a week in the whole year to complete a full 24 hours “on duty” which leaves 21 other (single) days to claim.
I accept 8 hours as minimum, that is a “standard working day” and as our rate is a “day rate” feel that I have “earned” my VA as I have done a “full days work”
but out of line of our sister organisation the ACF - any change that we have will need to match their system too…
yes i agree that this is an odd number to land on and interesting to know where it came about.
this will have be a result of the VA received is tax-payers money - there should be accountability for what tax payers money is spent on.
spending money on delivering first aid training to the youth of today - win for society - paid out
supervising Cadets raise money for charity - no benefit to the taxpayer, charity work is charity work - not paid out.
to look at it another way - most freelance D of E instructors who do commercial work will be paid a day rate, extra if they need to supervise evening activities, and extra again if they’re required to stay overnight for supervision reasons. Is there any reason CFAVs shouldn’t just get an extra overnight rate when they are the duty member of staff?
I don’t really go with the two tier approach. The majority of the work is done before you go anywhere and when you go away, people invariably muck in to get the job done. So in reality the “director” is doing the work beforehand and in my experience it’s not a one man or woman show, people, even those not going, assist in the planning and admin. So the two tier thing is far too simplistic and wide of the mark in reality.
As for the 8 hours, I can’t think of many instances when I do 8 hours and that’s it. I’ve been on range days that involve 2 hours driving each way, before anything else, which goes well over the 8 hours. The majority of things I do are AT and DofE, even a day walk goes over the 8 hours if you consider getting there and back. I would love for it to be the duration of the walk. It annoys me that community events in general are seen as not worthy. For me these are more important as they are the “good citizen” and learning to deal with people training, which is far more valuable than some of the things we claim for AND as they are public facing and gets the plaudits for cadets from the general public. I find it interesting watching cadets “grow” when yo do these over 2 or 3 years. Because they don’t attract pay I am almost certain people shy away from them so they can do the far more important things they can claim for.
The point about external DofE instructors is interesting. Three of the schools in our MAT do DofE and I was approached about doing training and going on an exped for a silver next Easter or Whitsun later in the year. The training at £130 a day and the exped £180 a day, plus mileage at 45p/mile (if I drive) and a day off after an exped, which is less than the trust would pay for fully external instructors. It sounds like an easy ride as the teachers going will be in charge of discipline.
and this is recognised in the two tier approach.
as you identify most people muck in - on a AT day no one is doing anything more or less to keep the day rolling but the CFAV who put everything in place to make it happen gets recognised with Director VA
but we are not external or freelance. there are CFAVs who won’t claim the VA so it is “pocket money” to those who do rather than representative of the effort put in (ignoring differences between ranks).
it doesn’t matter if a event is 8 hours in the day, or 8 hours night nav, or even a 14 hour overnight (1800-0800) if it has a group of 4 or 24 what can be claimed is all the same regardless which in the commercial environment is madness.
CFAVs are internal and do it for free (there is no guarantee VA will be approved/may have reached max days) so can’t compare like with like
yes, it is this “madness” I was highlighting 
except in those (increasingly common) instances where the WExO has asked for advance notice it will be claimed
But in the public sector & volunteer sector is considered perfectly normal.
An argument at Sqn regarding the mileage rate for Sqn activities not covered by a 1771 so reimbursed from Sqn funds.
HMRC maximum rate is 45p per mile. A lot of commercial companies pay this rate.
Public sector & charity sector go for a lot less about 25p a mile so pure fuel costs.
Those in public sector argue for the lower, those from the commercial world insist on the maximum.
The clash in cultures between the two worlds is common but not unexpected as each side believe their position is the most ethical & correct (which leads down the rabbit hole to the side track as to the categorising of volunteers & transactional vs ideological)
The RAFAC is not a commercial business with customers per sae but a non-profit third sector/CIC with service users so you can’t link VA directly with types of duty without stepping into the murky world of contracts, employments & third party providers.
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