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What is ELCAS?

The MoD’s Enhanced Learning Credits Scheme (ELC) is an initiative to create lifelong learning for members of the Armed Forces and provides financial support in the form of payments of up to 80% of the costs of OBS qualifications. This means it can be used both during your time in the forces and also for up to 10 years after leaving to allow personnel to enhance their qualifications and aid transition from the service.
The actual amount available depends on your circumstances and can vary from £1,000 per year up to £3,000 per year. Personnel and service leavers must have completed 6+ years of qualifying service.
In addition: only one ELC claim can be made per financial year and the entire claim must be with one provider.

How ELCAS funding works

To be eligible for ELC, you must have served within the military for a minimum of six years. Credits will cover 80% of the total of your chosen course fees, up to a maximum of £2,000. The remaining 20% balance will be invoiced to you and can be paid in full or using one of our interest-free payment plans.

Six years of service? You can claim up to £1,000 pa

Eight + years of service? You can claim up to £2,000 pa

A single payment of up to £3,000 can be made for those with 6+ years of qualifying service completed on/after 1st April 2016

Full details of ELC eligibility can be found in these links:

For serving personnel

For service leavers

How to apply

1: Exploring our range of ELCAS approved courses

The first step when selecting a qualification in order to utilise your ELC, is ensure you’ve completely explored your options. OBS offer a range of ELCAS approved qualifications, across a variety of levels and industries, allowing you to select the qualification which best suits your needs.

You may be interested in a general management course, or feel that your skills are best suited to a role within IT?  We offer courses specialising in everything from HR, Business and IT, to Health & Social Care, Hospitality, Leadership, Sales. There’s a course for you and we recommend that you browse our site to find the course that interests you the most.

2: Contacting our team

Whether you want some advice on the best course option for you or you know exactly the  career path you’re looking to take, we are on hand to speak with you directly.

We advise contacting our team of specialist Course Advisors as early as possible. They can provide you with course information, unit content, tailored recommendations, and pricing information. Get in touch through our contact page, or calling 0333 772 1158 to speak to our team today.

3: Finding which course is right for you

Our Course Advisors are trained and experienced in ensuring you select the best suited qualification for your learning aims. The team will ask you for information on your current experience, your duration of service in the Forces, what specialist skills and knowledge you’ve gained, along with your future aims and goals.

The answers to our advisor’s questions will enable us to recommend the best level of study and course option. We encourage you to ask as many questions as possible and provide us with as much information as possible to enable you to then make an informed decision on how best to proceed.

4: Applying for a course using your ELC

Once you have made the decision on which course you are enrolling on, you will be required to submit your claim online and login to the ELC Member’s Area and completing the ELC claim form relevant for the OBS qualification. This will then need to be approved by your authorising Education Staff.

You must submit your claim a minimum of 25 days prior to your requested start date of study – remember, with OBS we do not have set start dates, meaning the sooner you’re able to complete your claim, the sooner you can begin your studies.

Upon receipt of your Claim Authorisation Note (CAN) send this to [email protected]  and your Course Advisor, who will keep this safe until required.

5: Enrolment with OBS

Following receipt of your CAN, your Course Advisor will send you the relevant information to complete your official enrolment with OBS. This will enable us to register you as a student, make arrangement for you pay your 20% part payment and confirm mailing details for certification/materials if required.

We will then request the remaining 80% of your funding directly from ELCAS

6: Beginning your course

The Student Support team will now take over and you will receive a welcome email from them with your login details granting you access to the OBS Learning Platform and personal dashboard. You are now ready to begin your studies and we recommend you book the Induction tour with one of our Tutors. Your dashboard contains all your study material and resources for your course.

You’re now a registered OBS student and you can take full advantage of the learning support and global network of students to help with your learning and professional development.

Speak to our team to see how we can help you 

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