Major General Nick Welch faces Court Martial – Jailed for School Fees Fraud

A “deceptive” senior Army official has been imprisoned for dishonestly asserting more than £48,000. He claimed this amount as an allowance to pay for the boarding school fees of his children. Major Welch was kept in jail for 21 months.

The Major faced a court-martial of 4 weeks in Bulford Military Court.

Photo by Saad Chaudhry via Unsplash

Major General Nick Welch was indicted for a single charge of fraud in this case.

The court was informed that General Nick, who got a retirement from the military in 2018, had applied for the stipend on the premise that both he and his significant other, Charlotte, would not be living near the schools of their children in Dorset.

However, it was later discovered that Charlotte Welch – wife to Nick Welch – stayed majorly at the family’s house in Blandford Forum, Dorset, near the two schools instead of at their assigned military convenience in Putney, London.

Who is Major General Nick Welch?

He is a British Army Officer. He joined the military as a Second Lieutenant in 1984, in the long run ascending through the positions to turn into a two-star general.

He paid his services as Commander of The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire, and Wiltshire regiment and of the seventh Armored Brigade situated in Bergen-Hohne, Germany.

He was acknowledged of ‘gallant and distinguished services in the former Yugoslavia.’ In its recognition, Maj Gen Nick was granted with the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in in 2005. In 2006, he was awarded with OBE.

In 2014 he was designated Chief of Staff of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.

Became Assistant Chief of the General Staff, the most elevated positioning Army official serving in the Defense Ministry in London, in 2015.

Furthermore, Gen has served in Berlin, Afghanistan, Germany, Belize, and Northern Ireland. In Afghanistan, he was second in charge of British and US assembles of Helmand territory.

Maj Gen Earning and Retirement

Maj Gen Welch would have been procuring around £120,000 every year while serving as a British Army Officer.

He performed his duties as a British Army official until 2018. General Nick Welch left the Army in 2018 after a celebrated lifetime that traversed over thirty years.

Later, he began his employment in the private area, becoming Chief Operating Officer of Bournemouth Arts University in Dorset.

The CEA Allowance Abuse

CEA allowance

Court viewed that Nick abused the CEA allowance. Briefly, the CEA allowance is:

• Offered by MoD – Ministry of Defense
• Stands for Continuity of Education Allowance
• Kids matured eight years and over are eligible for this allowance
• The allowance is activated to monetarily help the parents – employed in the service sector – with the continuation of education of their children in a particular school, under the watchful eye of a guardian.
• A qualified guardian is anybody who takes the responsibility of a child to enable him to resume his course in a particular school – which he could not attend in case he was living with his parents – parents employed in the service sector.

How Nick Welch abused the CEA allowance?

Welch mistreated CEA in consuming allowance for sending two of his kids to private schools in the Dorset.

To claim the money under CEA rules, the couple needed to live for the most part at their MoD home in London.

The Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) was avouched to permit Nick’s children to remain at £37,000-a-year Clayesmore School and £22,500-a-year Hanford School between December 2015 and February 2017.

Since service employees in defense ministries have to shift various areas for duty purposes, this allowance which covers 90% of fees enables service parent’s children to continue their education in the same schools – where kids may live with the guardian or in the hostel, etc. – while spouses of the servicemen could accompany their partners.

The court-martial panel comprised of;

• Retired air vice-marshal
• Two commodores
• Civil servant
• Retired major general
• A rear admiral
• Brigadier

While CEA rules signify that spouse can’t be absent for more than 90 days from the RWA – residence at work address – The court was informed about the Welch family’s nonattendance from the London home.

MS Clarke – barrister in the court-martial – apprised the court that Nick and wife stayed 280 days approx. away from the MoD home, spent 200 days in Blandford and only 91 days in London.

Welch is dismissed from the army – i.e. he is no longer subject to retired army officer benefits.

Court Martial – At a Glance

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm via Unsplash

It is a military judicial court. When armed service officials are accused of offenses against military law, they appear before the court-martial to prove their innocence.

There are several kinds of court-martials including General and Special Court Martials.

Civilian attorneys or court martial lawyers are hired in the military martial for the defense.