[holding answer 15 June 2006]: Regular service personnel in the Royal Navy (RN) and Army are able to claim longer separated service allowance (LSSA) as follows:
when they have been in receipt of full-time regular pay for 12 months or more;
when, if serving accompanied at their permanent duty station, they are away from their spouse or registered civil partner. (This does not apply if both are serving personnel; in this instance both are eligible to claim LSSA when they are serving apart from each other);
when they spend periods of 10 consecutive days or more away from their permanent duty station on temporary duty, operations or exercises, and
when they are posted unaccompanied to a designated LSSA payment area. Designated areas include the Falkland Islands, Ascension Island and Diego Garcia. MOD can also include areas in support of United Nations or national operations as required.
Regular service personnel in the Royal Air Force (RAF) are no longer able to claim LSSA; since the roll-out of joint personnel administration (JPA) to the RAF, they are eligible instead for longer separation allowance (LSA).
Full-time reserve service and volunteer reserve service personnel of all three services, non-regular permanent staff and additional duties commitments personnel are eligible to claim LSSA once they have either received a second year bounty or completed 12 months full-time service, provided they meet the remaining eligibility criteria as set out above. (Full-time service usually results either from previous regular service or from mobilisation).
In addition, RAF volunteer reserve personnel are entitled to claim LSSA for attendance at their annual two-week camp, provided they meet all other qualifying criteria. As part of the harmonisation of allowances across the services, this entitlement will be removed when RAF reservists transfer onto JPA (currently scheduled for 1 April 2007) and become eligible for LSA.