StreetLink exists to help end rough sleeping by enabling members of the public to connect people sleeping rough with the local services that can support them.

If you see someone in danger of being homeless do give them a call. 

Click on the logo below:

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89% of adults in Great Britain used the internet at least weekly in 2018, up from 88% in 2017 and 51% in 2006.

46% of adults watched videos on demand from commercial services in 2018, up from 29% in 2016.

The proportion of adults aged 65 years and over who shop online trebled since 2008, rising from 16% to 48% in 2018.

26% of adults who use smartphones did not have smartphone security and a further 24% did not know if they have security installed.

70% of employed adults considered that they have the required computer skills for their jobs.    

ABC Comment: How IT literate are you? 

Boost your business and shape the workforce of tomorrow

The Department for the Economy and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) are encouraging local businesses to consider the benefits of opening their doors to school pupils via work experience.  

Frances O’Hara, head of the Department for the Economy’s Careers Service said: “It is vital we all continue to work towards developing a strong local economy. Developing the skills and confidence of our future workforce has a large part to play in this. By offering school pupils purposeful and imaginative work experience the business community can play their part. 

“There are also specific benefits to individual companies, who welcome pupils into their workplace, including helping to promote their sector as a good career choice and giving their existing staff the opportunity to develop their skills through mentoring. In addition pupils can help to bring new and creative ideas into a company.”

Connect to Success NI is a free online resource enabling employers to advertise apprenticeships (including Higher Level Apprenticeships) as well as school work experience opportunities. In order to meet the pressing demands that employers face, this can include shorter one or two day ‘experiences of work’ as well as the more traditional week long format. The portal gives employers access to the workforce of tomorrow and enables them to raise awareness of their company.  For more information visit www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/connect-to-success

Tina McKenzie, FSB NI Policy Chair said: “It is easy to see the benefit to school pupils in undertaking work experience as it helps them to gain first-hand experience in the world of work as well as develop their skills. It can sometimes be difficult for smaller businesses to offer placements, however I encourage businesses of all sizes to open their doors to pupils and help be a part of creating the workforce of tomorrow.

“Given that unemployment is at a near record low, businesses have a real incentive to build relationships with schools to ensure that they can access workers in the future. Whilst some employers are able to offer the traditional week-long school work experience, others have opted for a shorter one, two or three day experiences of work approach.  Both are invaluable and play a real part in inspiring the workforce of tomorrow. I ask all businesses and companies to consider the benefits of work experience for school pupils and advertise their opportunities on the Connect to Success portal.”

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ABC Note: Connect to Success NI is a free online system developed by the Department for the Economy to promote and advertise apprenticeship and school work experience opportunities to citizens.

Employers simply upload information about their apprenticeship and/or school work experience opportunities on to the online portal for citizens to search.

Generation Rent say they need your help with their next media campaign to help end Section 21.

The End Unfair Evictions campaign is calling for all renters to share their experiences of renting via the #VentYourRent hashtag.

The government is currently consulting on longer tenancies, Generation Rent want to hear from you. Nightmare landlords, rising rents, unfair evictions, awful conditions? Now is the chance to make your voice heard. The aim of the campaign is to get a wide range of renters across the country sharing their experiences to generate some media coverage and put pressure on the government - and the more people that take part, the better.

Generation Rent are holding an event in London on the evening of Monday August 13th where we will make some signs about our experiences of renting, to be used as part of the #VentYourRent social media campaign.

Come along they say! All renters are welcome.

DATE AND TIME

Mon 13 August 2018

18:45 – 20:30 BST

Add to Calendar

LOCATION

MayDay Rooms

88 Fleet Street

London

EC4Y 1DH

View Map

The details here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vent-your-rent-launch-meeting-tickets-48806052216

ABC Note: A Section 21 Notice named after Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, is the notice a landlord can give to a tenant to regain possession of a property at the end of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST). 

ABC Comment: What do you think about Section 21?

The Social Security Advisory Committee has a new chair after Professor Sir Ian Diamond this week replaced Paul Gray as head of the body that examines government plans for working-age welfare reforms.

Diamond, who was knighted in 2013 for his services to social science and higher education, was the principal and vice chancellor of the University of Aberdeen until the end of July. He also holds a range of non-executive roles including as chair of the Department for International Development’s research advisory group and board member of the UK Statistics Authority.

Speaking at the time of his appointment, Diamond said it was a privilege to be invited to chair the committee. “Social security touches on the lives of everyone over the course of a lifetime, therefore the committee has an important responsibility to provide high quality and evidence-based advice to government,” he said.

“I look forward to rising to that challenge, supported by the wealth of talent that already exists within the committee’s current membership.”

She added: “I look forward to working with Sir Ian and am confident that the committee will continue to provide valuable advice under his leadership.

“I would also like to thank the committee’s outgoing chair, Paul Gray CB, for the high quality and constructive support that has been provided to the department over the past six years.”

The US economy continues to steam along and create jobs. Alas our website was designed for Europe we will be adding other sections when we redevelop it later. 

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 157,000 in July, and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.9 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services, in manufacturing, and in health care and social assistance.

Household Survey Data

In July, the unemployment rate edged down by 0.1 percentage point to 3.9 percent, following an increase in June. The number of unemployed persons declined by 284,000 to 6.3 million in July.

Both measures were down over the year, by 0.4 percentage point and 676,000, respectively.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.4 percent) and Whites

(3.4 percent) declined in July. The jobless rates for adult women (3.7 percent), teenagers (13.1 percent), Blacks (6.6 percent), Asians (3.1 percent), and Hispanics (4.5 percent) showed little or no change over the month.

Among the unemployed, the number of reentrants to the labor force decreased by 287,000 in July to 1.8 million, following an increase in June. (Reentrants are persons who previously worked but were not in the labor force prior to beginning their job search.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged at 1.4 million in July and accounted for 22.7 percent of the unemployed.

The labor force participation rate, at 62.9 percent in July, was unchanged over the month and over the year. The employment-population ratio, at 60.5 percent, was little changed in July but has increased by 0.3 percentage point over the year.

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed in July, at 4.6 million, but was down by 669,000 over the year. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs.

In July, 1.5 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little different from a year earlier. (Data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12

months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.

Among the marginally attached, there were 512,000 discouraged workers in July, little changed from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.0 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in July had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities.

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 157,000 in July, compared with an average monthly gain of 203,000 over the prior 12 months. In July, job gains occurred in professional and business services, in manufacturing, and in health care and social assistance.

Employment in professional and business services increased by 51,000 in July and has risen by 518,000 over the year. Over the month, employment edged up in temporary help services (+28,000) and in computer systems design and related services (+8,000).

Manufacturing added 37,000 jobs in July, with most of the gain in the durable goods component.

Employment rose in transportation equipment (+13,000), machinery (+6,000), and electronic instruments (+2,000). Over the past 12 months, manufacturing has added 327,000 jobs.

In July, employment in health care and social assistance rose by 34,000. Health care employment continued to trend up over the month (+17,000) and has increased by 286,000 over the year.

Hospitals added 7,000 jobs over the month. Within social assistance, individual and family services added 16,000 jobs in July and 77,000 jobs over the year.

Employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend up over the month (+26,000).

Over the year, the industry has added 203,000 jobs.

Construction employment continued to trend up in July (+19,000) and has increased by 308,000 over the year.

In July, employment in retail trade changed little (+7,000). Job gains occurred in general merchandise stores (+14,000), clothing and clothing accessories stores (+10,000), and food and beverage stores (+8,000). These employment gains were offset by a decline of 32,000 in sporting goods, hobby, book, and music stores, reflecting job losses in hobby, toy, and game stores.

Employment showed little or no change over the month in other major industries, including mining, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, and government.

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours in July, following an increase of 0.1 hour in June. In manufacturing, both the workweek and overtime were unchanged in July, at 40.9 hours and 3.5 hours, respectively. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls remained at 33.8 hours.

In July, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 7 cents to $27.05. Over the year, average hourly earnings have increased by 71 cents, or 2.7 percent.

Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees increased by 3 cents to $22.65 in July.

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised up from +244,000 to +268,000, and the change for June was revised up from +213,000 to +248,000. With these revisions, employment gains in May and June combined were 59,000 more than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.) After revisions, job gains have averaged 224,000 per month over the last 3 months.

image: US Jobs market continues to add jobs.  

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Just an apology - we have had some website issues but we are moving to the latest version of Joomlar (Content Management Software CMS) on Monday.

This will be fixed courtesy of our very able 'techie' and Joomlar expert Mike VEECKMANS, Joombiz - Traveeka bvba Tel: +3233690409 Belgium.

 Need some IT support - Mikes the man and he is doing a great job for the ABC. 

This was meant to be a holiday week, visiting Pyfleet Week and watching friends racing such as Graham Bridal and crew on his 18 foot Skiff. 

Fantastic weather on the Costa del Brightlingsea. 

Image courtesy: Tania Bines.

Image courtesy Tania Bines: Big Wednesday at Pyfleet Week 2018

We were asked this morning to advice of welfare benefits in Morocco. The lady could not speak English but we can provide this help if her daughter will translate.  

After more than a decade of wrangling between unions, employers and the government, Morocco launched its first ever unemployment benefits scheme.

The programme, dubbed Indemnité pour perte d'emploi (IPE), will only compensate redundancies of salaried private-sector workers. To be eligible, unemployed people will have to prove that they contributed to the Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale (CNSS), the social security scheme, for 780 days in the three years before losing their job, including 260 days in the year prior to being made redundant. They will also need to be registered with the state employment agency, the Agence nationale de promotion de l'emploi et des competences, which will provide training and help recipients find a new job. Payouts, which will be restricted to a maximum period of six months, will not exceed the statutory monthly minimum wage or 70% of the employee's average monthly wage over the last 36 months of employment. The scheme raises compulsory contributions to the CNSS by 0.57 percentage points, an increase that will be financed both by employees (0.19 percentage points) and employers (0.38 percentage points). The state will also contribute a total of Dh500m (US$56m) over three years to help kick-start the programme.

The IPE represents an unprecedented expansion of welfare provisions in Morocco, although its reach is limited. The CNSS estimates there will be only about 34,000 beneficiaries in the first year, as all informal workers (such as domestic workers), and many seasonal staff, do not qualify. Many unemployed youth and people that have been without work for over a year, which represent about two-thirds of Morocco's unemployed population—about 1.1m in third-quarter 2014—are also unlikely to meet the requirements. As such, the scheme will do little to quell popular dissatisfaction with living conditions. Morocco's major union, the Union marocaine du travail (UMT), has already protested that eligibility conditions are too complex.

Owing to its restricted scope, the IPE's financial burden will be contained. With 34,000 beneficiaries in the first year, payouts cannot exceed Dh469m (about 0.05% of our 2015 GDP forecast). However, depending on how the policy is adapted—an assessment will be made every three years—costs to the state or in terms of employers' social contributions may increase in the medium term, thereby undermining the fiscal position or workforce competitiveness

ABC Note: The unemployment benefits are payable for up to six months. Recipients could collect as much as 70 percent of their salary from the preceding three months. Pay outs should not exceed 100 percent of the guaranteed minimum wage, which stands at 2,110 dirhams. That’s 171.36 GBP or 192.47 EUR.

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Civil Service employment on 31 March 2018 was 430,075, up 10,676 (2.5%) on 31 March 2017.

There were 331,392 full-time civil servants, 10,229 (3.2%) more than 31 March 2017 and the number of civil servants working part-time increased by 447 (0.5%) to 98,683.

Of those who declared their ethnicity, 12.0% were from an ethnic minority.

Of those who declared their disability status, 10.0% were disabled.

Median gross annual earnings (excluding overtime or one-off bonuses) for Civil Service employees were £26,610, an increase of £710 (2.7%) on 31 March 2017.

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As the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions completes a whistle-stop tour of Scotland, including visits to Stirling and Fife, the SNP has challenged her to come face to face with people driven into using foodbanks as a result of Tory welfare policies – and to realise that calling a halt to the rollout of Universal Credit is long overdue.
 
Stirling, which rolled out full service Universal Credit in June last year, has suffered the worst effects of the UK government’s ill-thought-out welfare regime with the policy leading to a “consequential increase” in foodbank use, an “increased risk of potential homelessness”, a sharp rise in rent arrears, a hike in applications for temporary accommodation and hundreds of Crisis Grants issued, according to a report by Stirling Council.

Image: Stirling.
 
Research undertaken by the SNP revealed that local authorities across Scotland have spent several million pounds mitigating the damaging impact of Universal Credit – public money which has been diverted away from delivering vital local services.
 
Commenting, Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford said:
 
“The Tories ‘flagship’ welfare policy isn’t working. Universal Credit is driving more people into poverty, causing severe hardship and stress and forcing people into relying upon foodbanks, just to get by.
 
“It’s an unthinking, callous approach which victimises those who simply need an extra bit of help.
 
“Perhaps Esther McVey might use the last day of her visit to Scotland to come face to face with some foodbank users who have felt the brunt of Tory welfare cuts. Despite staring an overwhelming body of evidence in the face, the Tories still continue to deny a link between their disastrous policies and a rise in the use of foodbanks.
 
“But the reality in my constituency, and across Scotland, is that where Universal Credit is failing, people are suffering – and the Scottish Government, local councils and the third sector are left to pick up the pieces.
 
“It’s time to recognise that the rollout of Universal Credit has been a failure, the human price has been too high and the time is long overdue for it to be halted.”

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