We thought we would include an image of Booby Moore. 'Two World Wars and One World Cup....' well enough of that! Today we love our german friends! 

However more seriously if you are interested in how football helps young people get a job, we have attatched the Street League Annual Report. 

Street League is the UK’s leading sport for employment charity. At Street League you play sport everyday and learn the key skills to move into work.

With youth unemployment such an issue here is a great intiative.

Incidently the ABC have been invited to this year's Youth Friendly Employer Awards. The Award the cerimony is on the 24th November 2016 Rockingham Forest Hotel, Corby Northamptonshire.

'Be their or be square' as 'Adam Ant' would say.  

Click here to go to the report: 

The benefit cap has been reduced from £26,000 a year to £20,000 a year in the UK - except in Greater London where the limit is set at £23,000 a year.

Chancellor George Osborne's Budget in July last year included £12bn in welfare cuts.

This is a record £1.503 trillion - the total outstanding lending topped one and a half trillion by the end of September.

• £1,036 - the growth in private debt, including mortgages, for every UK adult.
• 1.656 million - the number of people classed as unemployed between June and August.
• £4,090 - the growth in public sector net borrowing every second in September
• £20.5 billion - The gross mortgage lending in September
• 1%- the lowest English annual regional rent increase in the North East
• £3,252The average amount households with mortgages pay in interest over a year

People in the UK owed £1.503 trillion at the end of September 2016. This is up from £1.451 trillion at the end of September 2015 – an extra £1036.58 per UK adult.

The average total debt per household – including mortgages – was £55,683 in September. The revised figure for August was £55,523.

Per adult in the UK that’s an average debt of £29,770 in September – around 113.7% of average earnings. This is slightly up from a revised £29,685 a month earlier.

Based on September 2016 trends, the UK’s total interest repayments on personal debt over a 12-month period would have been £51.135 billion.

That’s an average of £140 million per day.

This means that households in the UK would have paid an average of £1,894 in annual interest repayments. Per person that’s £1,013 – 3.87% of average earnings.

Per the Office for Budget Responsibility’s July 2015 forecast, household debt is predicted to reach £2.551 trillion in Q1 2021. This makes the average household debt £94,481 (if the number of households in the UK remained the same between now and q1 2021).

Total credit card debt in September 2016 was £65.7bn. Per household this is £2,434 – for a credit card bearing the average interest, it would take 25 years and 6 months to repay if you made only the minimum repayment each month.

The minimum repayment in the first month would be £58 but reduces each month. If you paid £58 every month, the debt would be cleared in around 5 years and 4 months.

Total net lending to individuals by UK banks and building societies rose by £4.7 billion in September 2016 – or £157 per day.

Net mortgage lending rose by £3.1 billion in the month; net consumer credit lending rose by £1.5 Billion.

In Q2 itself they wrote off £504 million (of which £285 million was credit card debt) amounting to a daily write-off, of £5.54 million.

Citizens Advice Bureaux across England and Wales dealt with 598,747 new enquiries in the three months between April and June 2016.

Debt was the second largest advice category (behind benefits) with 371,000 issues. This unchanged on the same period last year. Debt issues represented 26% of all problems dealt with over the period.

2,102 Consumer County Court judgments (CCJs) are issued every day, with an average value of £2,030.

48 mortgage possession claims and 34 mortgage possession orders are made every day. 370 landlord possession claims and 306 landlord possession orders are made every day.

Figures kind courtesy of the Money Charity.

Tory MSP Adam Tomkins embarrassed himself during a Holyrood debate this week, stating that welfare sanctions “affect only a tiny number of claimants”. He cited widely discredited figures from the Department for Work and Pensions which significantly underplay the number of ESA and JSA claimants who have been sanctioned. 
 
Academic experts have described the way that the DWP compiles its figures, which only capture a month-by-month snapshot, as a “gross and systematic misrepresentation” which suppress the full scale of how claimants are being penalised. 

Motherwell and Wishaw MSP Clare Adamson, who spoke in Wednesday’s debate on welfare conditionality, has called on the Scottish Tories to “brush up” on their facts ahead of future Holyrood debates on social security and to pledge to ditch the discredited DWP figures when discussing benefits sanctions. 

Image: MSP Clare Adamson.

Video Below MSP Clare Adamson in action. 

Please download the letter from the UK Statistics Authority critisizing the DWP. 

This document downloadable below lists Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offices that have new postal addresses, including jobcentres and benefit centres. DWP postal addresses are changing because they are modernising the way they receive and process post.

To contact Jobcentre Plus by phone or find your nearest jobcentre, go to:

To make a new Claim

Call Jobcentre Plus to make a new claim for a benefit.

Jobcentre Plus
Telephone: 0800 055 6688
Textphone: 0800 023 4888 
Welsh language: 0800 012 1888 
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm 
Find out about call charges

You can also claim Jobseeker’s Allowance online.

Alternative formats

Call Jobcentre Plus to ask for alternative formats, such as braille, large print or audio CD.

Existing benefit claims

Call the appropriate number for your benefit to:

• discuss a claim you’ve made
• tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about a change in your circumstances, for example if you start working or your income changes

You’ll need your National Insurance number when you call any of these numbers.

Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Incapacity Benefit or Employment and Support Allowance

Telephone: 0345 608 8545
Textphone: 0345 608 8551
Welsh language: 0345 600 3018
Find out about call charges

Universal Credit

Telephone: 0345 600 0723
Textphone: 0345 600 0743
Welsh language: 0345 600 3018
Find out about call charges

Social Fund

Telephone: 0345 603 6967
Textphone: 0345 608 8553
Welsh language: 0345 608 8756
Find out about call charges

Maternity Allowance

Telephone: 0345 608 8610
Textphone: 0345 608 8553
Welsh language: 0345 608 8674
Find out about call charges

Bereavement benefits

Telephone: 0345 608 8601
Textphone: 0345 608 8551
Welsh language: 0345 608 8772
Find out about call charges

To change or cancel an appointment

Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Universal Credit appointments

Telephone: 0345 600 0723
Textphone: 0345 600 0743
Welsh language: 0345 600 3018
Find out about call charges

Other appointments

Telephone: 0345 604 3719
Textphone: 0345 608 8551
Welsh language: 0345 604 4248
Find out about call charges

Information courtesy of the DWP

DWP postal sites can be downloaded below:

David Clapson, a former British soldier died after his benefits were sanctioned. His family has formally requested an inquest into his death.

Lawyers for Gill Thompson, David’s sister, have lodged official papers with the Hertfordshire Coroner on Friday. This was on the basis this was an unnatural death.

After David died in July 2013, the coroner turned down further investigation and an inquest, ruling that his death was due to natural causes. But, backed by the Daily Mirror newspaper, Mrs Thompson has fought for three years for a public investigation an initiative supported by the public with a crowd funding campaign.

Leigh Day law firm says there is a “strong public interest” in a fresh investigation because “a benefit sanction arguably played a contributing or causative factor in the death”.

David Clapson, was a former Lance Corporal in the Royal Signals. David died in July 2013 from fatal diabetic ketoacidosis caused by a severe lack of insulin.

This was because he had been unable to keep his insulin at the correct temperature because – following a benefit sanction following two missed appointments – he had no money to turn on his fridge. The post-mortem found that his stomach was completely empty.

The image are the family with Debbie Abrahams MP.

Debbie was a member of the Work & Pensions Select Committee from June 2011-March 2015, where she led the call for an independent inquiry into the Government’s punitive New Sanctions Regime. She was re-elected as a member of the Work and Pensions Committee in July 2015 until her appointment as Shadow Minister for Disabled People in September 2015.

Debbie is passionate about tackling inequalities and has campaigned extensively for a fairer society, setting up the Oldham Fairness Commission to deliver this in her own constituency.

Key facts from the Diability Benefits Service

• When the Department for Work and Pensions sanctioned him for a month, stopping his £71.70 Job Seekers Allowance, he was left unable to afford to top up his electricity key and unable to afford food.
• In a letter to David’s MP, the DWP stated they were “aware Mr Clapson was insulin dependent”.
• In 2014, Mrs Thompson started a petition with Change.org that gained over 200,000 signatures which helped to secure a Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry in March 2015. However, the Government rejected the Select Committee recommendation that the number of peer reviews into deaths of persons subject to a sanction be made public.
• The Government also rejected Ms Thompson’s calls for an Independent Review into David’s death and the deaths of others in similar circumstances and of an independent body to conduct more reviews into the deaths of those in receipt of ‘working-age’ benefits.

 Image: RIP David Clapson, a victim of cruel benefit sanctions and misguided DWP policies.

Leigh Day is a specialist law firm with some of the country's leading personal injury, product liability, clinical negligence, employment and discrimination, international and human rights teams. Please click on the image to go to their website:

Britain’s biggest pensioner organisation, the National Pensioners Convention has issued the following response to the Work and Pensions Committee’s report and recommendations into Intergenerational Fairness:

Dot Gibson, NPC general secretary said on intergenerational fairness and housing: “Whilst the report makes it clear that no single generation has stolen the future of their successors, there is little doubt that today’s pensioners are still being blamed for the problems faced by today’s younger generations. This phoney conflict is being used as a smokescreen in order to cut back on the welfare state. The housing crisis hasn’t been caused by pensioners, but because in Britain we sold off council houses, we haven’t been building enough affordable homes, wages and employment are low and insecure and an economy built on house-price inflation simply cannot be sustained. This is what needs to be addressed.”

On the state pension triple lock: “The committee wants to scrap the triple lock after 2020, and effectively go back to what we had prior to 2010 because they say it costs too much, but next April the state pension will rise by just £3 a week based on a 2.5% increase. In a country that is supposed to have the sixth strongest economy in the world, are we really saying that we cannot afford to give pensioners a £3 a week increase? Future generations are going to become ever more reliant on the state pension for their income in retirement – but if we scrap the triple lock the state pension will wither on the vine like it did in the 1980s and they will be left with nothing.”

On the winter fuel allowance: “Last winter, a staggering 43,900 older people died from cold related illnesses. Energy bills continue to rise, and spells of prolonged cold weather and poor housing stock mean that older people are particularly vulnerable. When it was first introduced, the winter fuel allowance covered around a third of the average fuel bill. Now it hardly covers an eighth. But the real reason why we have so many additional benefits for pensioners is because our state pension is so low. It currently ranks as 32nd out of 34 OECD countries. Cutting the winter fuel allowance might save money, but it will make the problem of winter deaths worse.”

Youth Employment UK have been overwhelmed by the number and quality of this year's applicants for the Youth Friendly Employer Awards. The organizing team want to thank all of the organisations who took the time to enter.

The Award cerimony is on the 24th November 2016 Rockingham Forest Hotel, Corby Northamptonshire.

• Small Employers: MyKindaFuture,  Humanutopia and The William Cecil
• Medium Employers: Aspire sports, Fidler and Pepper Solicitors and Positive Outcomes
• Large Employers: Hertfordshire Council,  Agilisys and IFDS Group

“Recruiting, training and retaining young people in employment are key issues for many organisations. In contrast, young people remain to be one of the groups most "at risk" of unemployment.  Impetus PEF produced a report this year that identified that nearly 1.3 million 16-24 year olds will experience some time NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training).

There are a plethora of changes taking place at policy level and the future employment landscape is unclear.  With that uncertainty now is a time when educators, employers, youth organisations and training providers must come together to ensure that the right thing is being done to help all young people progress.

The third Youth Friendly Employment Conference will be taking a  look at the key characteristics of "Youth Friendly" organisations. Through a series of workshops we will explore with both young people and employers how delegate organisations can identify ways in which their business can better support young people.”

Key Outcomes

• * Understand the employment challenges facing the most vulnerable groups
• * Better awareness of the barriers facing young people and
• * Understand how organisations can develop employment practice to tackle these barriers and support more young people
• * Share best practice and learnings with a range of organisations from different sectors
• * Policy insights
• * Exhibition and networking opportunities to broker stronger links 

Positive Outcomes are our Headline Sponsors. And with a name like that involved the event ought to go well.

Below you can find an agenda: 

Germany's unemployment rate dropped (DW) to 5.8 percent in October, the lowest on record since 1991.

The federal labor office reported shortages of skilled workers and 691,000 job vacancies in the country.

The BREXIT High Court Ruling was correct and even Nigel Farage agreed. However, there are a lot of other issues that are being rather overlooked? Arguing the 'will of the people must be respected' rather overlooks the fact that neither Wales or Scotland wants to leave the EU. 

Commenting on the High Court ruling, Steffan Lewis AM, Plaid Cymru Brexit spokesperson, said:

“The High Court’s judgement is to be welcomed. However, Parliament should not be able to trigger Article 50 unilaterally, without the consent of the devolved legislatures. The four nations of the UK each voted differently in the referendum, each must have a voice in the Brexit negotiations.

 “Leaving the EU will affect many devolved issues and will impact each nation differently. Wales, unlike the rest of the UK, is a net exporter of goods, meaning that retaining tariff and regulatory barrier free access to the single market is of upmost importance to our economy. The National Assembly for Wales must have the ability to withhold consent, if the final Brexit deal will be bad for Wales.

 “When the public voted to leave the EU, they did not vote on a white paper that spelt out what exactly that meant. The terms of Brexit are still to be negotiated. Plaid Cymru respects the result of the referendum, but will not give our support to a Brexit that damages Wales’ economy and weakens our communities. We will continue to fight to retain our single market membership, because it is the way to get the best outcome for Wales’ public services, our businesses, farms, and communities.”

David Cameron and George Osbourne, saw the referendum as a means of resolving conflicts in the Tory Party, and as such they have opened a complete can of worms. With the pound having dramatically fallen and prices shooting up, many people will be having second thoughts as prices rise and working people feel the pinch still further in 2017. A General Election would be welcome indeed. Many people used BREXIT to vent their frustration against the government and that was the wrong reason to vote leave.

A General Election is needed to clear the air and to give whichever party that leads the country a clear mandate to go forward. 

The Jobcentre Plus phoneline has been malfunctioning. Claimants using the system dialling in on 0845 604 3719 numbers, which are still being advertised on Google against individual JCP office addresses - claimants are being abruptly cut off after a lengthy trip around the telephone system.

0345 604 3719 - is the new main Jobcentre Plus number to use.

In line with many Government Departments, the Jobcentre Enquiry Line Customer Service line has been moved from an 0845 Number to an 0345 Telephone Number.

This change is in line with recent policy changes around cutting usage costs to benefit claimants when calling to report a change of Circumstances to the Jobcentre Enquiry Line section or when they simply want to chase the progress of an application.

It is worth noting that whilst 0345 Numbers are not technically ‘free’ they are treated in the same way as telephone numbers beginning 01 and 02 and as such will be taken from your inclusive minutes if you are calling from a mobile.

This guide gives an idea of mobile phone charges however we suggest you contact your provider to check if this is the correct tariff.

The figures are estimates only please contact your provider for the latest information.