Claims for Universal Credit are being taken over the telephone with Claiments having to field the cost of a call - that is unless you are like us and get others to call you back. So how much do calls cost in the UK in general?  

Below is a sheet we hope you will print off and keep so you can use in future - at least till it is updated.

Get advice from Ofcom if you have problems with call charges or phone bills.

Ofcom Riverside House

2a Southwark Bridge Road

London SE1 9HA

If you want advice or to complain to Ofcom please call them on 0300 123 3333 or 020 7981 3040. They are open Monday to Friday from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

Website: www.ofcom.org

UK Gold

"The UK Gold" was released in 2013 to wide critical acclaim. The film received the Best Documentary Jury Prize (chaired by Morgan Spurlock) at the East End Film Festival and was nominated for the "Fact Journalism Prize" at CPH: DOX (Copenhagen International). 

The film is presently official selection at various international film festivals and the international distribution agent for broadcast purposes is DRG.

Original Sound Score by  Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack) and Guy Garvey (Elbow) 

Narrated by Dominic West

Well worth seeing. 

www.theukgold.co.uk/

Work and Pensions Committee announces publication of report, Benefit sanctions policy beyond the Oakley Review

The Work and Pensions Select Committee will publish its report, Benefit sanctions policy beyond the Oakley Review, at 00.01 am on Tuesday 24 March.

The Committee’s inquiry considered progress made towards implementation of the 2014 Oakley Review of Jobseekers Allowance sanctions, and broader issues, including: the evidence base for sanctions policy; the legislative framework; Employment and Support Allowance sanctions; and the systems in place to prevent sanctions causing severe financial hardship.

The report will be available under embargo to the media and witnesses only on the morning of Monday 23 March.

This could and should be, damming of Ian Duncan Smith (IDS) and the DWP. 

We welcome to today the Tom Bowridge Foundation. Tom died young of cancer but his legacy lives on through his family and the amazing work they are doing to help other people cope with the shock of this dreaded illness.  

The Tom Bowridge Foundation relies on donations and grants to do its fine work. You can see in the video attached the contribution that the staff at Sainsbury’s, Tollgate, Colchester, Essex, has made to the Foundation. More power to those guys. If you feel that you can make a contribution you can find the Foundations entry in our database. ome of our entries are 'work in progress' so if they move under a different catagory we apologize, please just bear with us. 

About Tom - from the wwebsite

Tom was the youngest child of Richard and Nikki and a younger brother to Emma. Academically he worked hard and went to the Colchester Royal Grammar School. He was a keen sportsman favouring football and he became an excellent goalkeeper. He loved life especially if it was time spent with his family or friends.  At the age of 18, having just finished his A-levels, he was preparing to go to university to study Classical Civilisation.

However he started suffering stomach pains, diarrhoea and became incredibly tired. He went to the doctors on several occasions and was told it may be Irritable Bowel Syndrome. They did blood tests and told him to return in a couple of weeks. Tom did not improve; in fact his symptoms worsened so much so that his parents took him to the Walk In Centre. Here the doctor thought he may have appendicitis and referred him to the Emergency Admissions Unit in Colchester General Hospital. After a thorough examination Tom was sent for an ultrasound which did indeed show an inflamed appendix. It did however also show something far more suspicious. This prompted an immediate CT scan – a few hours later the bombshell was dropped…..!

The rest of the story is here, and it is a very interesting read: www.tombowdidgefoundation.org/tomx27s-story.html

A number of measures were announced that will affect DWP claimants, pensioners and staff. These include:

A package of measures to better support people with mental health conditions. This includes early access to supported Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and the co-location of IAPT (Increased Access to Psychological Therapy) staff in Jobcentres. The latter will begin with Streatham Jobcentre Plus.

Additional flexibility for pensioners outside the scope of the Pensions Flexibilities announced in the 2014 Budget to exchange their annuities purchased with their pension pots for a capital sum. This will enable people who purchased an annuity before the introduction of the new flexibilities the opportunity to adjust their retirement provision to convert an income - in whole or in part - to a capital lump sum. This will not affect their entitlement to normal state pension. A full consultation document will be published on this.

Increased use of real time information shared between HMRC and DWP to further reduce Fraud and Error in the benefits system.

The Budget also confirms a previously announced measure to restrict the ability for European Economic Area (EEA) migrants to access UC. This means that EEA migrants residing in the UK as 'jobseekers' will not be able to access UC at all.

For more information on these measures, go to Budget 2015 on GOV.UK

Underemployment v Unemployment

UK unemployment in March 2015 has fallen by 102,000 to 1.86 million in the three months to January, official figures show.

The unemployment rate remains at 5.7% but the number of people in work is at an all-time high, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance also fell to 791,200, its lowest level since 2008.

Average earnings in the three months to January, including bonuses, rose 1.8% compared with a year earlier.

However underemployment is the key issure here. It can be clearly seen that there is over 10% of the workforce under-employed.  

The underemployment index measures the excess supply of hours in the economy. It adds together the hours that the unemployed would work if they could find a job and (ii) the change in hours that those already in work would prefer to form a total measure of surplus hours. This is then expressed as a percentage of the sum of hours worked and surplus hours to give the underemployment rate.  

The BellBlanchflower data will be published each quarter by The Work Foundation. It is developed by Professor David N.F. Bell and Professor David G. Blanchflower.

Following suggestions by the Low Pay Commission,  the National Minimum Wage (NMW) is to rise by 20p an hour to £6.70. This will come into effect in October. 

Also the Tax Band where we have to start paying tax for many of us increases to £10,600 today. Each of us has a 'personal allowance', which denotes the amount we can earn without paying any income tax. If you earn more than your personal allowance, then you pay tax at the applicable rate on all earnings above the personal allowance, but the allowance remains untaxed. Your specific personal allowance depends on your age and, in some cases, your salary.

Many on low paid don't even earn enough to pay tax so an increase in the personal allowance is not likely to do them any good. 

As well as its recommendation for the adult rate, the Low Pay Commission has also recommended: an increase of 3.3 per cent to £5.30 in the Youth Development Rate, which applies to 18-20 year olds; an increase of 2.2 per cent to £3.87 in the 16-17 Year Old Rate; an increase of 2.6 per cent to £2.80 in the Apprentice Rate, which applies to all apprentices in year one of an apprenticeship, and 16-18 year old apprentices in any year of an apprenticeship; an increase of 27 pence in the accommodation offset to £5.35. The offset is the one benefit-in-kind that can count towards the minimum wage. This is the maximum daily sum employers who provide accommodation can deduct towards those costs.

In April 2014 there were 1.4 million minimum wage jobs in the UK. 5.3 per cent of the UK labour force was paid within 5p of the minimum wage. This included: 1.2 million NMW jobs held by those aged 21 and over; 139,000 NMW jobs held by 18-20 years olds; and 40,000 NMW jobs held by 16-17 year olds.

One factor influencing this year’s recommendation has been strong employment growth. Total employment has continued to grow in the economy as a whole and in the low-paying sectors with the year to September 2014 showing the highest annual (September-September) increases in employment and jobs since the introduction of the NMW, as well as strong growth in hours and vacancy levels. Indeed, although the bite has risen sharply in the low-paying sectors since 2007, the number of employee jobs in this part of the economy has grown more rapidly than those elsewhere – 4.3 per cent over the last year compared with 3.1 per cent for other sectors. Employment growth has generally been strong across all firm sizes. Furthermore, the employment performance of most groups of workers particularly affected by the minimum wage – women, older workers, disabled workers, ethnic minorities, and migrants – has been better since 2008 than that of others not so affected by the NMW.

The Association of Pension & Benefits Claimants CIC, has launched a campaign to encourage UK citizens to register to vote online. 

Members of the public have until Monday 20 April 2015 to register to vote in the general election on Thursday 7 May 2015. You need to be on the electoral register to vote in elections and it takes less than five minutes to complete the form online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

The Association of Pensions & Benefits Claimants CIC, and the sub-Association of Hourly-paid Workers, is a pan-European workers' association - launched late last year - whose goal is to help those in receipt of state benefits.

“We do not promote life on the dole,” says ABC founder Simon Collyer. “We are an organisation committed to helping people improve their lives and their circumstances while living on a low income.”

In both the USA and the UK, voter apathy has been a significant issue, he says. “A shrinking middle class, an increasing gap between the ‘have nots and the have lots’, a political environment where politicians appear to ‘manage the public’ rather than represent them and where policies often have only narrow differences. All these factors have led to a feeling that voting is not really going to change anything, especially among those who feel they have little to vote for.”

Collyer adds: “We disagree with that view completely. If all those people, both in work and out of work, or in retirement, turn out and voted, it could change the future of our country. This is probably the most important general election in decades for those on low incomes.” The ABC is committed to creating a more realistic and balanced view of those state pensions and benefits. “We are encouraging a feeling of ‘can do’ not ‘done to’ in our members,” says Collyer. “Getting people out voting is a great start.”

The Association of Pension & Benefits CIC has partnered with the Electoral Commission to encourage UK citizens to register to vote. Other partners include household name charities and social enterprises.

The deadline to register to vote in the general election is 20 April 2015. You can register to vote aged 16 or over, however the voting age is 18. You need to be British or a qualifying Commonwealth citizen.

To register to vote on-line click here: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote or visit the ABC website: www.abcorg.net

News release published: 16-03-2015

The Electoral Commission has today launched a major public awareness campaign to remind people they must register to vote by the April 20 deadline if they want to take part in the General Election.Recent research conducted by YouGov for the Electoral Commission found that:

21% of people who rent privately think they’re automatically registered to vote if they pay council tax
40% of those surveyed think it is not possible to register to vote online in England, Scotland and Wales.
69% do not know when the deadline to register to vote is, with 13% thinking it is already too late to register. When given a choice of five options only 32% correctly identified the deadline as 20 April.

Many people also aren’t registered to vote because they haven’t got round to it yet, with over 60% of people who moved in the last year not registered.

Television adverts and increased digital activity – including adverts on catch-up TV and Facebook – will go live from Monday. The watchdog’s campaign seeks to address under-registration in an engaging way by using the concept of ‘loss aversion’ from behavioural economics. In certain situations people are more likely to be motivated by realising they may lose something, than the prospect of making a gain. Filmed with a mix of actors and members of the public captured on hidden cameras, the TV ad shows people’s reaction to being stopped doing everyday activities they thought they were able to. The message at the end as someone is turned away from being able to vote is simple:

You can’t vote, unless you’re registered by 20 April.The campaign directs people to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote where they can complete an application form in a matter of minutes. 2015 marks the first General Election where people can register to vote online; previously voters had to print out, fill in and post a form to the Electoral Registration Officer at their local authority.

In the research conducted by YouGov, over half (53%) of 18-24 year olds didn’t know that they could register online. For the first time the elections watchdog will also be using mobile advertising to target young people on EE, O2 and Vodafone networks. They are set to receive SMS/MMS messages encouraging them to register to vote in the run-up to May. Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission, said: "A General Election can prompt a great deal of excitement and debate, with voters keen to have their say. But there are a lot of misconceptions, with many people not realising they aren’t registered or how easy it is to do. “We don’t want anyone to be told ‘no’ on polling day, so if you aren’t registered take action now by registering at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. And why not share the fact that you’ve done so with your family and friends to help them get the message.”Previous research by the Commission found that 44% of those not registered to vote incorrectly believed that they were. In separate research conducted in 2014 the elections watchdog also found that:

Age: 76% of 18-19 year olds and 70% of 20-24 year olds are registered to vote compared to 95% of those aged 65+.
Housing tenure: 63% of private renters are registered to vote compared with 94% of those who own their own homes.
Ethnicity: White or Asian people are more likely to be registered to vote (86% and 84% respectively) than those identifying as Black (76%).

Ends

The ABC are proud to announce that Only Cowards Carry Weapons Awareness organization will be joining the ABC database shortly. 

Only Cowards Carry Weapons Awareness was founded in November 2012 by Caroline Shearer in memory of her 17 year old son Jay Whiston, who was fatally stabbed in September 2012. Continually driven by the devastating loss of Jay, Caroline and the team have worked tirelessly to promote Only Cowards Carry Weapons Awareness in the hope that young people understand the stark facts and devastating, life changing, true reality of knife crime.

We hope you can help spread the word about this Campaign  Do please watch the video below.

Caroline Shearer and her team have done an amazing job. We will be adding this and more material in due course.