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Speeding fines have been increased massively and these have just come into force. 

The minimum penalty for speeding is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points added to your licence. You could be disqualified from driving if you build up 12 or more penalty points within a period of 3 years.

By law, the vehicle’s registered keeper must be sent a notice of intended prosecution within 14 days of the alleged speeding offence. 

If you’re still within 2 years of passing your driving test, your driving licence will be revoked (withdrawn) if you build up 6 or more penalty points. 

The average speeding fine in 2015 was £188 with over 150,000 falling prey to speed cameras. Fines have risen by 50% and the average fine could be increased to £282, although the average fine of £100 could reduce that.

You can get 6 penalty points and a £200 fine if you use a hand-held phone. You can also be taken to court where you can:

• be banned from driving or riding
• get a maximum fine of £1,000 (£2,500 if you’re driving a lorry or bus)
• If you passed your driving test in the last 2 years, you’ll lose your licence.

It’s illegal to use your phone while driving or riding a motorcycle unless you have hands-free access, such as:

• a bluetooth headset
• voice command
• a dashboard holder

The law still applies to you if you’re:

• stopped at traffic lights
• queuing in traffic
• supervising a learner driver
• Hands-free

If you use your phone hands-free, you must stay in full control of your vehicle at all times.

The police can stop you if they think you’re not in control because you’re distracted and you can be prosecuted.

When you can use a hand-held phone

You can use a hand-held phone if either of these apply:

• you’re safely parked
• you need to call 999 or 112 in an emergency and it’s unsafe or impractical to stop

The Scottish National Party has said the UK government should be “ashamed” after Disability Rights UK raised concerns about three “hidden” social security cuts to disabled people that have not been subject to a specific government announcement, a statement of policy intent, impact assessment or prior consultation before being introduced.

The devastating cut of £30 a week to Employment Support Allowance for claimant’s placed in the work related activity group (ESA Wrag) also includes a 55% cut in the rate of ESA for disabled people under the age of 25.

The lower disabled child addition for universal credit will also remain frozen - at £126.11 - despite the amounts for both the higher disabled child element of universal credit and child tax credit for disabled and severely disabled children all increasing.  

And full time students who receive disability living allowance or personal independence payments are now not treated as having limited capability for work so are therefore not entitled to universal credit until they have been assessment so face long delays without support.

Image: Neil Gray MP

Neil Gray MP, the SNP’s Fair Work and Employment spokesperson, who has led parliamentary opposition to the cuts to ESA, said:

“Sneaking out these cuts when disabled people and those on low to middle incomes are already facing a barrage of cuts from the Tories at Westminster is disgraceful.  In a week when the abhorrent rape clause was introduced, the Tories have now sunk to a new low.

“The UK government is well aware of the staunch opposition to the devastating £30 a week cut to ESA and though they have completely ignored concerns from MPs, Lords and third sector organisations representing disabled people there has at least been the opportunity for debate.

“These cuts fly in the face of the Tory party’s manifesto commitment to help more disabled people into the workplace and creating more barriers to work and study for young people is inexcusable.

“Damian Green must immediately halt these cuts and allow these measures to be fully scrutinised.”

Images: Damian Green Work and Pensions Secretary

Benefits are usually paid straight into your bank, building society or credit union account.

If your payment is due on a bank holiday, you’ll be paid on the last working day before the holiday.

As the rate of Employment and Support Allowance for many claimants falls by £30 per week, IPPR Senior Research Fellow Joe Dromey writes on how slashing the benefit is the wrong approach to reducing the incapacity benefits bill.

The welfare cap is a limit on the amount that government can spend on certain social security benefits and tax credits. The cap aims to better control spending in an area that can be difficult for government to control.

The cap included 56% of total welfare spending in 2015/16. It excludes pensions and Jobseekers’ Allowance, but includes tax credits, child benefit and disability benefit.

The cap was first introduced in Budget 2014 and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – the UK’s fiscal watchdog – first reported on whether the cap had been met or exceeded alongside Autumn Statement 2014. The operation of welfare cap is laid out in the Charter for Budget Responsibility – the document that sets out the Government’s policy and targets for the public finances.

The Government revised its approach to the welfare cap in Autumn Statement 2016. The new approach, agreed by a vote in the House of Commons, means that spending on welfare must be within the cap and a 3% margin in 2021/22. The cap will only be formally assessed at the first Budget or first fiscal update of each new Parliament. The previous approach saw the OBR make a formal assessment at each Autumn Statement, and the cap applied for each year of the OBR’s forecast.

At Autumn Statement 2015 and Autumn Statement 2016 the OBR judged that the previous version of the welfare cap was being breached. A member of the Government had to come to the House of Commons on each occasion to explain why the breach of the cap was justified.

The government has finally unveiled its formal consultation process on proposal to ban letting agents levying fees on tenants in England. Commenting, Baroness Olly Grender, who was instrumental in forcing the government to do this consultation said:

“Too many renters are being ripped off by unfair letting fees and left behind by our broken housing market. A total ban on all tenant fees must be brought in as soon as possible, including renewal and exit fees, to avoid agents getting around the ban by the back door.  

“The only fair system is where landlords pay the fee, to stop agents double-charging.

“The Government must not bow to pressure from letting agents who are lobbying hard to protect their profits. They have had time to improve voluntarily but they have failed to act. Unscrupulous letting agents must clean up or close down.”

Herts Young Homeless is an independent charity that has been supporting vulnerable people in Hertfordshire for over 15 years. We have offices throughout Hertfordshire with over 50 staff and many more volunteers.

In Hertfordshire, the charity has just launched its 18+ night stop scheme, which gives young people a bed for between one and five nights.

The charity's 18+ helpline has also been operating for a few months, providing housing advice to rough sleepers and anyone who is concerned about their situation.

Ms Martins said: "The hosts are volunteers, obviously, they are fully checked out, but it's to help to prevent young people who have nowhere to go to at least have a place to stay in the short term."

This service began on Monday April 3.

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The US unemployment rate fell in March to 4.5 per cent, its lowest level in nearly 10 years, but job creation tumbled unexpectedly, underscoring the challenges President Donald Trump faces to fulfill his 25-million-job pledge.

After months of pumping out new jobs at a steady clip, the world's largest economy added only 98,000 net new positions last month, the Labor Department reported today -- a figure far below analyst expectations.

Central bank policymakers have been split over the amount of slack in labor markets and the dangers of inflation.

The ABC has dismissed the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) report by Dame Janet Paraskeva which praises the ASA performance against their Commitment to Good Regulation.

Companies are advertising jobs, the terms of which are unlawful with impunity. Some of the job advertisements are carried by the DWP’s Universal Jobsmatch website.

The DWP’s contactors that run the website are evidently prepared to ignore this, despite many job advertisement terms clearly breaking the law.  We have contacted the Advertising Standards Authority several times for clarification and no one answers the telephone? The service is poor to say the least. 

Civil Servant and Cabinet Insider Dame Janet Paraskeva praise is given too lavishly we feel. Rich peoples tax cuts and their subsidization by the working poor are leaving many organisations failing the public.

Dame Paraskeva efforts to convince us everything is going really well falls on deaf ears here at the ABC.     

Image: Dame Janet Paraskeva

SNP MP and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Pete Wishart has written to Theresa May concerning the record £70,000  fine imposed on the Tory party by the Electoral Commission and has asked  – once again - for ‘total clarity about the whole sorry tale’.
 
The fine was imposed by the Commission because of the Tory party’s conduct during the 2015 general election campaign and Pete Wishart has raised the issue at  Prime Minister’s Questions but Theresa May refused to answer – suggesting it was a ‘party’ matter.
 
Pete Wishart has now written to Mrs May – in her capacity as Leader of the Conservative party – in the hope she might deal with some of the issues raised by the fine. 
 
Up to a dozen police forces are now investigating – which could result in reports being sent to the Crown Prosecution Service and the Electoral Commission has passed on its concerns to the metropolitan police.

Wishart was for 15 years a member of the Scottish group Runrig, and was the first MP to have appeared on the TV show Top of the Pops. Before Runrig, he had been in one of the lineups of Big Country.

Note: The ABC are Electorial Commission partners promoting registering to vote. 

Image: Pete Wishart MP SNP Shadow Leader of the House of Commons