youthmoney

Young people are users of cash. And contrary to the dominant media assumptions, many save money. They need to know that a £20 note is going to be withdrawn from circulation in less than a fortnight. It’s the one with composer Edward Elgar on it. It looks like this From the end of June 2010, [...]

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Do young people understand their payslips? It would be amazing if they did. A lot of adults, even those who’ve been working for years, confess there are elements they’ve never bothered to find out about. They just glance at the bottom of the note – how much they get at the end of month.  A [...]

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A main charge against Alistair Darling’s pre-election budget is that it lacked detail and clarity. That’s certainly true of the one new initiative that could help young people manage their finances – the proposal to introduce a new right to open a basic bank account. What hoops will a young adult have to jump through [...]

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Internships are a good way for young people to see the world of work at first hand. But there’s an important principle: if you are working, you should get paid. It’s a moral thing. Just because the young are capable of being exploited doesn’t mean that organisations should exploit them. It’s also a legal thing. [...]

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Tthe bonuses paid as part of the Educational Maintenance Allowance are to be withdrawn. Ed Balls, schools secretary, said the bonuses – of £100 to those 16 to 19 year olds who qualify through attendance – will be honoured for January and July next year, but then scrapped. Writing in the Sunday Mirror, Balls said: Young [...]

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What will young people want to know about today’s surprise Supreme Court ruling? UK banks have won their argument that overdraft fees on personal bank accounts cannot be assessed for fairness by the Office of Fair Trading. So what’s the impact on young people? For those who never spend more money than they have, it [...]

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It’s April, so benefit rates change. Here are the current rates relevant to young jobseekers: Contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance Aged 16-17: £50.95 Aged 18-24: £50.95 Aged 25 or over: £64.30 Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance Personal allowances – single people Aged 16-17: £50.95 Aged 18-24: £50.95 Aged 25 or over: £64.30 Personal allowances – couples Both aged 16-17: [...]

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Cash grants of £190 to mothers-to-be will start being paid in April. Claim forms for the tax-free, one-off payment are available now from midwives and doctors. To qualify, you must be at least 25 weeks pregnant, with a due-date on or after 6 April 2009. The “health in pregnancy grant”, which comes from HM Revenue [...]

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National media are doing a pretty lousy job of covering the education maintenance allowance failures. Only the BBC news online seems to be taking it at all seriously—reporting the experiences of young people who’ve been let down and the frustration caused. It quotes Nigel Robbins, principal of Cirencester College in Gloucestershire, “There’s no sense of [...]

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Earlier this week I was talking to a youth worker. She was saying how delighted she was that three of the young people who attended the project had just started college courses. Given their life histories, this was a major, major step forward for them.  I asked about Education Maintenance Allowance and she said, yes, [...]

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