youthmoney

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. There are [...]

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Tthe bonuses paid as part of the Educational Maintenance Allowance are to be withdrawn.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 people shouldn’t [...]

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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 is [...]

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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: £50.95
Both aged 16/17, one disabled: £50.95
Both aged 16/17, with [...]

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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 anyone [...]

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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, they [...]

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There’s little cheer for college students relying on Education Maintenance Allowance. The technical problems that have delayed their payments are to continue. 
The education department says there is no guarantee that young people will get their grants – worth up to £30 a week for 16- to 18-year-olds – this side of Christmas.
According to this Guardian [...]

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Want to help young people compare the cost of borrowing? Lenderscompared.org.uk is a brilliant new site that does just that. It’s paid for by the largest home credit companies, but operated independently by consumer organisations, including the National Consumer Council, Association of British Credit Unions, the Consumer Credit Association.
I just tried it. I imagined I [...]

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Unless you are a trained welfare rights worker it’s best to avoid giving a young person advice on benefits.
Why?
The answer arrived in the post a week last Saturday. Got me out of bed. Obviously, because even our specially large post box can’t house it. It weighs 1kg, is 40mm thick and consists of over 1500 [...]

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