Major benefits shake-up begins
By Anonymous on Apr 28, 2013 07:21 pm 28 April 2013 Last updated at 19:21 ET 
Those who are looking for work will receive the new universal credit
A massive shake-up in the UK benefits system starts on Monday, with the first claims being made for a new universal credit payment.
Universal credit will merge several benefits and tax credits into one monthly payout.
It begins with a very small number of new claimants in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, but will eventually effect nearly six million people.
The system relies on a complex computer system, with claims made online.
Simplification The benefit is for working age people looking for work, and will replace income-based jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support, child tax credit, working tax credit, and housing benefit.
It is the central plank of a benefits overhaul, championed by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, which the government says will mean people are always better off in work than on benefits.
Continue reading the main story Universal credit timetable
- April 2013: First claims taken in Ashton-under-Lyne
- July 2013: Delayed pilot schemes start in Warrington, Wigan and Oldham
- October 2013: New claimants nationally move to universal credit
- Spring 2014: Current claimants start shift from existing benefits to the new payment
- 2017: Switch is completed
It is also designed to simplify the welfare system by bringing a number of benefits together and reducing fraud and error.
However, some groups have raised concerns that the system is entirely dependent on a complex computer network which may not be ready or able to cope with millions of claims. They are also concerned that many potential claimants do not have access to the internet.
Online claims The key features of universal credit include:
- A single, monthly payment which the government says mirrors the world of work, but charities say could create problems for personal money management
- The inclusion of financial help to pay rent, which is currently paid directly to landlords
- An online-only claiming process, with accounts also managed online
- The benefit paid to households, rather than individuals, and put straight into bank accounts
- Benefits automatically adjusted depending on earnings, which employers enter into a computer system called real-time information
This means that there will no longer be a ceiling of 16 hours of work a week, below which people can sign on and above which claims are cancelled.
This is set to benefit people like Darren Bailey, an agency worker, whose working hours fluctuate, meaning he has to keep making claims under the current system.
"I have five kids so I can't afford to mess about," he said. "Any system has got to be better than this system."
Budgeting The government estimates 3.1 million households will be entitled to more benefits as a result of universal credit, while 2.8 million households will be entitled to less.
All claims for universal credit will need to be made online
Across all households, ministers say there will be an average gain of £16 per month. The long-term cost to the government is £100m in current prices.
The only claimants to receive universal credit in the initial stages will be single, new claimants at a jobcentre in Ashton-under-Lyne.
Three other pilot projects - in Warrington, Oldham, and Wigan - have been delayed until July.
From October, newly unemployed people will make claims under the new system. Current benefits and tax credits will gradually be shifted to universal credit from spring 2014, with the whole process completed by 2017.
Iain Duncan Smith said at the weekend that universal credit was being introduced over a four-year period because "I want to get these things right".
He added: "We want to say to people, you're claiming unemployment benefit but you're actually in work paid for by the state: you're in work to find work. That's your job from now on: to find work."
Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Laim Bryne said that universal credit was "a fine idea that builds on Labour's tax credits revolution".
Yet he added: "The truth is the scheme is late, over budget, the IT system appears to be falling apart and even DWP [Department of Work and Pensions] ministers admit they haven't got a clue what is going on."
Benefits and grants charity Turn2us said that 43% of people whose benefits would be replaced by universal credit were not aware of the change.
"Once you look at the nuts and bolts, budgeting is not going to be easy especially for those with a small amount of money," said Alban Hawksworth, welfare benefits specialist at the charity.
Read in browser » 
Three Britons jailed in Dubai
By Anonymous on Apr 29, 2013 03:34 am 29 April 2013 Last updated at 01:32 ET 
Three British men have been found guilty of drug offences in Dubai and jailed for four years each.
Londoners Suneet Jeerh, Grant Cameron and Karl Williams all denied the charges against them.
The three men, who were charged with possessing, taking and intending to distribute illegal drugs, were arrested on holiday in August.
Prime Minister David Cameron has expressed concern over allegations they were tortured while in custody.
Read in browser » Police urged to focus on prevention
By Anonymous on Apr 29, 2013 12:08 am 29 April 2013 Last updated at 00:08 ET 
Police must return to their basic mission to prevent crime and disorder, Tom Winsor will say
Police should focus more on preventing crime than catching criminals, the new chief inspector of constabulary for England and Wales is to say.
Tom Winsor will also emphasise the importance of technology in cutting crime, in a speech to the Royal United Services Institute.
He will tell the security think-tank a greater focus on targeting would-be offenders and potential crime hotspots will save money and mean fewer victims.
Mr Winsor took up the role last year.
His speech comes as the think-tank Policy Exchange recommends introducing a modern version of the "Tardis" police box - made famous by Dr Who - to allow people to report crimes, provide witness statements and access information.
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says Mr Winsor has spent much of his first six months in the post listening to the views of officers.
"Now he's ready to set out his ideas," our correspondent says.
Controversial choice A lawyer and former rail regulator - but without experience of serving in the police - Mr Winsor was a controversial choice to be chief inspector of constabulary.
In March last year, he published a report for the government on the police service which recommended far-reaching reforms in the widest-ranging review of police pay and conditions in more than 30 years.
Recommendations in the report included fast-tracking recruits to inspector level within three years and opening up chief constable roles to senior officers from countries such as Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand.
He also advised a cut in the starting salary for police constables in England and Wales, down to £19,000 - a reduction of £4,000.
In his first major speech since taking up the post, he will call for a return to the police's basic mission, as devised by the founder of the service, Robert Peel, to prevent crime and disorder.
Mr Winsor believes too many policemen and women think their principal job is to catch criminals.
Meanwhile, Policy Exchange's Rebooting the PC Report recommends the introduction of modern versions of police boxes in which people could "report crime, provide witness statements, discuss concerns and access information".
"These would be technologically-enabled police contact points featuring two-way audio-visual technology so that members of the public could communicate directly with police staff," the report said.
Public access The report also says that, faced with budget cuts, police chiefs must avoid putting "buildings before bobbies" and should replace police stations with "cops in shops".
And it also cited "a dramatic decline" in station front counter use, saying forces should "manage the police estate in a smarter fashion".
It quoted Met Police figures which show the number of people reporting crime at front counters in London fell by more than 100,000 between 2006-07 and 2011-12.
A Home Office spokesman said decisions about the most effective use of resources "including the number, location and operating hours of police stations are a matter for chief constables and police and crime commissioners".
The Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and file officers, said a fall in the use of front counters had been "happening around the country for many years".
But its vice-chairman Steve White said police stations "are accessible to the public, all day and night, something which is not provided by local shops and businesses".
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said that "in an age of austerity, relentlessly challenging established practice to improve local policing is more important than ever".
"We need to think differently to equip policing for the years ahead, identifying and sharing what helps - be it 'cop shops', public contact booths or Special Constables and volunteers complementing the way we patrol communities," Acpo's Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Donald said.
Read in browser » Syrian capital rocked by car bomb
By Anonymous on Apr 29, 2013 03:29 am 29 April 2013 Last updated at 03:12 ET
A car bomb has exploded near a school in the Syrian capital, Damascus, with reports of casualties.
The blast, in Mazzeh district in the south-west of the city, is believed to have been a suicide attack.
Syria's state news agency Sana said there had been a "terrorist explosion" near Ibn Rushed Park.
Read in browser » Crash victims' friends raise funds
By Anonymous on Apr 29, 2013 02:53 am 29 April 2013 Last updated at 02:53 ET 
Bethany Jones, 18, died at the scene of the collision on Friday
Friends of an 18-year-old woman, who was killed when a hen party's minibus crashed, aim to raise £50,000 for the air ambulance service.
Trainee nurse, Bethany Jones, died and eight others remain in hospital after the bus and a lorry collided on the M62 in West Yorkshire on Friday.
Six air ambulances were involved in transporting the injured.
Hundreds of people from Miss Jones' home town of South Elmsall took part in a vigil in her memory on Sunday.
Hannah Bell, a friend of Miss Jones, said: "We put some candles down for Beth and then we went to the church up the road and laid our flowers and the tributes we'd all written and said a prayer for her.
"If you think of all the nice words in the world that was Beth and more."
Another friend, Bethany Billington, said: "We didn't believe it, we just couldn't believe it was Beth and when we did it was pure devastation, it was awful."
Miss Jones' friends paid tribute to her at a vigil in her home town on Sunday
People have already donated more than £3,000 towards the appeal to raise funds for the air ambulances that tried to save Miss Jones' life.
"It is just something she would have wanted, If it had been any of us then she would have done the same thing," Miss Bell said of the appeal.
Twenty-one people were on the minibus heading from South Elmsall near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, to the party in Liverpool.
Crews from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said it was the worst crash they had seen in years.
West Yorkshire Police said the lorry driver, arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, has been bailed.
Read in browser » Bangladesh rescuers' hopes fade
By Anonymous on Apr 29, 2013 02:14 am 29 April 2013 Last updated at 00:01 ET 
Soldiers continued searching the debris through the night
Rescue work on a collapsed building in Bangladesh has entered a sixth day, but officials say they no longer expect to find any survivors.
Heavy lifting gear is now being used to raise slabs of concrete at the Rana Plaza garment factory, where at least 377 died after Wednesday's collapse.
A fire disrupted rescue work on Sunday.
The owner of the building is facing charges of negligence, along with two government engineers who were involved in approving its design.
Owner Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested on Sunday near the Indian border and returned to Dhaka.
Mr Rana went on the run after the eight-storey building collapsed on Wednesday with several thousand workers inside.
Checkpoint arrest According to the head of the team which tracked down Mr Rana, he had hidden in several places since disappearing.
"He went into hiding in different areas and changed locations regularly. Besides Dhaka, he stayed in two or three districts outside of the city," said Mokhlesur Rahman of the Rapid Action Battalion
"He reached the border with India. There was a possibility that he could have managed to escape into India within a very short space of time.
Factory owner Mohammed Sohel Rana was arrested near the Indian border
"Based on a tip-off, we hurriedly flew to Jessore in a helicopter. He was arrested at the checkpoint at Benapole in Jessore."
On Sunday afternoon, a fire halted rescue work at the building. The presence of clothing in the garment factory may have worsened the blaze, correspondents say.
Four firefighters were taken to hospital,
The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan says rescuers had been trying to free a trapped woman for a number of hours when the fire began, but they later reported she had not survived.
The co-ordinator of rescue efforts said that work with heavy-lifting gear would be done carefully to avoid mutilating bodies trapped under the debris.
Six arrested At least 3,000 are estimated to have been in the building when it collapsed. About 2,430 are now known to have survived.
There is no official figure on the number of people still missing, but Akram Hossain, a deputy director of the fire service, said their chances of survival were "diminishing by the minute".
Earlier on Sunday, local government minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak announced the arrest of Mr Rana by loudspeaker at the site of the collapse, to cheers from rescue workers.
Bangladeshi TV later showed the building's owner in handcuffs after being flown back to Dhaka by helicopter.
A total of six people, including three owners of factories operating in the building, have now been arrested.
Anger at the building's collapse has triggered days of violent protests in Dhaka.
Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing cheap clothing for major Western retailers that benefit from its widespread low-cost labour.
But the industry has been widely criticised for its low pay and limited rights given to workers and for the often dangerous working conditions in garment factories.
Read in browser » 
No comments:
Post a Comment