Useful facts
Things you may like to know:
National Minimum Wage
The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a minimum amount per hour that most workers in the UK are entitled to be paid. Find out what the current rates are and where to get help if you think you are being paid below the minimum wage rate.
Current NMW rates
There are different levels of NMW, depending on your age and whether you are an apprentice. The current rates (from 1 October 2011) are:
· £6.08 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
· £4.98 - the 18-20 rate
· £3.68 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
· £2.60 - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship
If you are of compulsory school age you are not entitled to the NMW. Some of your other employment rights are also different.
See www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/TheNationalMinimumWage for further information
Vetting and Barring
Latest news...
The government review of the Vetting and Barring Scheme has now ended. The Vetting and Barring Scheme is being scaled back to 'common-sense levels'. The proposed changes should become law in early 2012. In the meantime, the regulations introduced in October 2009 will still apply.
Key recommendations from the VBS Review include:
- The merging of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) to form a streamlined new body providing a proportionate barring and criminal records checking service;
- A large reduction of the number of positions requiring checks to just those working most closely and regularly with children and vulnerable adults;
- Portability of criminal records checks between jobs to cut down on needless bureaucracy;
- An end to a requirement for those working or volunteering with vulnerable groups to register with the VBS; and
- - stopping employers who knowingly request criminal records checks on individuals who are not entitled to them.
We are currently awaiting further details and will be working with the Home Office, the Department for Education, the Department of Health and the CRB to help implement the new arrangements.
The Coalition Government has confirmed that until all the appropriate legislation has been introduced and the new arrangements are established, the existing responsibilities of employers and the ISA will remain.
These include:
A person who is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults will be breaking the law if they work or volunteer, or try to work or volunteer with those groups.
An organisation which knowingly employs someone who is barred to work with those groups will also be breaking the law.
If your organisation works with children or vulnerable adults and you dismiss or remove a member of staff or a volunteer because they have harmed a child or vulnerable adult, or you would have done so if they had not left, you must tell the Independent Safeguarding Authority.
CRB checks – organisations you can obtain checks from
Young Farmers – Contact Angela Bruntlett, University Of Lincoln, Riseholme Park, Riseholme, Lincoln LN2 2LG
Tel:01522 568 989 or Email:
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Cost:
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