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More News...Big Energy Week: 16-21 January 2012Warm Homes Healthy People - Can you afford to keep warm? Perhaps Tameside CAB can help you or people you know Contributory benefits for spouses and civil partners of members of the armed forces Employment tribunal compensation to increase Immigration appeal fees Income tax underpayments: recovery though PAYE Supreme Court rules on debt relief orders, bankruptcy and deductions from benefit Taiwan added to Youth Mobility Scheme »» see also...www.citizensadvice.org.uk «« CAB Says... Big Energy Week: 16-21 January 2012 On the 17 October, Gillian Guy, along with energy suppliers and representatives from other consumer groups joined the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to discuss what can be done to help consumers cope with rising fuel bills. One of the outcomes of the week was that the Citizens Advice service would coordinate a "Big Energy Week" in January. During the Big Energy Week, consumer organisations, energy suppliers, switching sites and Government agencies will work together to let consumers who are struggling with rising energy bills know about all the help that is available and the steps they can take to save money on their energy bills and maximise their income. To help us reach as many people as possible bureaux are being asked to support Big Energy Week by: ? coordinating a community event ? letting all clients who come to the bureau know that it is Big Energy Week and where they can get more information on how to save money on their fuel bills and maximise their income ? doing local media work to raise awareness. During Big Energy Week information and advice on all aspects of saving money on fuel bills will be found at www.bigenergyweek.org.uk Click here to return to top of page CAB Says... Warm Homes Healthy People - Can you afford to keep warm? Perhaps Tameside CAB can help you or people you know From January to 31 March 2012, covering the worst of the winter period, Tameside CAB will be at the forefront of a special initiative to give extra support to the most vulnerable in our community who might otherwise experience health consequences as a result of the cold. In participation with Tameside MBC, CAB will undertake additional work to focus on maximising income, providing additional resources for assistance and advice in making benefit claims, helping with grant applications, and winter fuel allowance queries and provision of food parcels. Additional appointments, telephone advice, and specialist teams of advisers will be available to provide fuel debt advice, housing advice, particularly on disrepair and heating. Printed information about the Toasty Tameside, Warm Homes Healthy People, and Warm Home Discount schemes will be available from CAB outlets throughout Tameside and also from the Choice one stop information shop on Stamford Street, Ashton, to inform clients of the wide range of help possible. To ensure maximum help gets through to those who most need it we need the help of family, friends and neighbours to encourage and persuade anybody who might possibly need help to seek our advice now. Click here to return to top of page CAB Says... Contributory benefits for spouses and civil partners of members of the armed forces From 1 January 2012, if your spouse or civil partner is in the armed forces and you accompanied them when they were posted outside the UK, you will able to qualify for contributory employment and support allowance or contribution-based jobseeker's allowance more easily when you come back to the UK. This is because the government is changing the first national insurance contribution condition for spouses and civil partners who claim these benefits. to take account of these changes Click here to return to top of page CAB Says... Employment tribunal compensation to increase From 1 February, the financial limits on compensation in employment tribunal awards increase. The statutory limit on a week's pay goes up to £430 and the maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal on or after 1 February increases to £72,300 Click here to return to top of page CAB Says... Immigration appeal fees New fees are being introduced for immigration and asylum appeals against decisions taken on or after 19 December. There is a fee of £80 for a paper consideration and of £140 for an oral hearing. Some people will be exempt from the fee or may be able to claim a remission of the fee. Further details are available from the UK Border Agency website at www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk. Guidance on the new fees is available from the Ministry of Justice website at www.justice.gov.uk Click here to return to top of page CAB Says... Income tax underpayments: recovery though PAYEo:p> It was announced earlier that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) were starting to send out tax calculation forms (P800s) for the tax year 2010/11. All these were due to be sent out by the end of December. It is vital that clients do not ignore these letters in the rush of the festive season as HMRC may recover unpaid tax through a change to a client's tax code from April 2012. HMRC can do this where no alternative solution has been arranged. This could mean sums being deducted from clients even if they do not agree that the sums being recovered are correct. There is further information about P800s and recovery of underpaid tax through PAYE in on the HMRC website at www.hmrc.gov.uk and on the TaxAid website at www.taxaid.org.uk Click here to return to top of page CAB Says... Tax credits: treatment of increases in income In the tax year 2011/12, if your income goes up by more than £10,000 since the previous tax year, the amount of tax credits that you get for the current year will be reduced. Increases in income of £10,000 or less will not normally affect your tax credits for the current year, although they will be taken into account in the following year. A tax year runs from 6 April one year to 5 April the next. Previously, the disregard for income increases was £25,000. Any increase in income of more than £10,000 should be reported to the Tax Credit Office straightaway, in order to prevent an overpayment building up in the current year, which will have to be paid back. It is also advisable to report an increase of less than £10,000, to prevent an overpayment arising in the following year. Click here to return to top of page CAB Says... Supreme Court rules on debt relief orders, bankruptcy and deductions from benefit The Supreme Court has ruled that deductions from benefit for the repayment of benefit overpayments or social fund loans included in a debt relief order (DRO) cannot be made during the moratorium. It also ruled that deductions from benefit can no longer be made while a client is bankrupt. This ruling means that deductions must stop as soon as a bankruptcy order is made Click here to return to top of page CAB Says... Taiwan added to Youth Mobility Scheme The Youth Mobility Scheme gives young people from certain countries the opportunity to come to the UK to experience life here. The countries which participate in the scheme are Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco and New Zealand. From 1 January, Taiwan will also be participating in the scheme. Further information is on the UK Border Agency website at www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk Click here to return to top of pageAnnual Report Now Available For Download...
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