Lawyers protesting outside courts over legal aid cuts
Thousands of criminal case lawyers are not attending courts in a number of cities in England and Wales, in protest at planned £220m cuts to legal aid.
ACS charitiable work.
Not only do ACS help the general public with helping them secure positions in the legal world, we are also a charitable bunch.
ACS at Christmas & New Year
Over the Christmas period many recruitment agencies close. At ACS Recruitment we don’t stop searching for the right candidate/client. With over 30 years in business ACS understands that to every job seeker out there, finding a job is a stressful time at the best of times never mind it being Christmas as well!
Law Costs Draftsperson
My client is looking for an experienced Law Costs Draftsperson to join their busy Warrington based office.
Remaining employees pose tribunal threat to businesses
Trend of employees bringing claims for stress against their employers
SRA plans to waive £80 fee for LPC students
Students enrolling on a legal practice course (LPC) next September will no longer have to pay the Solicitors Regulation Authority an £80 registration fee – a move which could cost the SRA £680,000 per year.
The proposal to end the formal registration process, due for to be approved tomorrow, follows the SRA’s red-tape cutting initiative announced earlier this year. It appears in the SRA’s Training for Tomorrow: Regulations Review consultation, part of an immediate review into regulatory requirements for education and training.
The regulator says that only 3% of the 9,000 students it enrols each year require an assessment of suitability and that ‘a more targeted, proportionate and efficient way of identifying character and suitability issues’ should replace the current process.
If approved, formal registration will be replaced by a requirement for students to notify the regulator that the period of training has commenced and when it is expected to conclude.
Loss in income from registration fees would be offset by administrative savings, the SRA said.
The SRA is not at this stage changing the requirements to complete an academic course and an LPC. Proposals to overhaul this route will not come into force until 2017/2018 at the earliest, the regulator said in [...]
Unemployment falls to three year low – but more people than ever are working part-time
Today’s figures show almost 30 million people are in employment, but a record number are working part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs.
The number of people in work has reached an all-time high of almost 30 million, but a record number are working part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs.
Today’s figures showed the employment total is the highest since records began in 1971, with a huge increase of 177,000 between the three months to June and the quarter to September.
At the same time, unemployment fell by 48,000 to 2.47 million, the lowest since the spring of 2011.
The number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance was cut for the 12th month in a row in October, down by 41,700 to 1.31 million, the lowest for almost five years.
The number of people classed as economically inactive, including those looking after a sick relative, or people who have given up looking for work, also fell – down by 69,000 to 8.92 million.
But other data from the Office for National Statistics showed 1.46 million people were working part-time because they could not find a full-time job, an increase of 24,000 over the quarter, and the highest figure since records began in 1992.
Almost a [...]
HMRC pledges new crackdown on employers not paying minimum wage
Letters will warn suspected firms of being ‘named and shamed’ and fined £5,000 if they use long-term unpaid interns
The government will toughen enforcement against employers who do not pay the national minimum wage today when it writes to hundreds of companies warning them they could be targeted for on-the-spot checks by the taxman.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will warn 200 businesses who have advertised placements for unpaid intern-ships that they could be “publicly named and shamed” and may be liable for a £5,000 fine if they are found to be in breach of national minimum wage laws.
The move will coincide with the launch of a national campaign to educate students about their employment rights as they enter the job market.
HMRC said that from the tax year in April, it had issued penalties to 466 employers, a significant rifrom 2009/10 when just 381 employers were issued with an HMRC penalty for not paying the minimum wage, currently at £6.31 for those aged 21 and over.
Business, Innovation and Skills minister for employment, Jo Swinson said there was “increasing concern” around unpaid internships especially in the current economic climate.
“Those occasions when you have people working for months on end for free, [...]
Stay in Liverpool, McVey urges young people.
As jobless figures rise on Merseyside, Minister says people can be part of Liverpool’s renaissance.
Stay in Liverpool and be part of the renaissance of a “maverick” city, new employment minister Esther McVey urged young people across Merseyside.
The Wirral West Conservative MP – one of the biggest winners in last week’s reshuffle – was confronted with unemployment figures showing the number of jobless aged 16-plus in the North West has jumped by 24,000, climbing to 294,000 for the three months to August.The overall unemployment rate has gone up from 7.8% to 8.6%.Ms McVey acknowledged the situation was “tough” but insisted that young people who are asking whether they should stay in the city could play a major role in its transformation.
Describing her own background running a business office providing space for start-up companies, she said: “I had a lot of graduates from Liverpool University come to work for me because they loved the city. So I would totally say, if you buy into that city and you love that city, because it is fantastic, do stay there and be a part of the renaissance.” The employment minister also acknowledged that these were not easy times for people who had been [...]
UK jobless total falls to 2.49m
The number of unemployed in the UK fell by 18,000 in the June-August period to 2.49 million, official figures show.
The unemployment rate drops to 7.7% down from 7.8% the previous quarter.The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), also show the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance last month fell by 41,700 to 1.35 million.
The ONS also reports that average earnings rose by 0.7% in the year to August, 0.5% down on July. The unemployment rate has become a key economic indicator for the Bank of England which, under its recently appointed new governor, Mark Carney, is targeting the unemployment rate. It says it will not consider raising interest rates from their record low of 0.5% until it falls to 7%. The number of people in work, both full-time and part-time, reached a record high of 29.87 million in the quarter, up 155,000.
The ONS looks at demand for full-time work and whether part-time workers would rather work longer hours. Its figures showed that almost 1.5 million people were part-time because they could not find full-time jobs, the highest figure since records began in 1992. Job vacancies also rose by 6,600 in the period to 541,000, the highest [...]
Unemployment in the UK dropped to 7.7%
The rate of unemployment in the UK dropped to 7.7% between May and July from 7.8% in the previous three months.
The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has said that interest rates are unlikely to be raised before the rate falls to 7%.
The number of people unemployed fell 24,000 in the period to 2.487 million.
The official figures also showed the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell 32,600 to 1.402 million, its lowest level since February 2009.
However, the number of people in part-time work rose to 1.45 million, the highest since records began in 1992 and double the number of five years ago.
Almost a third of men working part-time were doing so because they could not find full-time employment. The corresponding figure for women was 13.5%.
Information taken from BBC.
One in ten students would like to swap university!
One in ten students would like to swap university and eleven per cent where sorry with the course they had picked. Some students are pushed onto wrong courses by teachers and parents. The survey also found that the new ‘student life’ had made students regret their decision in university.
Students were more likely to be dissatisfied with their choice of course the longer they spent on it-13 per cent of second and fourth year undergraduates compared to nine per cent of first years.
With the sharp increase in tuition fees it is now crucial that students are provided with options to make sure they make the right choice.
Figures released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in March showed that one in ten students- 7.4 per cent –drop out of university. This represents 27,230 students according to the latest available figures from 2010/11.
5 questions you should be able to answer before your job interview.
As more and more graduates are leaving university employers expectations are also increasing to find their ideal candidate.
Before your next job interview you should know these 5 answers to commonly asked questions:
Question: Tell me about yourself.
Answer: Your answer should be well-rehearsed and approximately 2-3 minutes in length. Try to avoid the typical statements about your family and where you’re from, and focus more on your experiences and background that best relate to the job.
This is your first opportunity to develop a great first impression-think about key achievements.
Question: Why did you leave your last job?
Answer: Your answer should be honest and open- speak positively about your experience even if it wasn’t the best.
If you have been made redundant, discuss this with the reasoning behind the company restructure.
Question: What has been your biggest achievement in your career?
Answer: Think of an achievement that you had control or influence over. Preferably choose one that is work related that will relate to the job that you are applying for. Describe the process that you took to making the decision a success and outline how this choice impacted others and the impact it had on the company.
Question: What [...]
5 Questions that you should ask during your interview.
At some part of your life everyone has to go through the stressing times of an interview. An interview is like a sales call, you are the product. You need to sell yourself in a way that, they need you for that position.
I have compiled a list of questions that we think you should ask during your interview.
Can you tell me more about how I would fit in with…? (insert the name of company)Employers want to know how much you want this job. Are you willing to spend time studying the company and position? If you are looking to secure that position then I highly recommend you doing so. This way this will enable you to ask further questions, to make them aware you have been researching. Make sure all your questions are relevant and fully researched correctly.
What is your vision for your company’s future, and how do you see me contributing to this?Employers love to talk about their company and their positive vision for the future. If they are passionate about their work, they will enjoy a discussion on their dreams-let them start to think about you helping to fulfil them. Asking these types of questions shows [...]
Interview Top Tips
Counting down the days till your interview can be the scariest times for anyone, especially if you haven’t had an interview for years. With all the legal changes recently and the fear of being made redundant hovering, being worried about your interview is one more thing you could do without.
I have compiled a list of top tips that may help you to de-stress.
Do your research.
You may not know everything about the company that you are applying for, but be sure that they will ask you ‘What do you know about our company’. Make sure you outline; what the company does where they currently stand and their mission. Also investigate developments in the industry so you can converse with confidence.
Practice your Answers.
Giving that there is no formality set for every job interview, there are some questions that you can almost guarantee will pop up; What are your Strengths? What are your Weaknesses? Explain why you are the best candidate for this role? Prepare your answers.
Look the part
Appearances shouldn’t matter, but the plain fact is that you are often judged before you’ve even uttered a word. Make sure your shoes are polished, your clothes fit correctly [...]