1. Wise Money Owl, deliver an interactive one hour session with the children and leave them with the tools to look at their own lives and how they currently interact with money.

2. Wise Money Owl asks them to e-mail the team via the site (wisemoneyowl.co.uk), their plans and ideas for how they are going to change.

3. The team choose the child who has made the biggest effort to change their own life that month. We then interview the parents and photograph the child. That child’s story then features on our student on the month page.

From this process, we now have several children who are:

Running household budgets for mum and dad;

Children who have moved bank accounts to get higher rates of interest on their savings;

Children and families who are now active members of charities;

Children who are mentoring children under the age of ten within primary schools;

Children who are now developing business ideas after being inspired by our teenage millionaires briefing.

Wise Money Owl also help schools set-up enterprise days or weeks, by working with their local community. For more information about how to get Wise Money Owl into your education center visit wisemoneyowl.co.uk.

Thomas said: “Whilst student fees dominate the headlines, the real issue at stake is ensuring that our universities and colleges are delivering the skills and types of courses that businesses need to drive the UK’s economic recovery.

“What is needed is a much more flexible and responsive higher education system, providing more flexible study options and offering courses that will help their students succeed in an increasingly competitive labour market.”

Yesterday’s report entitled: Securing a sustainable future for higher education: an independent review of higher education funding and student finance called for student fees to be funded up front by the government up to £6,000 through a system of loans and graduate repayments.

It also said the government should be given scope to withdraw public funding from all but “priority” subjects, with public investment to be targeted at clinical medicine, nursing, science, technology and modern languages.

“Thomas added: “We welcome the funding protection offered to vital but expensive courses in science and engineering, which will give business the peace of mind that the proposals will deliver the skills they need.”
The report has been broadly welcomed by business secretary Vince Cable who told the House of Commons it was fair and progressive. But he also acknowledged the need create flexibility in the way courses are delivered and move beyond the “misguided option that a three-year degree is the best solution”.

Source: Insider Media

“Our competitor knowledge economies are without exception investing heavily in their research and science base, and I know personally they cannot understand our logic of reducing investment in what they see as the number one route towards future economic growth,” he said.

The UK spends just 1.78 per cent of GDP on research and development, placing it below countries including the US, Japan, Germany and France, according to the latest OECD figures.

Smith’s comments follow those of business secretary Vince Cable, speaking last week at Queen Mary University in London, who said that research that could demonstrate impact would receive support.

“My preference is to ration research funding by excellence and back teams of international quality – and screen out mediocrity – regardless of where they are and what they do,” he said.

“I support top-class ‘blue skies’ research, but there is no justification for taxpayers’ money being used to support research that is neither commercially useful nor theoretically outstanding.”

The detail of cuts will be in the government’s spending review on 20 October. This will be preceded by Lord Browne’s long-awaited review on higher education funding and student finance.

From: Insider Spark

The key measures of performance or (KPI’s) in higher education, University, Schools and Colleges has been a regular subject of research papers and online discussion.

Educational facilities working with modern industry often falls some way down the list of indicators and priorities.

“Universities should set out more clearly what they can do in relation to innovation in industry and they should assert the need to work with, not for, willing and contributing industrial partners,” said the report.

Source: Insider Spark

The Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister, who has responsibility for universities, will outline plans including more part-time courses to save money on higher education.

Under plans to encourage the less well-off to apply for places, Mr Cable is expected to urge students to attend universities near where they live.

He says a radical shake-up of university life is needed if the Government is to balance the nation’s books and eliminate the deficit.

He will argue that condensing three-year degrees into two years will help cut the cost of tuition and maintenance fees for a generation of poor students.

Living at home would reduce the need for students to pay for accommodation and cut living costs dramatically.

To give students more options, Mr Cable is expected to grant a green light to a wave of new private universities across 14the country, providing local lectures and teaching for degrees offered by traditional universities.

The plans, described as ‘back to the future’ by one government source, will return Britain to the days when English and Welsh universities founded between 1849 and 1949 offered University of London external degrees, before they received charters to award qualifications of their own.

Downing Street confirmed that the Government was considering plans to cut costs and ensure that higher education promotes social mobility.

David Cameron’s spokesman said: ‘We are looking at the funding of universities and university places. What we want to do is make sure that we support those people who want to go to university.

‘The coalition agreement says we want to support people of all backgrounds and support social mobility.’
Mr Cable is also expected to signal that ministers are looking at the proposals for students to pay a graduate tax decades after they finish university, as an alternative to higher tuition fees.

University funding issues are the subject of a review by Lord Browne, which reports back this autumn. He is expected to recommend lifting the £3,225-a-year cap on tuition fees.

Dr Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of the private Buckingham University, the first in the UK to offer a standard two-year academic degree, said: ‘In future, instead of a gap year, people may work for two years and then take a two-year degree when they are a bit older.

‘The advantage is that they are earning in year three. Two years is a very cost-effective option.’
Chiefs at elite universities yesterday warned that the Government should be prepared to let some universities close to protect Britain’s ‘world-class’ research institutions.

Malcolm Grant, head of University College London, urged ministers to slash student places at ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’ universities, rather than see the best institutions suffer from spending cuts.

Source: Mailonline

The review will look at the way credit cards, store cards, personal finance, loans and other products such as debt management plans and other debt solutions are delivered to the consumer and the whether people actually fully understand what they are committing to.

The review will also examine the issues arise during the lifetime of a loan, credit card or debt solution from both the consumer and the lender / creditor perspectives, and whether the current personal insolvency solutions are fit for purpose for people who have not kept up to date with their debts.

Consumer affairs minister Edward Davey said: “This is an opportunity not only to improve the safeguards on consumer credit products, where this is necessary. It’s also a chance to cut unnecessary regulatory burdens, which increase costs and stifle competition.”

Davey added: “As consumer affairs minister, I want to be sure that people can get fair deals on credit cards, loans and debt solutions on the market – improving access for the financially excluded; having an insolvency regime where those who can, pay, but those who can’t are helped to make a fresh start; and ensuring a regulatory framework that’s fair to consumers and creditors alike.”

Education Debt was formed in 2005 to help individuals across the UK deal with their debt and other money problems, recognising that there was a need for an organisation with high ethical standards that can be trusted to provide impartial, clear considered advice and customer service excellence throughout the life of the proposed solution.

The current directors have combined experience of finance and debt management within the banking industry of some 50 years, whilst our staff brings with them experiences in Citizens Advice Bureaux, social housing provision, teaching and the creditor industry.

Thanks to the experience and expertise of our team, Education Debt has strong relationships with creditors which help us negotiate the right results for our clients and their creditors through the provision of robust and realistic proposals for the repayment of clients’ debts.

This change has come about from an agreement between the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the industry this means consumers will now have easier access to their credit reports, and credit reference agencies and consumer groups have said that they are committed to working together to raise awareness of the importance of checking credit records.

It is important to check your credit file regularly as credit reports allow you to monitor your financial commitments by viewing, for example, what credit cards, store cards, loans and mortgages they have outstanding the information within the report may highlight any late payments they have made or any unexpected items that appear on it. It is important as the information held on their credit reports is correct as this may affect your ability to access further credit in the future.

Previously, statutory credit reports for £2 were only available by post, which could take up to seven days to arrive, so these changes herald a faster more efficient way of checking your credit file.

Peter Vicary-Smith, Which? Said:: “This should provide a quicker and more convenient access for consumers to their credit file, and could encourage more people to check their file more regularly. This is a welcome initiative in the battle against fraud and the elimination of faulty data.”

Important note for debt solutions clients.

All debt solution clients should be encouraged to monitor their credit report through their Debt Management Plan (DMP) or IVA. As it is very important towards the end of either debt solution to ensure that your credit file shows credit agreements as either deleted or satisfied. Especially for public record information like the IVA to be deleted after 6 years from the original court order.

Note however that every debt solution is shown slightly differently on your credit file and all the credit reference agencies report and hold information differently, so it is important to read the agencies guides on how to interpret your own file before jumping to conclusions.

Extracts taken from: Debt Management Today

Contour has recently secured two deals with NASA including one to develop high-energy batteries to perform under a wide temperature range during manned space missions.

Rosi Monkman, business support manager at Keele University Science and Business Park said that the university’s central UK location was a “key factor in attracting high-calibre, international companies looking for a base from which to enter the UK and European markets”.

The company received guidance from the international investment team and Bridge to Growth programme from regional development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM) when deciding its European location.

Richard Butler, head of international investment at AWM, said: “Contour’s decision to invest in the West Midlands not only brings a successful global brand to the region but also many more high-skilled jobs, importantly in a high tech, high value industry.”

Public Sector Pay

Public sector workers face a two-year pay freeze if they earn above £21,000 per annum. Those earning less will get a flat fixed pay rise worth £250 in both years.

Armed services personnel in Afghanistan will see their operational allowance doubled to £4,800.

State Benefits

Child benefit: Current rates will be frozen for the next three years. Existing benefits: Eldest or only child £20.30 per week any additional children – per child £13.40 per week

Tax credits: Payment rates are reduced for families earning over £40,000pa, next year. However, low income families will get more Child Tax Credit – the amount per child will rise by £150 above the rate of inflation next year.

Housing benefit: Changes to the maximum limits, new limits of £400 a week for properties with more than three bedrooms, £250 a week for a one-bedroom flat, £290 for a two-bedroom property and £340 for a three-bed property.

New changes to housing benefit for unemployed people will see their benefit rates cut by 10%, after 12 months of claiming Jobseekers Allowance from April 2013. Also lone parents will be expected to look for work when their youngest child goes to school. Part of Osborne’s tough love to force Britain back to work.
The government will introduce a medical assessment for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from 2013 for new and existing claimants.

Taxation

Overall we will all probably pay more tax in one way or another. Taxes are going up, and the chancellor made no excuses about it.

Personal income tax allowance: To be increased by £1,000 in April to £7,475 – worth £170 a year to basic rate taxpayers. It is expected that 880,000 of the lowest-paid will be taken out of income tax altogether.
Council tax could be frozen for one year from April 2011 in England, and extra funds will only be offered to councils which keep their own costs down. Reputedly worth about £35 per household.

VAT: Rate will rise from 17.5% to 20% from January 4, 2011. So if you have any large purchases planned, it would make sense to buy them before January next year.

Capital Gains Tax (CGT): To rise from 18% to 28% from midnight for higher rate taxpayers. The “entrepreneur’s relief” rate of 10% on the first £2m of gains will be extended to the first £5m.

Fuel, Alcohol & Tobacco

No increases this time round. Labour’s plan to increase the duty on cider by 10% above inflation will be scrapped from July.

Business

From April 2011, the threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance will rise by the rate of inflation plus £21 per week.

People setting up new businesses outside London, the South East and the east of England will be exempt from £5,000 of National Insurance payments for the first 10 workers.

Corporation Tax will be cut next year to 27%, and by 1% annually for the next three years, until it reaches 24%.

The small companies’ tax rate will be cut to 20%.

Regions

The upgrade of the Tyne and Wear Metro, extension of the Manchester Metrolink, redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station and improvements to the rail lines to Sheffield and between Liverpool and Leeds will go ahead.

The Budget 2009 proposal to repeal the special tax rules for furnished holiday lettings will not be implemented. Instead, the Government will consult over the summer on an alternative proposal. This will benefit an estimated 4,800 individuals in the North West who receive an income from furnished holiday lettings.

A Regional Growth Fund will be created to help fund regional capital projects over two years.

Pensions

Excluding the state pension and pension credit, from 2011 benefits, tax credits and public service pensions will rise in line with the Consumer Price Index, rather than the, generally higher, Retail Price Index.
The basic state pension will be linked to earnings from April 2011, with the pension guaranteed to rise in line with earnings, prices or 2.5%, whichever is the greater.

The government will also consult on phasing out the default retirement age – to ensure those who want to work past 65 are able to do so.

What does this budget mean to you?

Tell us what it means, how will it affect you? What do you like or dislike? All comments welcome below.

The Harrison Clark academy service will be implemented by teams based at the firm’s Cheltenham and Worcester offices, including partners Robert Capper, Guy Hopson, Richard Wilkey, Andrea Bateman, Richard Green and Cindy Bexfield, as well as newly appointed Clare Regan.