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Try launching your own business to get off benefits, county MP urges jobseekers
Droitwich's MP wants more people to take advantage of a scheme to get back into work - after figures revealed less than 20 jobseekers a year are taking advantage.
Nigel Huddleston, who represents Mid-Worcestershire, says the town could benefit from the 'New Enterprise Allowance', which helps unemployed people start their own businesses. People willing to give it a go get a business mentor to develop their idea and, once they start trading, they receive an allowance totalling £1,274.
Children 'trapped in poverty on estates'
The scale of the poverty trap snaring children living on London’s housing estates is laid bare by figures released exclusively to The Standard today.
Youngsters growing up in social housing or privately rented properties are over three times more likely to be living in poverty than children whose parents own their home, the statistics show.
Jaywick in Essex tops list of most deprived English neighbourhoods again
With its miles of golden sands and art deco vacation homes, the seaside village of Jaywick near Clacton-on-Sea was once a popular holiday destination for working class Londoners. But, in a sign of worsening living conditions, a community east of the village has once again topped a Government list of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England.
Jaywick, a ward of Tendring District Council in north-east Essex, has been placed first in the Department for Communities and Local Government's Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015 list. Using statistics for income, employment, health, disability, crime and living standards, the Government report ranks 32,844 areas by local authority according to where they stand in the national poverty league table.
Number of UK workers on national minimum wage expected to double by 2020
The number of employees earning the national minimum wage will double to more than 10% of the UK workforce by the end of this Parliament, according to new research.
A study published on Thursday by the Resolution Foundation - timed to coincide with the 20p an hour increase in the minimum wage - found that the decision by George Osborne to lift the statutory pay floor through a national living wage would result in a sharp increase in the numbers of people having their wages set by the state.