'Sleep tax' will have a major controversial

OF all the changes that the Government has announced to Welfare Reform Act, I think the potential impact of 'bed tax' is the most controversial. Due to come into effect in April 2013, the consequences of this under the new occupancy tax seems to have not fully thought out the consequences in terms of social housing tenants. In bed tax, social housing tenants of working age who receive housing benefits will receive their payments cut if they are considered under the covers of their homes. They will have to pay, on average, an extra £ 40 per month if they have a spare room, £ 70 per month if they have two, or eventually be forced to move to a smaller home. Even household where every room could use a hit cut benefits because, under the strict new rules, children of both sexes are expected to share a room until the age of 16. So tenants and housing providers will be punished for having the wrong type of house, with estimates from the National Housing Federation (NHF) said that our region can be hit with a massive and 50,000 families potentially affected. Housing associations in the North East warnings do not have enough of the right size to potentially thousands of displaced tenants. Monica said Burns, manager for the NHF North East Press recently: "Housing associations in the North East has always been driven by the government to build a larger home so that families can stay in the same house for a living and not have to move when they have children. "Now both tenants and housing associations will be punished for having the wrong kind of house." One of our members, Coast and Country Housing, warned that a large number of tenants can be pushed into poverty as a result of reducing the housing benefit for under-employment, despite the lack of a small home. CEO Iain Sim they indicated they had a real reason for concern about the effects on their tenants. I know I'm not alone in thinking that there are many aspects of this change seems unfair, unjust and frankly difficult to maintain, has not been considered by either the Government or they refuse to acknowledge. The impact on housing and tenant, not only in this area, very spacious.

Five engineers bright future service development

THE TTE Technical Training Group Training in collaboration with the East Coast to help the five children to take the first step toward a career in building services engineering. Middlesbrough-based TTE and East Coast Training a new program to help young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) gained NVQ Level 1 qualification. As part of their program spending TTE training center in Middlesbrough, where they take part in activities in both the studio and the classroom environment. They also attended the East Coast training to support them in their literacy / numeracy, personal development and social and work skills. TTE year received hundreds of applications for the education program, supported by businesses in the areas of engineering, manufacturing processes, and the energy sector. Corporate sponsors looking for high quality, motivated individuals who, by their learning, can acquire the necessary skills, qualifications and competence to be part of their future workforce. TTE provides industry-specific technical training and one of the UK-based provider of training for the biggest oil and gas, process, manufacturing and engineering sectors. Currently more than 600 young people will go through various stages of their research and advanced pre-study and practice regularly invites technician visiting from areas including, among others, West Africa and the Middle East. Training on the East Coast is part of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's adult and children's services directorate and working with young people aged 14-19 for over 10 years at two locations in the Redcar and Cleveland area. David Thompson, partnership manager at TTE, said: "The children are really enthusiastic about the training and showed a genuine interest in engineering. This program provides the first step to a situation NEET young people to choose engineering as a potential career path. We look forward to working with East Coast Training to help more young people. '

The award adds to an award for inventors Breastvest

An innovative product created by the North East's mother to save her clothes while breastfeeding has added a long list of awards. Bronze Award Award recognizes Breastvest LovedByParents Retail in 2012 with the best products for breastfeeding category - just in time to feed the National Sunday. Newcastle-based Sam Telfer came the idea while on maternity leave from work as a feature writer at The Journal, and operates the company with friend and business partner Helen set. "We both have a baby together - I had him Fred and Katie," said Sam. "I created it just for myself, then Helen saw him and said," We can do anything '. "I Launched in May 2009, to test the water is relatively calm. We are all made in the UK to start and last year we moved to the Far East. He looked after the business development side of things and we had our best month ever in May. "We launched after the recession - it is a savings product turned out to be anything above a nursing top." Sam, who is currently on maternity leave after her second son Georgie, making Breastvest prototype so he had to buy nipple eating specialist and continue to wear maternity tops without exposing her belly as she ate her baby. He said: "What I'm looking for a vest, without breast-bit. The rope holding it in place, and vest - need long - cover my stomach after birth. "Then I can wear normal tops, and pull them when I want to eat - and it does not interfere with my nursing bra." The idea took off and won a number of awards, as well as being praised by celebrities, including Morning and Holly Willoughby present the mother. The product was launched in France and Germany, and the current version has stockists in Australia and New Zealand.

Survey Highlights the public sector lags behind in payments

LOCAL councils will be asked to come clean about how long they take to pay small business suppliers. Forum of Private Business (FPB) filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the local council in the UK to ask a typical payment. Small business support organizations at last made the same exercise in 2009 when finding a postcode lottery time payment of local government. In a recent report, it was found that the board takes an average of 19 days to pay the bill - almost double the 10-day target set by the Government. More than four in 10 (42%) are not paid within 10 days, but regional variations mean that this figure is as high as 52% in some areas and as low as 11% in others. FPB senior policy advisor, McCabe Phil, said: "The public sector is the real issue final payment is where the local government is concerned, from whom many large contracts to small companies. "According to our previous freedom of information research, there has been a real postcode lottery when it is in the suppliers are paid on time - it will be interesting to see if things have improved or, given that we are back on level of the recession and the overall late payment appears to be increasing, it will be worse. ' He said that, while it is important to pay the government, it is also important that local authorities set a good example for the private sector to follow. Contract public sector is currently providing around £ 70bn of business for the private sector and the FPB calls for a change in the public procurement process, thus promoting better payment practices. This shows that the tendering process should include pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs) payment. A recent survey with the credit agency Graydon FPB and found that one in five public sector considered a poor payer. More than half of 500 small with business owners who asked for the report said that the delay in payment is a matter for them, while nearly quarter has been identified as a serious problem. It also shows the domino effect of late payment in 56% of those not paid on time is not to pay their own suppliers. And 45% said their income is eroded by delays in payment. The survey also found that 65% of those questioned saw customers extend payment terms without notice or consultation, while one-quarter of customers withhold final payment without the approval of the first to assess the quality of work .