Register to vote

Members of the Greek community are strongly encouraged to exercise their right to vote by registering.

Any one who lives in the U.K and is either a British or European Union citizen can do this. You will only be eligible to vote at a local election if you hold an EU passport but you are of course entitled to vote at every election if you are a British citizen (subject)

The process of registering is simple. You can apply to do this in person or by post at your local Town Hall at the office of the Electoral Registrar.

There are more than 280,000 British citizens of Greek or Greek Cypriot descent living and working in London. Conmtact Nick at Nick@lgr.co.uk if you need more information.

Increase of limits to awards

An interesting change regarding Employment Law for 2011 will come from The Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2010 (SI 2010/2926) This will increase the limits for some employment tribunal awards payable under employment legislation. The current maximum for unfair dismissal compensatory award is £65,300 this will rise to £68,400. The maximum amount of a week's pay for working out a statutory redundancy payment for unfair dismissal goes up from £380 to £400. These changes will only apply to cases that arise after the 1 February 2011. More specific information about this can be viewed under any of the government links.

Flexible working

The right to ask your employer for flexible working will be extended to parents of children under the age of 18 on 6 April 2011.

It currently applies to parents of children under the age of 17, or 18 if the child is disabled.The Government is also intending to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees and will start consultation on these proposals in January 2011.

Changes to maternity and paternity leave provisions

In April 2011 there will be two changes to maternity and paternity leave provisions.
Fathers of children with an expected week of birth beginning on or after 3 April 2011 will be allowed up to 26 weeks' additional paternity leave if the mother returns to work before using her full entitlement to statutory maternity leave.

On the same date, the rates for statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay will increase from £124.88 to £128.73 per week.

Abolition of the default retirement age

Until now an employer could make an employee leave the service using the default retirement age procedure. That meant that a member of staff could be forced to go after reaching a certain age.

But that is now changing and one of the biggest legal changes employers will have to deal with in 2011 is the abolition of the default retirement age (DRA). The DRA will not, however, be completely abolished until 1 October 2011. In addition transitional arrangements will come into force from 6 April 2011.

There will be a six-month transitional period when employers will be unable to issue new notifications of retirement.

The default retirement age will be completely removed on 1 October and employers will be prohibited from retiring employees by means of the default retirement age from this date.

The affect of this change will be that those who wish to remain in employment for a longer period can do so without fear of being forced out the door. The concern with this change comes from fears that jobs will not be freed by older workers for those who have just entered the job market but the change is also seen as a positive move to deal with discriminatory practices at work against older workers.

Action on Elder abuse

We know that the number of old age pensioners in the Greek community is increasing and the number of complaints is also going up. Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) works to protect, and prevent the abuse of, vulnerable older adults. We were the first charity to address these problems and are the only charity in the UK and in Ireland working exclusively on the issue today. Consequently, when you provide support to us, or make a donation, you can be sure that it will be used exclusively on issues relating to elder abuse and nothing else. Our work is fundamental to challenging elder abuse in the UK and we constantly need financial support to continue our activities. Although we are as effective as many of the bigger charities, we receive only a fraction of their income. Help us continue to make a difference. There are a variety of options for making donations to us. Use text on your mobile phone, the Just Giving logo, or click on the 'Support us' link to find out more.

http://www.elderabuse.org.uk/

Your rights at work

We are sometimes placed in situations at work where we are not certain as to what rights we have. People who are not members of organised Trades Unions are often left on their own to deal with whatever difficulties they face.

Employment Law in the UK and throughout the European Union is quite extensive. It is a mistake, however, to think that the law is there to protect either side in any industrial dispute. Employment law exists to keep a balance between rights and obligations. So an employee will have certain rights and an employer certain obligations towards that member of staff and the same works in reverse.

I will be visiting this area of law soon with specific information of what you can do as an employee to protect your position and what obligations employers have.

The New Apprenticeship Agenda: The Union Role [Conference]

Date: 9th February 2011Venue: TUC, Congress Centre.

This event could be of interest to younger members of the community in London, worth attending if interested.

London Apprenticeships are a major skills priority for the Government- they are also a key priority for unions. Join us to hear about the successes that unions have achieved so far in supporting apprentices and hear about how the apprenticeship agenda will develop in the coming years.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-19025-f0.cfm