I own a hairdressing salon and we play the radio during our opening hours.
I have heard that we shouldn't do this without a licence because of copyright.
Is this true ?
Yes that is correct. Most of the music you listen to is under copyright.
By law under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, if you use
music in public (eg outside of the home), you require the permission
of every writer or composer of the music you intend to play. In practice,
it is not necessary to approach each individual copyright owner.
The Performing Rights Society Ltd (PRS) represents nearly all British
and foreign composers, authors and music publishers in the United Kingdom.
It collects and distributes royalties on their behalf.
A person who intends publicly performing copyright musical works whether
the performance is live, recorded, broadcast (on radio or television) or
included in a cable programme service should apply to the PRS for a licence.
The Society makes a charge for the licence depending on the type of venue and
the amount of music usage. A PRS Music Licence is flexible and can be tailored to your needs.
If you wish to find further information on using music in your business, contact the
PRS new licence hotline on 0800 068 4828 or go to their website www.prs.co.uk.
www.prs.co.uk
My 17 year old daughter has been invited to a party in a pub.
I am confused about the rules for being allowed alcohol on such occasions.
Can you help?
A child aged five or over and under 16 can drink alcohol on private premises,
for example, at home. A young person aged 16 or 17 can drink wine, beer or
cider only with a meal in a hotel, restaurant or part of a pub set apart for
eating meals. This is only possible if there is a person over 18 or over
with her/him at the meal who buys the alcohol. If the party is serving drinks
only, then a young person would have to be 18 to have alcohol. It is an
offence for a person under 18 to buy alcohol and/or drink alcohol in a pub.
S/he can be given a penalty notice (and fined £50).
It is an offence for a person to buy alcohol on behalf of a person under
18 to be drunk on licensed premises. It is also an offence to buy alcohol
on behalf of a person aged under 18 to be drunk outside of licensed premises,
for example, in the street. However, if it is bought on behalf of a person
under 18 to be drunk on private premises, this is allowed.
If a police officer suspects a young person of possessing alcohol
(or something they believe to be alcohol) in a 'relevant place',
s/he can confiscate it. A 'relevant place' is any public place
(except licensed premises) or a place which someone has gained access to unlawfully.
My neighbour in the flat above me plays his music very loudly. When the weather
has been warm he has had all his windows open and the noise has been even worse.
What can I do ?
The first step is to approach your neighbour and discuss the problem. They may
not be aware that they have been disturbing you. In warm weather when we all have
our windows open, it helps to keep the volume down out of consideration for our neighbours.
If the noise is not reduced and the neighbour is a tenant, it may be worth contacting
his/her landlord. If the problem persists it is useful to keep a diary of the frequency
and type of disturbance which can be used as evidence of any further action.
You might also want to consider community mediation. This service is usually free
to local residents. An independent third party will help you and the other person
to reach an agreement or compromise. For details of your nearest community
mediation service contact Mediation UK on 0117 904 6661 or visit their website
www.mediationuk.org
Local authorities have extensive powers to deal with noise nuisance.
You can ask the Environmental Health Officer to investigate. If he is
unable to resolve the matter informally and considers that there is a noise
nuisance, the authority must serve an abatement notice requiring that the noise is stopped or limited.
There is also a website, set up by ENCAMS, the environmental charity, to provide
support for noise sufferers on www.noiseconcern.org.
www.noiseconcern.org
My gas and electricity bills have gone up considerably over the
past year and I have now got into arrears. I am on benefits so I
don't really have any money to pay this back. What can I do ?
Firstly, you will need to negotiate a repayment arrangement with
your fuel suppliers. Under their licence conditions, electricity
and gas suppliers must take into account your present circumstances
and income and how much you will be able to pay towards the arrears.
It is important that you only agree to repay at a rate which you can
afford because if you break the agreement your supplier could issue a
disconnection notice.
Before negotiating with your supplier, you should consider which method of
repayment would best suit your circumstances. You may wish to pay by
instalments, by having a prepayment meter installed to include the arrears
alongside your current usage, or by having money deducted from your benefits.
If you are receiving income support, pension credit or income based
jobseeker's allowance there are maximum limits allowed for repayment.
You may also be eligible for help from one of the charitable trusts or hardship
schemes set up to assist vulnerable people with fuel debts. The British Gas
Energy Trust has produced a booklet listing many of the trusts and schemes.
A copy of the booklet is available on the British Gas Energy Trust website
at
www.britishgasenergytrust.org.uk
If your particular fuel company is
not listed it may be worth contacting them direct to see if they can offer any assistance.
I have been looking at flats to rent privately and all of the landlords are asking
for money as a deposit. I have heard that there is now a scheme to protect security
deposits. How does this work ?
From 6 April 2007, a landlord (or a letting agency acting on a landlord's behalf)
must use a tenancy deposit protection scheme if s/he wishes to take a security
deposit for an assured shorthold tenancy agreement.
A tenancy deposit protection scheme is a scheme that safeguards the deposit,
so that a tenant is guaranteed to get it back at the end of the tenancy,
provided s/he is entitled to it. It also provides an alternative dispute
resolution service to sort out any disagreements between the landlord and
tenant about the deposit at the end of the tenancy.
There are three authorised tenancy deposit protection schemes. One is a
custodial scheme and the other two are insurance-based schemes. The landlord
can join either scheme and should inform the tenant within 14 days which scheme they are using.
In the custodial scheme, which is free to both landlords and tenants,
the landlord pays the deposit into the scheme. The deposit is held in an
account administered by the scheme and will earn interest. This scheme
is more likely to be used by small landlords as there are no costs involved.
In an insurance-based scheme, the landlord keeps the deposit, but has to pay
registration and insurance fees to the scheme. The scheme guarantees payment
to the tenant if the landlord does not pay the tenant the amount s/he is entitled
to at the end of the tenancy.
My marriage has broken down and despite arrangements with my ex-husband to
have regular contact with the children they are very reluctant to see him.
What can I do about this ?
Try to talk to your children about the arrangements for contact.
There may be reasons why they are reluctant to see their father, for example,
they may feel angry and rejected because he has left or they may feel that they
are hurting you by visiting him. If your children are old enough, make sure they
are consulted about the time, dates and place of visits.
If a court were deciding the issue, it would usually consider that
it is in the child's interests to have contact with both parents.
It is therefore important to try and facilitate contact.
If you are unable to persuade your children to go for a contact visit,
you should discuss the problem with your ex-husband. You may be able
to make a different arrangement which might be more acceptable to the
children, for example, your ex-husband could visit the children at home
or the visit could take place without an overnight stay.
If none of these measures work, you and your ex-husband will have to
decide whether to continue to force the children to visit against
their will or whether it would be better to stop visits in the short-term.
If agreement cannot be reached, it may be necessary to go back to court
either to ask for the contact to be terminated or for the arrangements to be enforced.
I have spent far too much money on Christmas and am worried about how I am going to pay my bills. What can I do?
· Don't panic and don't bury you head in the sand.
· Avoid borrowing further to pay off existing debt - this is likely to lead
to more problems in the long run.
· Talk to your creditors - don't just stop payments without explaining why.
They can sometimes be more understanding than you'd expect.
· Sit down and work out how much you owe and how much you need to pay your
priority debts; mortgage, rent, council tax, gas and electricity bills.
Don't fall into the trap of paying whoever shouts loudest first.
· Make sure you pay the priority debts first every month and then work out
how much you need for food and other everyday expenses.
· Once you've done that, you can start to work out what you can afford to
pay each month to non-priority creditors like credit cards, store cards etc.
· If what you have left doesn't cover what your non-priority creditors are
asking for each month, speak to them and come to an arrangement about how
much you can afford to pay them.
· Only offer to pay off debts at a rate you can keep up - it is easy to be
panicked into offering more than you can afford.
· Think twice before paying for debt advice - Citizens Advice is the largest
free independent money advice-giving organisation in the country, so we're
used to dealing with creditors on your behalf!
My employer grudgingly said I could take Christmas Day off but no other bank holidays. Also, the office is very cold. When I complain he says it's humbug. Can you help?
Unfortunately, there is no general statutory right for a worker to take bank
holidays or public holidays, with or without pay. This means that whether an
employee has the right to take off Christmas bank holidays will depend on what
it says in their contract. Sometimes an entitlement may be implied by custom
and practice if say, the employer has regularly given staff time off on public
holidays over a number of years.
From 1 October 2007, workers are entitled to 4.8 weeks holiday per year ( 24
days for someone who works five days a week). Bank or public holidays will
normally count towards this statutory entitlement unless the contract specifies
otherwise.
The temperature in the workplace should normally be at least 16ºC. For people
doing work that requires considerable physical effort, it should be at least 13ºC.
In rooms which have to be open to the outside or where food has to be kept cold
it may not be possible to maintain these temperatures. In these cases, efforts
should be made to keep them as close to these figures as is practical.
Your employer must provide you with a thermometer so that you can check the temperature
inside the building. Further information about workplace temperature is contained
in the Health and Safety Commission Approved Code of Practice on Workplace Health,
Safety and Welfare, which is available from the HSE website www.hse.gov.uk.
My ex-wife is saying that I can't have my children to stay over Christmas. There's never been a problem before about me seeing them when I want to - what can I do?
Naturally, both of you will want to spend time with your children on major
occasions like Christmas, holidays and birthdays. In all contact arrangements
it is always best if everyone can come to an amicable agreement and very important
that the children's views are taken into account.
As you were married to the mother of your children you automatically have parental
responsibility for them. This means that you have a right to maintain direct
and regular contact with your children unless your ex-wife obtains a court
order to prevent this.
Try meeting up with your ex-wife to discuss arrangements. If she agrees,
you could ask a mutual trusted friend or relative who would not take sides,
to come along. If negotiations break down, it may be helpful to involve a
mediator. In some circumstances, the legal help scheme assists with the
costs of family mediation. To find a local mediator contact UK College of
Family Mediators on 0117 904 7223 or visit www.ukcfm.co.uk.
If all else fails, you can apply to court for a contact order. The court
will only make a contact order or vary an existing one if it feels this is
necessary for the welfare of the child and better for him/her than making
no order at all. Where there is an agreement about contact arrangements,
it is unlikely a court will intervene.
I am thinking of doing most of my Christmas shopping online this year and wondered whether you could give me any tips?
Distance selling is when goods and services are bought over the telephone,
by mail order, fax or electronically by e-mail, through the internet or digital
TV. As the companies operate from countries all around the world, your
consumer rights will depend upon where the company is based.
If the trader is in the UK or if you place your order from the UK and the
seller is in an EU or EEA country, you will have the same statutory rights
as if you had bought in a shop. There are additional rights for distance
sales which include, for most items, a right to cancel the contract if you
change your mind up to 7 working days after delivery and a right to a refund
if your payment card is used fraudulently.
Top tips for shopping on the internet include:
· Make sure you know the trader's full address especially if the company is
based outside the UK;
· Take into account the shipping, postage and packing costs;
· If an item is over £100 then consider paying by credit card - the credit
card company will then have equal liability if things go wrong;
· Look for websites that have a secure way of paying - these show a padlock
at the bottom of the screen when you are filling in the payment details;
· Check whether the company has a privacy statement that tells you what it
will do with your personal information.
Yesterday I received a telephone message on my answering machine telling me that I had won a luxury holiday and asking me to ring an 090 number as soon as possible to find more. Do you think this is genuine?
Unfortunately this sounds like it is probably a scam. Scammers quite
often use 090 numbers which can cost £1.50 a minute. You might be promised
a large cash or luxury holiday, but you may end up with just a cheap giveaway
item which is worth less than the cost of the call. If you ring you might
have to listen to a long recorded message. Remember, the longer you stay
on the phone, the higher the charge for the call.
The following tips should help you avoid premium rate scams:
· remember that premium rate telephone numbers attract charges by the minute, usually well above the cost of a local or standard call;
· don't dial a premium rate number unless you are absolutely sure how much you will be charged and you are willing to pay for it;
· be on your guard if, after dialling one 090 number you hear a message asking you to dial a second 090 number;
· always read the small print of any promotions so that you know the hidden catches and costs and exactly what you are likely to get;
· ask for advice - for clear, practical consumer advice call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 or use their website www.consumerdirect.gov.uk.
I have a one year old daughter and have heard that I might be eligible for vouchers for free milk. Is this true ?
Yes. Under the Healthy Start scheme you can get vouchers to spend on milk,
fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and infant formula. You can also get free
vitamin supplements. You will normally receive one voucher worth £2.80 a
week or two vouchers worth £5.60 if you have a baby under the age of one.
They can be used at certain food outlets such as corner shops and supermarkets
which have registered to be part of the scheme.
You will qualify for Healthy Start if you are pregnant or have a child
under four years old AND:
· you or your family get Income Support, or
· you or your family get income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, or
· you or your family get Child Tax Credit (but not Working Tax Credit)
and have an annual family income of below £14,155 (2006/07)
or:
· You are pregnant and under 18 years of age.
If you qualify, you can apply for Healthy Start for your children at any time.
If you're pregnant, you can apply as soon as you are ten weeks pregnant.
You will need to complete the application form which can be found at the
back of the Healthy Start leaflet (HS01). Leaflets can be obtained by
telephoning 08701 555 455 or by consulting the website www.healthystart.nhs.uk.
Part B of the form will need to be signed by a health professional to
confirm that you are either pregnant or have a child under four.
My wife and I both have a state pension and I have a small occupational pension. We are struggling to manage and wonder whether there are any benefits we can claim ?
You may well be eligible to claim pension credit. This is a means-tested benefit which is divided into two
parts. The guarantee credit will top up a pensioner's weekly income to at least
£119.05 for a single person and £181.70 for couples. You have to be aged 60
or over to be eligible and have no income or income below a specified amount.
You may be eligible for the savings credit if you are aged 65 or over and have
some savings. This is paid on a weekly basis of up to a maximum of £19.05
for a single person and £25.26 for a couple. To claim either of these
benefits you must have the right to reside, satisfy the habitual residence
test and not be subject to immigration control.
If you receive pension credit (guarantee credit) you will automatically qualify
for full housing benefit and council tax benefit. You will also be entitled
to help with health costs, for example, free prescriptions, free dental treatment,
free sight tests and travel costs to hospital.
You can make a claim for pension credit by contacting the Pension Service on 0800 99 1234.
If you were entitled to pension credit during the previous twelve months it may be possible
to have your claim backdated for that period.
I am 61 and have heard that I should be eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment. How do I claim this ?
A winter fuel payment is an annual tax-free payment made to people aged 60 or over.
You may be able to get a winter fuel payment if during the qualifying week you are aged
60 or over; you are normally resident in the UK and you have made a claim by the due date.
The qualifying week for 2007/2008 was the week ending 23 September 2007.
Most people do not need to make a claim for winter fuel payments since the majority
of payments are made automatically. You should automatically receive a payment if during
the qualifying week you receive a state retirement pension or certain other social security
benefits, or you made a successful claim for a payment for the previous year and your
circumstances have not changed.
If you have not automatically received a payment and are aged 60 or over
and are eligible for a payment you will need to make a claim by 31 March 2008.
The rate for 2007/2008 is £200 (£300 if you are aged 80 or over). You will receive
the full rate if you live on your own. If you have a partner who is also eligible the
amount will be shared between you.
If you want to make a claim or have any queries about winter fuel payments,
including problems with receiving a payment to which you believe you are entitled
you can ring the Winter Fuel Payment Helpline on 0845 915 1515.
My husband and I have both made an Enduring Power of Attorney but we have heard that there are changes being introduced and wonder how we will be affected.
From 1 October 2007, there will be changes in the way people can plan ahead for a time when they
may not have mental capacity, and in the way that decisions are made on behalf of people who lack mental capacity.
From this date, Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPA) can no longer be made. Instead, they will be replaced
with a revised type of power called a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). Any EPAs already registered
before this date will still be valid and an EPA created before this date can still be registered.
After 1 October 2007 it will be possible for someone to revoke an existing EPA and replace it with
an LPA if they have the necessary mental capacity to do so. However, they do not have to do this.
An LPA will, like an EPA, allow a donor to nominate one or more attorneys to make decisions
should they lose the mental capacity to do so themselves. There are two types of LPA which can deal with:
· property and affairs, similar to an EPA;
· personal welfare, which can include provisions for giving or refusing consent to medical treatment in circumstances where the donor has lost the capacity to make such decisions themselves.
The Public Guardianship Office has produced many booklets on the new powers of attorney, which can be found at
www.publicguardian.gov.uk
I work full-time and currently get four weeks paid holiday per year which includes bank holidays.
I have heard that the amount of holiday entitlement is due to increase. How will this affect me ?
From 1 October 2007, statutory entitlement to paid holiday will increase from 4 weeks to
4.8 weeks per year. For someone who works five days a week, this means an increase from
20 to 24 days. This will increase again to 5.6 weeks (28 days) from 1 April 2009.
Part-time workers will receive a pro-rata increase.
There is no general statutory right for a worker to take bank holidays or public
holidays, with or without pay. Any rights that a worker has to bank or public
holidays will be contained in her/his contract of employment. Where a worker is
given bank or public holidays off and is paid for them, they will count towards
her/his entitlement to statutory holiday unless the contract specifies that
they are given in addition to statutory holiday. From 1 October 2007, all
part-time workers are entitled to pro-rata time off for bank holidays whether
or not they usually work on that day.
There is a ready reckoner to help calculate statutory holiday entitlement
on the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website
at www.berr.gov.uk.
There is an online calculator to help work out a worker's
holiday entitlement on the Business Link website at
www.businesslink.gov.uk.
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