The report about the council as an employer shows the make up of the workforce and the things being done to support its diverse workforce and the second report looks at the council as a service provider and covers the things being done to make sure services are provided fairly.

From 6 April, it will no longer be possible for employees with certain types of pension to be “contracted out” of additional state pension. Learn more

Changes in state pension age. Learn more

• Did you ever give your email address to those people?
• Did you give someone else permission to share it?
• Have you got permission to share other peoples email addresses?

Probably not.

When email addresses are put in the To: field of an email, they are immediately visible to everyone on that circulation list and sometimes automatically stored in your email address book.

You could be in breach of the data protection act if you do this, but there is a simple solution, use the Bcc: field, like this:

The recipients then only see their own address or ‘undisclosed recipients’

An Alternative

If you are a regular sender of bulk emails, you might want to consider email services like the one used by SUSTAiN. We use and recommend MailChimp, it is secure, easy to use and has a free version that’s suitable for most users. We are not sponsored by MailChimp, we just really like it.

Source: read this Guardian article on email and data protection

• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will not be extended to cover all charities, or all charities providing services on behalf of public bodies, in England and Wales
• Disclosure of personal data in freedom of information and environmental information requests.
• Using the Audit Commission Act 1998 to obtain information from local authorities.
• NCVO guide on using the FOIA for campaigning
  

There is also a data protection issue with the way many people – especially in the public sector – send bulk emails.

See our special feature on this – Don’t Expose Me

Tax and national insurance rates and thresholds for 2012-13.

Increased allowances for tax-free mileage reimbursement, and volunteers now eligible for ‘passenger payments’

36 tax reliefs to be abolished from April 2013.

Updated HMRC guide on tax and NI treatment of employer-supported childcare and vouchers.

“Real time” PAYE information to be introduced from 2013

Code of practice on sharing personal data with other organisations – essential reading (even if just the checklists in section 15) if your organisation provides information about individuals to other public, private or voluntary sector bodies.

Code of practice on personal information online.

Updated guidance (December 2012) on the new requirement to get consent for website ‘cookies’. Or simply ask Colebridge Communications to build you a website that meets all quality and legal standards. Or go direct to the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance

For some examples of data protection breaches, including some charities …

Redundancy – ‘Weekly pay’ for calculating statutory redundancy pay for redundancies taking effect on or after 1 February goes up from £400 to £430.

Unfair Dismissal – Maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal goes up from £68,400 to £72,300.

More on both the above here

Proposed increases in statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and sick pay from 6 April.

More on Sick Pay here

More on Maternity Pay here

A round-up of proposed employment law changes in 2012 and beyond, including proposals arising from the government’s red tape challenge and its consultations on modern workplaces and workplace dispute resolution.

Equality Act – Detailed Charity Commission guidance on the Equality Act “charities exemption”, and when charities can lawfully limit services to people who share a protected characteristic as defined under the Act.

Model Governing Documents – from the Charity Commission for charitable associations, trusts and companies.

Interest & Dividends – Charitable industrial and provident societies should check their rules (governing document) to see if they have power to pay interest and dividends on shares they issue. This could affect their charitable status when the rules on IPSs as exempt charities come into effect.

Run by the Family Information Service, parents receive a newsletter every school term and an eBulletin every month.

If you have any messages that you would like to pass on to parents, please let Claire Cook know at Solihull Council on 0121 704 8474 or clcook@solihull.gov.uk

Items can include:

• Events and activities for children, young people and families
• Important information that parents need to know
• Information that will help parents
• Opportunities for parents to give their views

To join the Parents Network and to view our latest newsletter and eBulletin visit: www.solihull.gov.uk/parentsnetwork

Please promote the Network to parents – they can join through the web link above.

The final report and summary report can be found on the Pathways to Participation website.

The IVR is a research and consultancy agency specialising in volunteering.  It is an initiative of Volunteering England in partnership with Birbeck, University of London and  Their latest e-newsletter is now available.