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Social Policy:
Current Issues
Have your
say on school uniform costs
Are you paying a lot for your child’s school uniform? Do
you think uniform policies are unfair? As a CAB we are urging people
to share their views in an online survey, launched on the Citizens
Advice website at www.adviceguide.org.uk.
The quick and easy survey asks about the costs of uniforms, if people
have to buy uniform at expensive suppliers and if they fear it will
be a financial struggle. Despite Government guidelines, many schools
still insist on “designed” items that have to be bought
from specific suppliers.
Other questions aim to find out what help is offered by schools
themselves and local authorities, an whether people think schools
should allow parents to buy uniforms from high street retailers
or supermarkets. The Bureau is also keen to know whether the cost
of uniform influences where parents send their children to school.
The answers will be published and used to urge the Government to
do more to strengthen existing guidance. The charity is also concerned
that a child’s education can be affected if they are punished
for not having the correct uniform because of cost.
Cases seen locally show that School uniforms can become huge expense
for families, particularly if you have more than one child needing
uniform and PE kits when they start a new school. We have seen numerous
families on low incomes who find it a real struggle, and that cannot
be fair. Parents shouldn’t have to worry that their child
might get bullied if they do not have the right uniform, or that
their child’s schooling will be affected as a result.
The survey will give us a better picture about how families are
coping or not coping with the cost of uniform. It will also help
us find out exactly what parents and guardians think and what help
they currently are able to access. The survey can be completed at
www.adviceguide.org.uk
and will run from mid June until the end of July.
As always if it is a problem for you please contact us. We will
help you to make an approach to the Family Welfare Association for
financial help. |
Training
The current situation is that due to severe cuts in NACAB’s
budget, training services centrally have been cut to such an extent
that there are few external training courses both for trainee and
general advisers. We are in the process of replacing these with
on-line training packages such as “e-benefits” and “bite-size”
sessions for advisers to work through, though these seem to change
continually and no real consistent “programme” has yet
emerged. Despite this, bureaux are still expected to equip advisers
with the same “competences” and pretty much in the same
way as required by the old RL4 (Record of Learning Stage 4).
Needless to say, this puts a huge strain on bureau time and resources
as we now need to develop our own “post initial course”
training programme to ensure that our trainee advisers and our general
advisers continue to develop their skills. We have already adopted
a “hands on” and integrated approach for new trainees
where they attend one session a week with the trainer followed by
a consolidation “in bureau” session with an adviser
later in the week.
Training packs are merely used to consolidate what they have learned
in the sessions. This approach came form the fac tat trainees had
previously expressed dissatisfaction with the central method of
initial training which relies almost entirely on training packs/individual
learning which led to a feeling of isolation and boredom.
It now seems that unless we further develop this style, post initial
course training will also be almost entirely self-driven. what we
therefore propose is to map out a flexible programme that will enable
trainee advisers returning from their initial course to progress
with a sensible mixture of practical work and designated computer
training packages, whilst they build up a portfolio of cases they
have handled under supervision. we also aim to provide practical
group training, if they need any refresher or consolidation sessions.
So - lots for the trainer -and the Session Supervisor
- to do! |
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Management
Committee
Chair
Michael Robinson
Treasurer
Richard Kelsey
Members
Penny Ager
Richard Bright
Pam Graham
Chris Hayward
Mrs Pat Mead
Charles Middleton
George Pledger
Cllr. Mrs S.M. Rosewarne*
Cllr. A N Warr*
Cllr D Williamson*
* MDC nominees
Advisers
Liz Acharyya [Retired]
Diana Adams
Penny Ager
Anthea Balmford
Maisie Bennett [Retired]
Lucy Bettley [Social Policy
Co-ordinator]
Barry Cox [Deputy Manager]
Margaret Day
Mary Edwards
Margaret England
Hilary Gamble
Pauline Hallanzy
Ken Harris
Kate James
Tamara Kelsey [Sabbatical]
Linda Kemetmuller
Graham March
Charles Middleton [Retired]
Fiona Nelmes
Wendy Ritherton
Elaine Robinson
Jane Schneidau
Jackie Scollen
Graham Sharp [Manager]
David Spicely
Gill Stone
Heather Sutton [Retired]
Hilary Taylor
Jennifer Vesey
Phil Watkins
Gillian Woods
April Yates
Admin. Support
Eileen Barker
Arthur Clark
Sabah Ebrahimi
Barbara Gale
Trainee Advisers
Ellen Adams
Sheila Albury |
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