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The National Careers Service is being launched on 5 April The new service will transform careers advice in England by making accurate information about learning and work, and professional advice, available to everyone.
The Service will provide adults and young people with a suite of online services and tools to help them to identify job opportunities, assess their own skills, determine learning goals and select the training provider that best meets their needs. They will also be able to access professional careers advice by web-chat or over the telephone, to help them make the right choices and acquire the skills they need to flourish in life and work. Adults over 19 will have access to face-to-face careers advice at a wide range of locations in the community.
The attached Launch Toolkit for Stakeholders has been created to help you to promote that National Careers Service among your network and clients, to ensure that they have the opportunity to make use of it. Your support will help us reach a wider network of people and organisations, communicating the benefit of professional careers advice and informed choices about learning and skills. We hope you find this toolkit useful and we welcome your support to work together to make the National Careers Service a great success.
Future versions of the Toolkit will be made available here on the Skills Funding Agency Website.
The National Careers Service can be accessed via the website nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk or by calling 0800 100 900. For more information, you can contact the National Careers Service marketing and communications team at:
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From ‘UKBA News March 2012’ Rollout of biometric residence permits (BRPs) complete The rollout of biometric residence permits (BRPs) to new applicants in the UK has been completed. From 29 February 2012 all applicants from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) applying to stay in the UK for more than six months will have to register their fingerprints and digital facial image. Post Office Limited will provide a service for the collection of biometric information through a network of 104 locations across the UK; ensuring that a facility is within reasonable travelling distance for the vast majority of our customers.
Successful applicants will be issued a biometric residence permit as evidence of immigration status and entitlements in the UK; including refugees and those granted settlement. Employers can download guidance on checking biometric residence permits and their security features from the UK Border Agency’s website. From 31 May 2012, the agency will launch a new automated online checking service to provide quick and easy real time checks on the permit, the holder’s identity and right to work. In time, chip checking services will also be available to provide even greater confidence.
For further information including details of Post Office Ltd collection locations and employer’s guidance please visit UKBA website.
Post offices in scheme at March 2012 (click here for details of Post Offices)
UKBA NORTH EAST PARTNERSHIP & ENGAGEMENT UPDATE March 2012’
Bio-metric Residence Permits extended to asylum applications
Since 25 November 2008, under the provisions of The Immigration (Biometric Registration) Regulations, biometric residence permits (BRP) have been introduced for certain foreign nationals applying for permission to remain in the UK. The requirement to apply for a BRP card has gradually been extended across the whole range of immigration applications and as part of this extension asylum applications made on or after 29 February 2012 resulting in a grant of leave for longer than 6 months (including cumulative leave) will now be issued with a BRP.BRPs are a form of residence permit, and replace the vignettes (or stickers) previously placed in passports. This only applies to foreign nationals of countries outside the European Economic Area who are granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom. All applicants, including children, are required to give their biometrics. These will be scans of all 10 fingerprints and a digital photo. Applicants who are under six are not required to provide fingerprints. The grant of leave to remain in the United Kingdom will be issued as a standalone card. There will be no endorsement in the passport. The BRP is proof of the holder’s right to stay, work or study in the United Kingdom. It can also be used as a form of identification (for example, if they wish to open a bank account in the UK). The holder is not required to carry their card at all times, but they must show it at the border, together with their passport, when leaving and returning to the United Kingdom. Asylum applicants will still be required to provide basic biometrics at their point of claim. For those applying on or after 29 February 2012 they, and all dependants, will be further required to attend a designated Post Office in order to enrol more detailed biometrics. This should be done whilst the asylum claim is being considered, in order to ensure prompt issuing of the BRP should a grant of leave be made. The process for enrolment will be explained fully to asylum claimants at their substantive asylum interview.
11th July 2011 Go to http://www.iasuk.org/home.aspx for advice to clients. June 2011 Local Migration Reports - updated May 2011 Message from UKBA: change to rules on making further submissions at North Shields Reporting Centre: April 2011 John Sentamu, Archbishop of York: Is the Big Society big enough to offer shelter to refugees? March 2011 New Family Returns Process started on the 1st March. The new process has four key stages: 1. A decision is made that a family have no legal right to remain in the UK. 2. A family returns conference will be held with the family to fully explain the situation, to explain return options and to manage barriers. At this stage they will be given the option to return voluntarily. 3. If the family fail to return on a voluntary basis, a second conference will be held with the family and they will receive 2 weeks notice that they have to leave the UK. They will be given the opportunity to manage their own return with a self check-in removal. 4. If the family subsequently fail to take up this option, then a submission is made to the Family Returns Panel to ensure a return occurs. Options include giving the family Limited Notice of Return, moving the family to Open Accommodation or the use of Pre-Departure Accommodation. Barnardo's will provide welfare services for families at new pre-departure accommodation. See Home Office UKBA website. Feb 2011 Change of Accommodation Provider in North East region – implications for asylum seekers housed in the region. Information to clients from UKBA Government cuts funding for refugee services by 62%. This will impact on the One Stop Service and Initial Accommodation. The Refugee Intergation and Employment Service (RIES) will end completely in September 2011. The Refugee Council is campaigning against these cuts Jan 2011
From ‘UKBA News March 2012’
Rollout of biometric residence permits (BRPs) complete
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