I really shouldn't google these kinds of things! I've just been reading about "Formal Cautions and Administrative Penalties" it seems that the latter would not leave a mark on my enhanced CRB, but the former would - is that correct?

Thank you Gezwee, that makes me feel a little better. I feel like such a numpty.

Forgot to add, if it makes any difference, the underpayment must be around £132.

I've literally just realised this evening, 6 months down the line... I get a 25% single occupancy discount on my council tax, and have been since January 2009. However my partner moved in with me in February this year. I pay by direct debit so never even think about it going out each month, it just gets paid. I also earn a reasonable wage, so didn't even think about anything to do with any kind of benefits when he moved in. I also found out tonight I should inform Child Benefit (although I fail to see why this is...). That is the only other benefit I receive. I'm now in a major panic. I emailed the council tonight asking for them to send me a form to complete for a change in circumstances. However what if they already know my partner moved in? His bank, work, car etc are all registered to my address. How dumb can one person be! To make matters worse, something has just reminded me of a strange van which kept parking opposite every few days, for some weeks, for an hour or so in the evening. I put it down to this being an area where many elderly folk live, and perhaps it was a carer. But now its made me wonder! I never saw anyone getting in or out of it. Bloody hell, am going to have to ring them in the morning. What will they say/do? Will it just be a simple case of repaying the discount for the last 6 months, or far far worse than this? If its worse than this, I'd lose my job. Please advise me!

Oh I know about failure to display! I can't order online, as the Tax Disc is sent to the address on the registration certificate, which is still in my previous address, as I have moved in the last 2 weeks.

Ah, problem solved! With a little further digging, I have managed to find out what I need to do. Fill in a V10 and take it to 'selected Post Offices' with the relevant documents and registration certificate, and bingo! Job done! Just have to find out which 'selected Post Offices' it means... I think I will assume it means any PO which does Car Tax...

I have just sat down to tax my car online as it is due by the end of August. However, I have just moved house, and I know that I won't get the renewal, as I haven't sent off the regestration certificate yet. I figured the next best thing would be to do it online, and have the tax disc posted to me, as this would negate the need for the renewal form. But nope, nothing is ever that simple. Can't do it online, as the tax disc is posted to the address on the regestration certificate. Arghhhhhhh! I am going to call the DVLA tomorrow morning (if they are even open!) to find out what I should do, but in the meanwhile, does anyone have any bright idea's? Or even know what the DVLA would do in this case. Redirecting post isn't really an option (Last time I took that option, important and confidential documents 'went missing' - I don't fancy risking £115 of my money on Royal Fail's service). Its too late to redirect in order to get the renwal letter - it takes 5 working days to set up, and the renewal would have already been sent by now. Collecting the post isn't an option either, because my LL is a jackass, who wouldn't bother turning up, even if I did make the 40 mile round trip. I actually tried to contact him a couple of days ago for a different reason, and his mobile phone constantly went to answerphone, and this is the only contact I had for him (useful, not!). He also goes abroad a lot - which makes getting him to the house even harder. I Looked at getting the reg. certificate changed - this takes 4-6 weeks. I haven't got any other idea's really! Please advise me!

My partner was dismissed from his job on 1st June 2007. He appealed, and was unsuccessful. On 17th August he made a claim with the Employment Tribunals for unfair dismissal. The company (major retailer) have until 12pm Monday 17th September to reply. I suspect that they are simply not going to submit a response. Reading the information supplied from them, if they dont reply by this date, then a judgement may be issued. However, there is no further explaination of this. What does this mean? Who will make the judgement? How long will this take? What will my partner need to do? Will my partner still be able to claim for compensation (lost wages, etc etc) as he is seeking a £6000 sum. What if he disagrees with this judgement? What if the company disagree with the judgement? What reasons can the company give for not responding in the specified time that would be accepted by the Employment Tribunal? Is it clear cut, that no response means judgement made... HELP!! Im stressing out with worry over this, as we have been in severe financial difficulty since June, and really need this sorting out ASAP.

Hiya Jim, this is what the lady said when I called the helpline for PC World! Didnt do a thing unfortunately! I really dont understand why its doing this... I think its either something to do with the connection, or its overheating in someway.... It seems to charge after about 5 hours of 'downtime'.

Hiya, This is a rare moment that the laptop is currently charging. Bookworm - the laptop is exactly 6 months old today (purchased 6th feb) problem was reported on 4th Sept, collection is on 10th Sept. To be honest I dont want it to go away for repair, as its a lifeline to me, I really rely on my computer for a wide variety of reasons. I will try the site suggested - thanks! I called a PC repair centre today, who said they could fix it in 7 -10 days for £95, which is more than I would be happy to pay. I dont have any confidence in PC World, and the length of time I will be without my laptop, which is why I would rather resolve the problem myself if I can. However I would have paid if it was more like £40.... Bacon Butty Man, I dont really feel comfortable with what you are insinuating in your post, and would appreciate an edit. As it is I do have confidential information on here (which im just trying to back up as I type, related to my work as a Midwife.) and I have pictures of my child, family etc etc. Im not convienced on PC World's customer service, hearing too many horror stories. I would never have purchased from there, had my previous laptop not broken on me during the middle of an assignment that I was writing, with less than a week before the deadline. I went to PC World because I needed the credit facility. Next time I think I will invest in a PC. Less problems all round....

Just read the other thread, so thought what the hell, see if anyone has got any advice to give. My Acer Laptop is only 6 months old, so PC World have arranged to collect it for repair, however I really dont want anything to do with PC World's system (stupid me for buying it from them!) and dont want it to go away anywhere. So if anyone has any advice it would be appreciated! The laptop wont charge. It wont run of the mains, and wont charge the battery. The problem started on monday. Last night I got it to work again, after arranging collection for next monday, and taking it down to the store to test the charger (I wont even mention the numpty who is apparantly the tech guy - tech standing for Terminally Educationally Challenged Halfwit) which is working. I kinda knew that anyway, as Ive got 2 chargers and neither will power the damn thing up. So last night, after getting home, I just blew into the back of the mains port, and bingo! Up and running again. Thats til it ran out again this morning. So we are back to the start. Blowing in the hole (LOL!) didnt help this time! So any idea's? Is this likely to be an expensive problem? If its going to be under £40 Id prefer to get it fixed at my own expense, as it will be quicker, and will mean I dont have to send it to PC world (pretty crap world). I could do with a reply before 9am if anyone can help, as I wont have access to a computer until Saturday then.

I cant remember which account, but I know it was on a card. It could actually be my OH's credit card. Which was closed down by the bank after dp requested his statements. Actually thats a point. I can check his statements. Where do we stand with an account they shut down? Can we still claim off it?

Any idea's on how to go about having no recipt? I have a letter from them dated sept last year advising me to take out their extended warentee (which I didnt) so they obviously have record of me buying it...

Hiya Forest, thats one of the things me and my stepdad did - recovered the system. Didnt do anything for it im afraid. Problem was still there afterwards. It would just reboot itself after a random period of time. Ie after 30 seconds, 2 minutes. Longest it ran was for 30 mins when I got some new antivirus softwear and tried to down load it. The other problem was it took us ages to recover the system, as it kept rebooting while we were doing that!! I did consider making a claim on my house insurance, under accidental damage. But considering I havent damaged it in any way, I dont particularly want to make a false claim. But that still leaves me with a broken laptop

I have just joined Unison, as I am now in full time employment. I recently recieved all the bumpf they send when you start. I was appalled to recieve a letter from Unison themselves, advertising an external service, and saying you should use them to claim back any overpaid tax. The worst thing about it, is that the company take 60% of whatever you are owed!!!!!!!!!!! So if you are owed £1000 in tax back, you only get £400... how can that be right?! And should Unison be endorsing something that is your legal right anyway, and which can be sorted out fairly simply yourself. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I thought I would have a go here, because Im not feeling particularly hopeful about this one. Back in September 2005 I purchased a £600 Acer Aspire laptop (I forget the model number now, but can get it once I get home) from Comet online. Obviously I dont have a reciept, because it was bought online. In February 2007 the laptop suddenly decided to start rebooting itself every few minutes. I spent ages trying to sort the problem out, my stepdad who builds computers for a living looked at it. Originally we thought it could be a virus of some sort. But im not so sure. The next day I went out and bought a new laptop, because I didnt have a choice. I was at Uni at the time, and I was on a study week, with the following monday being the due date for an assignment. As im a parent, I didnt have the option of going the library, as most of my work was spent in the wee hours of the morning! Plus, I didnt have childcare if I was to go in the day. Oh, and all the materiel I needed to do the assignment was online too. With the laptop breaking on my first study day (monday) I felt I had no option but to go out and buy a new one (that I could ill afford) on credit from the dreaded PC World (grr). Otherwise I would have failed the assignment as I didnt have access to the data I needed, and nowhere to type it up. So, I have this laptop sat at home. What do I do? I have no recipt, and do not know if there is a fault, or if it is some kind of virus. Where should I start? Oh, and to add insult to injury, before this happened I had nothing but trouble with the laptop, the little clips that lock the screen to the keyboard both broke within 3 months of having the laptop. I ignored the problem because I didnt have a recipt. Then as a result of them snapping, one day I set the lap top down, and closed the screen, only to hear a crunch, the plastic outer casing to the screen had cracked in the corner, as it had hit the keyboard part of the laptop. The screen itself had already, over the first few months, became looser and looser on its hinges. I just feel the laptop was built shoddily. I didnt mistreat it, or bang it about, never allowed my child near it etc etc, and it shouldnt have near enough fell apart on me. In retrospect I should have returned it to Comet within a few months. Had I bought it instore I wouldnt of hesitated to take it back. Ideally I would just like the laptop repairing (the rebooting problem mainly) at no cost to myself. What should I do?

No, I didnt recieve a reminder - I knew the date, because I recently returned an item bought on the same day (and on same reciept) as the TV. Should also add that I already had the card at the time of purchase, with nil balance. I bought the TV on the card, as I was asked at the til if I had an Argos card. I replied that I did. The sales assistant told me if I put it on the card, I would have a 9 month interest free period as I was spending over £195. I wasnt given any information that this interest would be piled on at the end. If I had, I would have paid in cash at the time, as I originally intended to. Ive ended up paying another £45 for a £260 TV. Am not impressed!

Can someone please explain the point of having a written statement of particulars (often referred to as a contract of employment) when it actually means nothing. ACAS and my union rep have both informed me that my contract can be rewritten and I can be given one weeks notice of the change. Basically I can like it or leave. Why can they be allowed to do this? Surely it should be something negotiated between employers and employees? I have just been told my hours are changing. Because I have not worked there for 26 weeks I can not apply for flexible working hours, and because I have been there less than one year, I can not claim for unfair or constructive dismissal. I currently work on a 3 week rota, which incorporates day shifts (9am-5pm) and evening shifts (5pm-11pm with a sleep in til 7am, then from 7am you are on shift until 9am) These also include weekends. We currently work 2 evenings (and therefore 2 sleep in's) a week for 2 weeks, and one week where we just work day shifts. We also work 2 weekends, and have one weekend off in the 3 week rota. Now, my hours are changing to this - 3 evenings a week (but only one of them where we sleep in) plus no weekends off. This is going to have a serious impact on my family life. I am hardly going to have time to spend with my child. I did not agree to working over half my hours as unsocial hours! Im never going to be there in the day, all Im going to get is evenings and weekends (if we have 3 evenings with one sleep in a week thats 20 hours, plus a weekend is another 8 hours if we do one weekend day, which takes me to to 28, that only leaves me with one day shift in the week, or perhaps another weekend shift if im lucky ha) My son is 5. He is at school! Im barely going to see him. Im absolutely livid. How can they justify this? There are 5 members of staff, and apparantly 2 have fixed hours (one just applied for flexible working hours and got them - changing her hours from 2 days 9-5, to 3 days 9.30-2.30) so that leaves me and 2 other memebers of staff to cover evenings, with 2 members of staff having to be on evening shifts (thats the reason why they are changing the hours). The person who kicked up a stink about there only being one evening staff, is the other member of staff whoes hours cant be changed, and she only does one night a week! So its all fell on those of us who havent complained. We are suffering for someone elses complaint. Im just fuming. Its effectively changing my job from working a rota system, to becoming evening and weekend staff. I am lucky in that this is not my chosen profession (Ive actually just qualified as a midwife) but at the same time Ive got to work in this position for some time to come, as a midwife post is very hard to come by currently. Help!

Can anyone tell me if this is correct, before I phone Argos and make an idiot out of myself! I bought a TV on 9 months interest free credit. This was up on the 26th June. On 9th July I paid the balance in full. I have just recieved my statement, and they have wacked on £45 in interest! I assume this is the full 9 months interest... judging by the ammount... can they do this? I was not expecting that!! That just seems so sneaky! I had no idea that was what would happen - it was not explained to me when I bought the TV! I figured I would have a £1 or 2 where the few days of interest would have accrued... but £45??!!

Unfortunately that would mean they could only smoke between the hours off 11pm and 6.30am as they are the only times we are 'unlikely' to be in their flats... and even then... its not been unheard of to have to go in with them overnight... I dont see how they can protect their workers unless they ban smoking in the building. The manager claims 'its against their human rights' however private landlords can stipulate this... so why not my work? Oh, thats right! The manager is a smoker!

It will just be the lobby and communal area's. I work in a residental unit, which is a block of flats. We have to ensure that the building is smoke free, communal area's, and outside. However this doesnt extend into the tenants own flats as it is 'violating their human rights'. Grr. What about my human rights? We are in and out of the flats all day long with the residents. Protect us my ass...

Thank you Sanddancer. It is with RBS, and its for an RBS loan, does that make any difference?

I know Boris, which is why we never paid for it in the first place - waste of money. Banks really dont give a flying f.... do they?! They tell you to phone them if you have a problem, but then cant offer a solution!!

As I have previously posted on here, my partner was dismissed from his job last month. He was last paid on the 26th May which covered the period 1st-31st may. He has not recieved a penny of wages since, as he is not due anything, as he was dismissed on the 1st June. He has a new job, which starts in August, and in the meanwhile has put a claim for JSA, of which he hasnt recieved anything yet, other than a book to 'sign on' with. His only DD is to his bank, with his loan payment. This is due on the 29th. On monday (25th) he phoned them to cancel the DD and change the date to the 24th of next month, as it was obvious he wasnt going to recieve enough money to pay it. They said it was too close to when it was due out, and they could not cancel it, but to phone when it went out and make an indemnity claim. On tuesday, he called again, as I thought he should be able to cancel. They told him to do an indemnity claim once it had gone out. Then this morning, he called the bank for a seperate reason, but got on to the subject of the loan again, where this time he was told he could not claim it back, and gave him the number for 'loanguard' which is what they gave him when he was first dismissed (I told him to phone the bank and say he had been dismissed and what could they offer to help him for the 3 months he was without wages for) which when the form arrived, turned out to be that payment protection that you pay extra for, which he doesnt have, and we would never take out, because the liklihood of them paying it is miniscule!! So, what can we do? Can he claim the money back once it has gone out? Should they have cancelled it on monday? Was it enough notice? Can he just change the date of the loan? Help! The bank are NOT being helpful at all!!

I forgot to add, that ACAS have said that even though it occured outside of work, if they feel it will have a negative impact in work, they have a right to take discaplinary action.