My daughter is 14 and has been a poolside assistant since May. She works 1 hour per week and is paid £5. She is basically in the pool with young children and assists them during their swimming lesson. She ensures they don't get into difficulty and supports them if they become scared or upset. She has been told that she needs mandatory lifesaver training to continue with the job but it will cost her £90 to do the 7 hour course and won't get paid for her time either. This means that it would take her 18 weeks to pay for the course. We were told she would need training but not at our own cost. I thought that mandatory training for a specific job should be paid for by the employer and possibly paid the hours? Surely their request isn't legal and it's an employers responsibility to provide the training? Please advise

Hi guys, thanking you in advance. My sister is a teachers assistant working in North West London and the council is Brent so I am assuming that her main body of authority is Brent Education or something. she has been doing the same job for 10 years. Same school. First head teacher was a “cow” vicious, rude and arrogant and everyone hated her. She retired before she went she made my sisters life hell. Second head teacher is different as some how her duties means shes not 100% at the school. For 9 years my sister was Special needs Teaching Assistant. Now for last year or so is a General Teachers Assistant. Her current teacher, main teacher in the class room is making her life hell which is border line physiological torture, torment. These are not strong words these are correct descriptive words. My sister has zero evidence for any of the abuse. Sometimes even physical abuse such as being pushed or being pulled. From what other Teaching Assistants have told me, most teachers treat them like slaves and for some reason all of them are afraid to talk, take action. do they not have normal contracts like all employees in the UK with the same rights? Can they be dismissed at any given moment at the discretion of the head teacher? Following on from question 2, can they be made redundant at any given moment and being sacked or being made redundant the same? Should the Teaching Assistants be sub-servants to the Teachers or be equal in law and work as a team? I have requested my sister to note date and time of all conflicts and discuss this matter with no one until we understand her legal position and possible actions she can take. My sister needs to job for more reasons other then money. Please help and advise. Ali

HP Pavilion G7. Downloaded an update for the BIOS, as instructed to by the HP support Assistant. Everything checked ok until installing. It prompted me that it was Flashing, and do not power off the machine. Three days later, I had the same message, and the keypad, and keyboard were disabled. After Googling I realised I had little to no chance of the upgrade being successful. I therefore removed the battery, and the AC power. After that, nothing. Plug the power back in, and nothing. The AC power light won't even light up. Phoned HP, but they said they would charge me for telephone support (even though I would not need it if their support software hadn't told me the update was available). I wouldn't be so bothered if it was my laptop, but it's not. I know these things happen and I can't help feeling responsible. I don't want to have to buy him a new one, so any help would be appreciated. The laptop is nearly 3 years old and out of warranty. Thanks guys.

asking on behalf of the wife whos at the end of her tether theres one child in her class (5 years old) who has autism now my daughter has autism but this child is at the deep end of the spectrum it has now got to the point where my wife is thinking of asking for a doctors note this childs kicking, biting, swearing, name calling, tried to tear off the wifes clothing now if it happens to the teacher or the head it goes in a record of behaviour, for some reason this doesnt go down if it happens to a TA any advice gratefull receaved

what are my rights? I'll try and keep this short. Based in Northern Ireland - I received channels from Rep of Ireland and Mainland UK - via freeview and analogue aerial in UK and analogue aerial from ROI. Well aware that both UK and ROI would be switching to digital, my requirement was that the new TV should receive both freeview and ROI equivalent. When shopping (more than 1 year ago) I asked assistant if the TV in question would be able to pick up Channels from ROI without the need for separate set top box(this would have been a common request for consumers in Northern Ireland) and the sales assistant confirmed it would - all i'd have to do is re-tune TV accordingly etc - on this basis I decided to purchase the TV. A colleague was with me during the discussion - and is witness to the conversation. following digital switch over on 24/10/12 - i tried to re-tune - no joy. sales assistant gave incorrect information upon which i made my decision to purchase. in short - TV not compatible - set top box required. what are my rights?