10 litres of spirits, and 110 of beer
The Citizens Advice service in Northampton receives more than 50,000 calls a year from concerned people worried about debt, consumer rights or legal issues.
But at this time of year some of the questions they received are about holiday entitlement and seasonal issues.
This month the branch have put together a series of genuine questions which they have received from clients and the answers they gave.
For advice contact Northampton CAB on 0870 120 2433.
How much duty-free can we bring back with us from holiday?
There are no longer any duty-free allowances for journeys within the European Union (EU). Instead, you can bring back an unlimited amount of goods from travel in any EU country, as long as it is for your personal use or as a gift. In practice, if you are over 17, you will be allowed up to 3,200 cigarettes, 10 litres of spirits, 90 litres of wine and 110 litres of beer. If you bring in more you will have to persuade customs that it is for personal use. There are further allowances for different tobacco products and alcoholic drinks.
There are still duty-free allowances for travel from other countries outside the EU which are much smaller. If you are aged over 17, you are allowed to bring in 200 cigarettes, 2 litres of wine and 1 litre of spirits. If you are bringing in more than that, you must declare the goods at customs, and may have to pay duties. If you do not you are breaking the law. Your undeclared goods can be seized, you may have to pay penalty charges, and you might even be prosecuted. The same duty-free allowances apply for business trips as well as holidays.
For more information on the quantity of goods you can bring back to the UK and general information about travelling abroad, see Travel abroad at www.adviceguide.org.uk
I work for a small local firm with 10 other staff. We are having problems with the employer regarding our individual holiday pay entitlement. What can we do about it?
Workers in Northampton are often denied their legal entitlement of at least four weeks' paid holiday a year and many will lose out this summer.
Guilty employers use a range of excuses to wriggle out of giving the right amount of holiday, including saying they cannot afford it or that the worker is only part-time. Others simply are not aware of their legal obligations.
Many workers are too scared of being sacked to approach their employers about their rights, let alone go to an employment tribunal. Citizens Advice estimates that, nationally, tens of thousands of people a year lose out on holiday pay and says that, for these workers, the government's commitment to increase the legal entitlement to paid holiday will be pointless without better enforcement of the law.
At the moment, most workers have the right to four weeks' paid holiday, including part-time or fixed term workers or those in their first year of employment, and there is no qualifying age limit. Many Northampton workers receive only this minimum entitlement, often including bank holidays, but, worse still, others do not even get this.
Northampton CAB believes a new basic employment rights enforcement body or Fair Employment Commission should be set up to enforce workplace rights and we are always prepared to provide assistance with employment issues and holiday entitlement.
A builder I hired is taking a very long time to complete the work – is there any way that I can make him finish the job?
When you hire a builder to work for you, you are buying a service and are entitled to expect that it should be done with the care and skill you would expect from a tradesman. That means that any walls built should not crack or roofs be leaky.
You do not need to have agreed a time scale before the work is started but you can expect it to be carried out within a reasonable time. There is no legal definition of reasonable but it would not be reasonable to expect a builder to build a complete house in two weeks or reasonable for it to take three months to build a barbecue.
If you think that the builder is taking an unreasonable time, you could begin by keeping a diary of the times that the builder is doing your work and photographs of the stages of the work as it is going on. This could be used as a form of evidence if you decide to take legal action. If you talk to the builder about your concerns and this makes no difference it would be a good idea to write to the builder (keeping a copy of the letter) setting out what you want. If this still makes no difference then you may be able to take court action.
Can my son get financial help to go to college after his GCSEs?
The Local Education Authority (LEA) does not have to give financial help to any student over the age of 16. However, it does have the power to help if it chooses to. Each LEA has its own rules for helping students in further education. They may give a certain amount of money in the form of either an Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) or a Local Education Authority Grant.
It is also possible that your son may get income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance, housing benefit or council tax benefit. However, the rules for claiming these benefits if you are a student are restricted to certain kinds of students and many will not be able to get help in this way.
Colleges also have their own funds that can be used to help individual students. Each college has its own rules for giving out these funds which are called access funds. Your son can find out more about these from the college itself.
You can find information about financial support for students aged 16 to 19 in a leaflet called financial help for young people. It is produced by the Learning and Skills Council.
To view the leaflet, go to the website of the Learning and Skills Council at lsc.gov.uk.You can order a hard copy of the leaflet by phoning 0870 900 6800.
I am a joint owner of a property with my partner and have had to take most of the responsibility with the mortgage repayments and finances.
We are considering a separation and cannot agree who is entitled to what on the potential sale of the house.
A House of Lords case has established that where people buy property jointly, they should be presumed to own it in equal shares unless there is evidence to the contrary. The case of Stack v Dowden concerned an unmarried couple who jointly owned a house. They had not drawn up a trust deed or any other written agreement spelling out the beneficial ownership, that is, whether they owned it as joint tenants or tenants in common. The onus was on Ms Dowden to prove that she was entitled to more than a half share because she had contributed more to the deposit and to mortgage payments. She did this successfully and was held to be entitled to 65 per cent of the proceeds of the sale.
However, it is always advisable to establish who owns the beneficial interest of a property at the time of the purchase, as an express declaration of trust is conclusive evidence and can avoid a costly court case.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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