Handbook

Chapter 5: The UK government, the law and your role

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Taking part, paying tax and driving

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about 18 min

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Your Role in the Community: Neighbours, Jurors and Volunteers

One morning an envelope with a royal crest drops through your letterbox. On the front it says "Jury Summons". You never signed up for anything, and you don't know a single judge. So why you? Because your name is on the electoral register, and you happened to be picked at random.

If you become a British citizen or make the UK your permanent home, you gain responsibilities and opportunities as well as rights. This chapter covers the shared values and responsibilities we all have, and the many ways you can join in: being a good neighbour, helping at a school, joining a political party, giving blood, volunteering and caring for the environment. At the end, it adds two things that everyone living in the UK has to deal with: paying tax and driving.

Values and responsibilities we can all agree on

The UK is one of the most diverse societies in the world. Even so, there is a set of values and responsibilities that everyone can sign up to:

1. Keep to the law and respect it
2. Know about other people's rights, and respect them
3. Be fair to others
4. Behave responsibly
5. Help and protect your family
6. Respect and look after the environment
7. Treat everyone equally, whatever their race, religion, sex, age, class, disability or sexual orientation
8. Work to support yourself and your family
9. Help other people
10. Vote in local and national elections

Accepting these values and responsibilities makes it easier to become a full and active citizen.

Being a good neighbour

When you move into a new house or flat, go and say hello to the people living nearby. Getting to know your neighbours helps you settle into the community and make friends. Neighbours can be a real help too: they might feed your pet while you're away, or tell you which local shops and services are good.

To avoid falling out with your neighbours, here is some practical advice:

• Respect their privacy.
• Keep down the noise you make.
• Keep your garden tidy.
• Only put your rubbish bags and bins out in the street or shared areas on the day the rubbish is collected.

Taking part in local life

Giving your time as a volunteer and helping out locally are a big part of good citizenship. You fit in and get to know people, and when neighbours support each other, the whole community gets better. It is also a way of living up to your duties as a citizen, like acting responsibly and helping other people.

One well-known way of looking out for each other started in a single village. The UK's first neighbourhood watch scheme began in 1982 in Mollington, in Cheshire, where the police borrowed the idea from the United States and called it Home Watch. Today Neighbourhood Watch groups can be found all over the UK.

Jury service: a duty you can be picked for

If you have the right to vote, you may also be chosen to sit on a jury. People are picked at random from the electoral register to serve as jurors. Anyone on the register aged 18 to 70 may be called for jury service, and in England and Wales the upper age is 75, so the range there is 18 to 75.

How many people sit on a jury, what they do and when you can be excused were covered in the previous chapter, Respecting the Law: 12 people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and 15 in Scotland. If you are summoned you must go, unless you are not eligible or have a good reason such as illness.

According to the UK government website, jury service in England and Wales usually lasts up to 10 working days, and you must reply within 7 days of getting your summons. If a trial is likely to take longer, the court will tell you in advance.

Helping at school: from reading to governing

If you have children, there are lots of ways to help their school: helping in the classroom, supporting activities, or listening to children read.

Many schools hold fundraising events, such as second-hand book sales, toy sales or sales of food that people bring in, to pay for extra equipment or activities outside lessons, and you can suggest your own fundraising ideas too. Sometimes a parent-teacher association (PTA) organises these events. Volunteering to help, or joining the PTA, is good for the school and a way to make new friends in the community. Notices at the school, or letters your child brings home, will tell you what is going on.

School governors and school boards

A school governor, or in Scotland a member of a school board, is someone from the community who wants to help improve children's education.

• You must be 18 or older when you are elected or appointed, and there is no upper age limit.
• They play an important part in raising school standards and have three main jobs: deciding the school's strategic direction (its long-term plan), making sure it is held to account (accountability), and keeping track of how well the school is doing and judging it.
• If you are interested, you can simply ask your local school whether it needs new governors or board members. In England you can also apply online through the Governors for Schools website.
• Parents and other community groups in England can apply to open a free school in their area. The UK government website (GOV.UK) explains how.

Supporting a political party: canvassing and standing

Political parties are happy to welcome new members. Joining one is a way to show which ideas you support and to take part in the democratic process.

Parties are especially busy around elections. Party members try hard to win votes for their candidates, for example by handing out leaflets in the street or knocking on doors to ask for support. This is called canvassing. If you'd rather not say, you don't have to tell a canvasser who you plan to vote for.

You can keep your vote to yourself because the UK has had secret voting since the Ballot Act of 1872. Before that, voters had to say out loud who they were voting for, which made it easy for landlords and employers to put pressure on them.

Standing for office yourself

To get more deeply involved in UK politics, British citizens can stand for election as a local councillor, or as an MP (or a member of one of the devolved parliaments or assemblies). Irish citizens and eligible Commonwealth citizens may also be able to stand. If you'd like to join a party, look at the parties' websites.

Helping local public services

Many local services need volunteers, for example local hospitals and youth projects. These services often want local people to have a say in how they are run. Universities, housing associations, museums and arts councils may also advertise for volunteers to sit on their governing boards.

You can also volunteer with the police as a special constable, or as a lay representative (someone who is not a police officer). You can even apply to be a magistrate, one of the people from the previous chapter who hear minor criminal cases in the Magistrates' Court. These vacancies are often advertised in local newspapers or on local radio, and you can also look them up on the UK government website.

In England and Wales, special constables are unpaid volunteers, but they wear a uniform, are trained, and on duty have the same powers as regular police officers. Many have a full-time job in the day and do police work in the evenings and at weekends.

Giving blood and organs

Hospitals use donated blood to treat people with many kinds of injury and illness. Donating takes only about an hour. Where you sign up depends on where you live: there is one service for England and North Wales (blood.co.uk), one for the rest of Wales, one for Scotland and one for Northern Ireland.

Many people in the UK are waiting for an organ transplant. If you join the register as an organ donor, your family will find it easier to make a decision about donating your organs after your death. You can sign up on the NHS organ donation website. And living people can donate a kidney too.

Volunteering: doing good, and practising your English

Volunteering means working for good causes without being paid. It has lots of benefits: you meet new people and help make your community a better place. Some volunteering also lets you practise your English and build work skills, which can help you find a job or improve your CV (the document that lists your work history and skills). Many people volunteer simply because they want to help others.

Some examples of volunteering:

• Animals: helping at a local animal shelter
• Youth work: volunteering with a youth group
• The environment: joining a community litter pick
• Homeless people: helping at a homeless shelter
• Mentoring: for example, supporting someone just released from prison
• Health and hospitals: for example, helping on a hospital information desk
• Older people: for example, helping in a care home

Some well-known charities

The UK has thousands of active charities and voluntary groups, from the British branches of international organisations to small groups that work only in one area. They improve life for people, animals and the environment in all sorts of ways. Here are some examples:

• British branch of an international organisation: the British Red Cross
• Older people: Age UK
• Children: the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children)
• Homeless people: two charities, Crisis and Shelter
• Medical research: Cancer Research UK
• The environment: the National Trust and Friends of the Earth
• Animals: the PDSA (People's Dispensary for Sick Animals)

These organisations need volunteers to help with their activities and to raise money. They often advertise in local newspapers, and most have websites describing their volunteering opportunities. There are also websites that collect volunteering opportunities from many organisations.

Some of these charities have long histories. The PDSA was founded by Maria Dickin in 1917 to treat, free of charge, the pets of families who couldn't afford a vet. Since 1943 it has awarded the Dickin Medal to animals that showed great courage in war, such as messenger pigeons and search dogs, and the medal is often called "the animals' Victoria Cross".

Volunteering for young people

Young people also have plenty of chances to volunteer, gain qualifications and build skills. One example is the National Citizen Service, which gives 16- and 17-year-olds outdoor activities, skills training and the chance to take part in a community project. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own websites for finding volunteering opportunities.

Looking after the environment

Recycle as much of your waste as you can. There are three good reasons:

• Making new products from recycled materials uses less energy.
• We don't need to dig as many raw materials out of the ground.
• There is less rubbish, so less goes to landfill (big holes in the ground where waste is buried).

If you live in England, you can use a recycling website (recyclenow.com) to see what can be recycled at home and nearby. Wales and Scotland have their own websites, and in Northern Ireland you can ask your local council.

Another good way to support your community is to shop locally when you can. This helps businesses and farmers in your area and across the UK, and it also reduces your carbon footprint (the amount of greenhouse gas your life produces), because what you buy doesn't have to travel so far.

When you can, walk or use public transport. Both cause less pollution than driving.

Two things everyone deals with: tax and driving

Tax and driving are both part of everyday life, so this chapter covers them too.

Income tax

In the UK, you pay income tax on what you earn. Income that is taxed includes:

• wages from a job
• profits if you are self-employed
• benefits that are taxable
• pensions
• income from property, savings and dividends (payments from shares)

Income tax pays for government services, such as:

Roads

Education

Police

The armed forces

For most people, income tax is taken straight from their pay by their employer and sent to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which is the government department responsible for collecting tax. The name for this system is Pay As You Earn (PAYE).

If you are self-employed, you pay your own tax through a system called self-assessment, which means filling in a tax return. Other people may need to fill one in too. If HMRC sends you a tax return, complete it and send it back as soon as you have all the information you need. For help, there is HMRC's self-assessment helpline, 0300 200 3310, and HMRC's pages on the UK government website (GOV.UK).

National Insurance

Almost everyone in the UK who is in paid work, including people who are self-employed, must pay National Insurance Contributions. The money is used for benefits and services provided by the state, for example the National Health Service (NHS) and the state retirement pension.

Employees have their National Insurance taken from their pay by their employer; self-employed people pay it themselves. People who haven't paid enough cannot get certain benefits that depend on contributions, such as Jobseeker's Allowance or a full state pension. Some people, such as part-time workers, may not get statutory payments such as maternity pay if they earn too little.

Your National Insurance number

Your National Insurance number is your own personal account number, and nobody else has the same one. It makes sure the tax and National Insurance you pay are recorded correctly against your name.

• Young people in the UK get their number just before their 16th birthday.
• People who are not UK nationals need a number to look for work, start work or become self-employed in the UK, but you can start work before you have one.
• To get one, phone the National Insurance number application line. You need permission to work in the UK first.
• Once you have applied, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) writes to you and invites you to an interview at Jobcentre Plus. The same letter says which papers you need to bring to show who you are.

Driving

In the UK, you must be at least 17 to drive a car or ride a motorcycle, and you need a driving licence to use public roads. To get a UK licence you must pass a driving test, which checks your knowledge and your practical driving skills. You must be at least 16 to ride a moped (a small, low-powered motorbike), and there are other age rules and special tests for driving large vehicles.

Your licence is valid until you are 70. After that, you renew it every 3 years.

In Northern Ireland, new drivers must display an "R" plate (for "restricted driver") on their car for 1 year after passing their test.

A licence issued abroad can be used for up to 12 months in the UK; after that, if you want to keep driving, you must get a full UK licence. Check the GOV.UK page about driving on a non-GB licence to make sure yours is accepted.

Rules for the vehicle

If you live in the UK, your car or motorcycle must be registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Every year you have to pay vehicle tax, and when the vehicle changes owner, the tax can't be handed on to the new keeper. If you keep the vehicle off the road and don't use it, you must make a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) to the DVLA; a SORN can't be passed to a new owner either. You must also have valid motor insurance: driving without insurance is a serious criminal offence. If your vehicle is more than three years old, it needs an MOT test every year, and it is against the law not to have an MOT certificate.

MOT stands for Ministry of Transport, a ministry that was renamed long ago, though the test kept its name. When the test began in 1960 it only applied to cars more than 10 years old; in 1967 that was cut to 3 years. Learning to drive works like this: you apply for a provisional licence, take lessons with an instructor, and then pass a theory test (multiple-choice questions plus a hazard perception test) and a practical driving test.

Chapter summary