Life in the UK Test

1 — Values & Principles of the UK

Fundamental Principles of British Life

• Democracy
• The rule of law
• Individual liberty
• Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs
• Participation in community life

Citizenship Pledge

Responsibilities & Freedoms

Requirements for Permanent Residence

• Speak and read English
• Pass the Life in the UK test (24 questions)
• English at B1 CEFR (ESOL Entry Level 3)
• Test can be taken in Welsh or Scottish Gaelic
• About 60 test centres; book online at lifeintheuktest.gov.uk
• Isle of Man and Channel Islands have different arrangements

2 — What Is the UK?

• Governed by Parliament in Westminster
• Scotland, Wales, NI also have devolved parliaments/assemblies

3 — A Long and Illustrious History

Early Britain

Stone Age

• Hunter-gatherers; Britain connected to continent by land bridge
• Britain separated from continent about 10,000 years ago
• First farmers arrived 6,000 years ago (probably from south-east Europe)
• Stonehenge — Wiltshire; special gathering place for seasonal ceremonies
• Skara Brae — Orkney, Scotland; best preserved prehistoric village in northern Europe

Bronze & Iron Age

• Bronze Age: ~4,000 years ago; roundhouses, round barrows
• Iron Age: hill forts, e.g. Maiden Castle (Dorset); Celtic languages; first coins minted in Britain

The Romans

• Julius Caesar invaded 55 BC — unsuccessful
• Emperor Claudius invaded AD 43 — successful
• Boudicca: queen of the Iceni (eastern England); statue on Westminster Bridge
• Hadrian's Wall: to keep out the Picts; includes forts of Housesteads and Vindolanda; UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Romans in Britain for 400 years; built roads, public buildings, structure of law
• First Christian communities appeared in 3rd and 4th centuries AD

The Anglo-Saxons

• Roman army left AD 410
• Invaded by Jutes, Angles, Saxons from northern Europe
• Their languages are the basis of modern English
• Anglo-Saxon kingdoms established by about AD 600
• Sutton Hoo — Suffolk; Anglo-Saxon burial site with treasure
• Missionaries: St Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), St Columba (monastery on Iona), St Augustine (first Archbishop of Canterbury)

The Vikings

• From Denmark, Norway, Sweden; first visited AD 789
• Danelaw: area of Viking settlement in eastern/northern England (e.g. Grimsby, Scunthorpe)
• King Alfred the Great united Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, defeated Vikings
• Cnut (Canute): first Danish king of England
• Kenneth MacAlpin: united Scotland

The Norman Conquest (1066)

• William, Duke of Normandy defeated Harold at Battle of Hastings
• Harold was killed; William became William the Conqueror
• Bayeux Tapestry: ~70 metres long; commemorates the battle (in France)
• Last successful foreign invasion of England
• Norman French influenced the English language
• Domesday Book: survey of England (still exists today)

The Middle Ages

Wars & Conflicts

The Black Death (1348)

• One third of population of England died (similar in Scotland & Wales)
• Led to labour shortages, higher wages, new social classes, growth of towns
• Feudalism: king gave land to lords; most peasants were serfs

Magna Carta & Parliament

• 1215: Magna Carta (Great Charter) — King John forced by noblemen
• Established that even the king was subject to the law
• Two Houses developed: House of Lords (nobility, bishops) and House of Commons (knights, wealthy townspeople)
• Scotland had three Estates: lords, commons, clergy
• Common law in England (precedence & tradition); Scottish law was codified (written down)
• Judges independent of government established as a principle

Language & Culture

• By 1400: English became official language of court and Parliament
• Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales
• William Caxton: first person in England to print books using a printing press
• John Barbour: wrote The Bruce in Scots language
• Great cathedrals built: Lincoln; York Minster stained glass
• Castles still in use: Windsor, Edinburgh
• English wool became a very important export

Wars of the Roses (1455–1485)

• 1485: Battle of Bosworth Field ended the wars
• Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, uniting the families
• First king of House of Tudor; Tudor symbol = red rose with white rose inside

The Tudors & Stuarts

Henry VIII & the Church

• Broke from Church of Rome; established Church of England (king, not Pope, appoints bishops)
• Married 6 times:

• Reformation: movement against Pope/Catholic Church; Protestants formed own churches
• Wales formally united with England by Act for the Government of Wales

Henry VIII's Children

• Edward VI: strongly Protestant; Book of Common Prayer written during his reign
• Mary I ("Bloody Mary"): Catholic; persecuted Protestants
• Elizabeth I: Protestant; re-established Church of England

Elizabeth I (1558–1603)

• Found balance between Catholic and extreme Protestant views
• 1588: defeated the Spanish Armada
• One of the most popular monarchs in English history
• Sir Francis Drake: ship Golden Hind, circumnavigated the world; commander vs Armada
• English settlers first began to colonise eastern coast of America

Scotland & Mary, Queen of Scots

• 1560: Scottish Parliament abolished authority of Pope; Protestant Church of Scotland (Presbyterian, elected leadership, not a state church)
• Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots): Catholic; fled to England; kept prisoner 20 years by Elizabeth; executed for plotting
• Gave throne to her Protestant son James VI of Scotland

William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

• Born Stratford-upon-Avon; playwright and actor
• Famous plays: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet
• Famous lines: "To be or not to be" (Hamlet), "A rose by any other name" (Romeo & Juliet), "All the world's a stage" (As You Like It)
• Globe Theatre in London (modern copy)
• Greatest playwright of all time; invented many common English words

James I (James VI of Scotland)

• Became king of England, Wales & Ireland in 1603 when Elizabeth died (no children)
• King James Bible (Authorised Version)
• Plantations in Ulster: Scottish and English Protestants settled on Catholic land

The English Civil War (1642)

• James I & Charles I believed in Divine Right of Kings
• Charles tried to rule without Parliament for 11 years
• Charles tried to arrest 5 parliamentary leaders — no monarch has entered the Commons since
• Cavaliers (king's supporters) vs Roundheads (Parliament)
• King defeated at Battles of Marston Moor and Naseby
• Charles I executed 1649

Oliver Cromwell & the Republic

• England declared a republic: the Commonwealth
• Cromwell: Lord Protector; established English authority in Ireland (brutal, controversial)
• Defeated Charles II at Battles of Dunbar and Worcester
• Charles II hid in an oak tree, fled to Europe
• Cromwell died 1658; son Richard could not control government
• Republic lasted 11 years

The Restoration (1660)

• Charles II invited back from the Netherlands
• Church of England re-established as official Church
• 1665: Great Plague of London
• 1666: Great Fire of London; new St Paul's Cathedral designed by Sir Christopher Wren
• Samuel Pepys: wrote famous diary
• 1679: Habeas Corpus Act — no one can be held prisoner unlawfully; right to court hearing
• Royal Society formed (oldest surviving scientific society in the world)
• Sir Edmund Halley (Halley's Comet); Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton (1643–1727)

• Born Lincolnshire; studied at Cambridge
• Principia Mathematica: showed how gravity applied to the whole universe
• Discovered white light is made up of colours of the rainbow

The Glorious Revolution (1688)

• James II (Catholic) replaced by William of Orange (William III) and Mary
• James II fled to France; no fighting in England
• Guaranteed the power of Parliament
• 1690: Battle of the Boyne in Ireland — William defeated James (still celebrated in NI)
• Massacre of Glencoe: MacDonalds killed for being late taking oath to William
• Jacobites: supporters of James; secret supporters in Scotland

A Global Power

Bill of Rights & Constitutional Monarchy

• Bill of Rights 1689: king can't raise taxes or administer justice without Parliament
• Monarch must be Protestant; new Parliament every 3 years (later 7, now 5)
• Two groups: Whigs and Tories (beginning of party politics)
• 1695: newspapers allowed without government licence (free press)
• Pocket boroughs: controlled by single wealthy family; rotten boroughs: hardly any voters

Migration & Union

• 1656: first Jews since Middle Ages settled in London
• 1680–1720: Huguenots (French Protestant refugees) came to Britain
• Act of Union 1707 (Treaty of Union in Scotland): created Kingdom of Great Britain
• Scotland kept own legal system, education system, Presbyterian Church

The Prime Minister

• Queen Anne died 1714; George I chosen (German, nearest Protestant relative, poor English)
• Sir Robert Walpole: first Prime Minister (1721–1742)

Bonnie Prince Charlie

• 1745: Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) landed in Scotland
• 1746: defeated at Battle of Culloden by George II's army
• Highland Clearances: small farms destroyed for sheep; many Scots left for North America

Robert Burns (1759–96)

• Known as "The Bard" of Scotland
• Best known: Auld Lang Syne (sung at New Year / Hogmanay)

The Enlightenment (18th century)

• Adam Smith: economics
• David Hume: philosophy (human nature)
• James Watt: steam power
• Key principle: everyone has right to own political & religious beliefs

The Industrial Revolution

• Britain was the first country to industrialise on a large scale
• Bessemer process: mass production of steel → shipbuilding & railways
• Richard Arkwright (1732–92): improved carding machine; horse-driven spinning mills; used steam engine
• Canals built to transport goods
• Poor working conditions; children worked like adults
• Captain James Cook: mapped coast of Australia
• East India Company: gained control of large parts of India

Sake Dean Mahomet (1759–1851)

• Born in Bengal, India; came to Britain 1782
• 1810: opened Hindoostane Coffee House in George Street, London — first curry house in Britain
• Introduced "shampooing" (Indian head massage) to Britain

The Slave Trade

• Slaves from West Africa to America & Caribbean (tobacco & sugar plantations)
• Quakers: first formal anti-slavery groups (late 1700s)
• William Wilberforce: MP, evangelical Christian, key abolitionist
• 1807: illegal to trade slaves in British ships/from British ports
• 1833: Emancipation Act abolished slavery throughout British Empire

American War of Independence

• Colonists: "No taxation without representation"
• 1776: 13 colonies declared independence
• 1783: Britain recognised independence

Wars with France

The Union Flag

• 1801: Act of Union created United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

• Welsh dragon not on flag because Wales was already united with England when first Union Flag created in 1606

The Victorian Age (1837–1901)

Queen Victoria & the Empire

• Queen at age 18; reigned almost 64 years
• British Empire: all of India, Australia, large parts of Africa — largest empire ever, 400+ million people
• 13 million British citizens left UK (1853–1913)
• 120,000 Russian and Polish Jews came to Britain (1870–1914), settled in London East End, Manchester, Leeds

Trade & Industry

• Corn Laws repealed 1846 (free trade)
• 1847: women & children limited to 10 hours work per day
• George & Robert Stephenson: pioneered the railway engine
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–59): Great Western Railway (Paddington to SW England/Wales); tunnels, bridges, ships
• 1851: Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, Crystal Palace
• UK produced more than half the world's iron, coal and cotton cloth

Crimean War (1853–56)

• Britain + Turkey + France vs Russia
• First war extensively covered by media
• Victoria Cross medal introduced
• Florence Nightingale (1820–1910): born Italy to English parents; improved military hospital conditions; 1860: founded Nightingale Training School at St Thomas' Hospital, London; regarded as founder of modern nursing

Ireland in the 19th Century

• Potato famine: 1 million died, 1.5 million left
• Fenians: wanted complete independence
• Charles Stuart Parnell: advocated Home Rule

Voting Reform & Women's Suffrage

• Reform Act 1832: greatly increased voters; abolished pocket & rotten boroughs
• Chartists: campaigned for working class vote
• Reform Act 1867: more urban seats, reduced property requirement
• 1870 & 1882: Acts gave wives right to keep own earnings & property
• Emmeline Pankhurst (1858–1928): Women's Franchise League (1889); WSPU (1903, first "suffragettes"); civil disobedience, chained to railings, hunger strikes
• 1918: women over 30 could vote
• 1928: women could vote at 21 (same as men)

Boer War & Empire

• Boer War 1899–1902: South Africa, against Dutch settlers (Boers)
• Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936): born India; Nobel Prize Literature 1907; Just So Stories, The Jungle Book, poem If

The 20th Century

The First World War (1914–18)

• 28 June 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria assassinated
• Allied Powers (Britain, France, Russia, etc.) vs Central Powers (Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire)
• More than 1 million Indians fought for Britain (~40,000 killed)
• Battle of the Somme (July 1916): ~60,000 British casualties on first day
• Ended 11:00 am on 11 November 1918

The Partition of Ireland

• 1913: Home Rule promised; 1916: Easter Rising in Dublin; leaders executed
• 1921: peace treaty; 1922: Ireland split into two countries
• Northern Ireland: 6 counties, mainly Protestant, stayed in UK
• Irish Free State: became a republic in 1949
• The Troubles: decades of conflict over Irish independence vs loyalty to Britain

The Inter-War Period

• 1929: Great Depression
• Car ownership doubled from 1 million to 2 million (1930–39)
• Writers: Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh; economist John Maynard Keynes
• BBC started radio broadcasts 1922; world's first regular TV service 1936

The Second World War (1939–45)

• Hitler came to power 1933; invaded Poland 1939 → Britain & France declared war
• Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) vs Allies (UK, France, Poland, Australia, NZ, Canada, etc.)
• Winston Churchill (1874–1965): PM from May 1940; Conservative MP from 1900; lost 1945 election, returned 1951; state funeral 1965; voted greatest Briton (2002)
• Famous speeches: "blood, toil, tears and sweat"; "we shall fight on the beaches"; "never was so much owed by so many to so few"
• Dunkirk: 300,000+ rescued; civilian boats helped ("Dunkirk spirit")
• Battle of Britain (summer 1940): Spitfire and Hurricane planes
• The Blitz: German night bombing; Coventry almost destroyed ("Blitz spirit")
• Pearl Harbor (Dec 1941): US entered war
• D-Day: 6 June 1944 — allied forces landed in Normandy
• Germany defeated May 1945; Japan defeated August 1945 (atom bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki)
• Ernest Rutherford (New Zealand-born): first to "split the atom"

Alexander Fleming (1881–1955)

• Born Scotland; discovered penicillin in 1928
• Developed by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain
• Nobel Prize in Medicine 1945

Britain Since 1945

The Welfare State

• 1945: Labour government elected; PM Clement Attlee
• Beveridge Report: fight five "Giant Evils" — Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, Idleness
• 1948: NHS established by Aneurin (Nye) Bevan (Minister for Health)
• Nationalised: railways, coal mines, gas, water, electricity
• 1947: independence granted to India, Pakistan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
• UK joined NATO; developed own atomic bomb

Key Post-War Figures

Migration & Social Change

• 1948: West Indians invited to come and work
• 1950s: workers recruited from India, Pakistan (later Bangladesh)
• 1960s ("Swinging Sixties"): The Beatles, The Rolling Stones; social laws liberalised (divorce, abortion); women's equal pay
• Concorde: Britain & France; first flew 1969; passengers 1976; retired 2003
• Early 1970s: 28,000 people of Indian origin admitted from Uganda

British Inventions (20th Century)

1970s Onwards

• 1970s: economic problems, strikes, union conflicts
• 1972: Northern Ireland Parliament suspended; ~3,000 killed in the Troubles (post-1969)
• Mary Peters: Olympic gold in pentathlon 1972
• EEC formed 1957 (6 countries); UK joined 1973

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013)

• Daughter of a grocer from Grantham, Lincolnshire
• First woman PM (1979–1990); longest-serving PM of the 20th century
• Privatisation of nationalised industries; trade union controls
• 1982: Falklands War (Argentina invaded; British naval taskforce recovered islands)
• Worked closely with US President Ronald Reagan

Recent Prime Ministers

4 — A Modern, Thriving Society

The UK Today

• Nearly 10% have a parent or grandparent born outside the UK
• Longest distance: John O'Groats (N Scotland) to Land's End (SW England) = ~870 miles (1,400 km)

Population

• England 84%, Scotland just over 8%, Wales ~5%, NI less than 3%
• Women make up about half the workforce

Currency

• Pound sterling (£), 100 pence in a pound
• Coins: 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2
• Notes: £5, £10, £20, £50
• NI and Scotland have own banknotes (valid everywhere but shops don't have to accept them)

Languages

• Welsh (Wales): taught in schools and universities
• Gaelic (Scottish Highlands and Islands)
• Irish Gaelic (Northern Ireland)

Religion

2011 Census

Churches

• Church of England (Anglican): official state church; Protestant; since the Reformation (1530s)
• Monarch is head of the Church of England
• Archbishop of Canterbury: spiritual leader
• Several C of E bishops sit in House of Lords
• Church of Scotland: Presbyterian; governed by ministers and elders; Moderator (appointed for 1 year)
• No established church in Wales or Northern Ireland
• Other: Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers, Roman Catholic

Patron Saints & National Flowers

• Only Scotland and Northern Ireland have patron saint's day as official holiday

Customs & Traditions

Christian Festivals

• Christmas Day (25 Dec): roast turkey, Christmas pudding, mince pies; Boxing Day (26 Dec) — both public holidays
• Easter (March/April): Good Friday + Easter Monday = public holidays
• Lent: 40 days before Easter; Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day (day before Lent); Ash Wednesday

Other Religious Festivals

Other Celebrations & Traditions

• Bank holidays: beginning of May, late May/early June, August; Battle of the Boyne in July (NI only)

Sport

Olympics

• UK hosted: 1908, 1948, 2012 (Stratford, East London; finished 3rd in medal table)
• Paralympics origin: Dr Sir Ludwig Guttman, Stoke Mandeville hospital

Notable Sportspeople

Key Sports

Arts & Culture

Music

• The Proms: 8-week summer season, Royal Albert Hall; BBC since 1927
• Mercury Music Prize (best album UK/Ireland); Brit Awards
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: annual Welsh-language cultural festival

Theatre

• The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie: running in West End since 1952 (longest initial run ever)
• Gilbert and Sullivan: HMS Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado
• Andrew Lloyd Webber: Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita (with Tim Rice), Cats, Phantom of the Opera
• Pantomime: Christmas tradition; Dame character (woman played by man)
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe: largest arts festival; mainly theatre & comedy
• Laurence Olivier Awards: named after the actor; held annually in London

Art

• Turner Prize (est. 1984): contemporary art; named after Joseph Turner; shown at Tate Britain
• Galleries: National Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern (London), National Museum (Cardiff), National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh)

Architecture

• Medieval cathedrals: Durham, Lincoln, Canterbury, Salisbury
• Inigo Jones: Queen's House (Greenwich), Banqueting House (Whitehall)
• Sir Christopher Wren: new St Paul's Cathedral
• Robert Adam (Scottish): interior decoration; Dumfries House; influenced Bath (Royal Crescent)
• 19th-century gothic: Houses of Parliament, St Pancras Station
• Sir Edwin Lutyens: New Delhi; war memorials; Cenotaph
• Modern: Sir Norman Foster, Lord Rogers, Dame Zaha Hadid
• Lancelot "Capability" Brown: landscape design (18th c.)
• Gertrude Jekyll: colourful gardens
• Chelsea Flower Show: annual showcase

Fashion & Design

• Thomas Chippendale: 18th-century furniture
• Clarice Cliff: Art Deco ceramics
• Sir Terence Conran: 20th-century interior design
• Mary Quant, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood: fashion designers

Literature

• Nobel Prize in Literature: Sir William Golding, Seamus Heaney, Harold Pinter
• Man Booker Prize (since 1968): Ian McEwan, Hilary Mantel, Julian Barnes
• Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien: voted best-loved novel (2003)
• Agatha Christie: detective stories read worldwide; Ian Fleming: James Bond

Poetry

• Beowulf: Anglo-Saxon epic
• Shakespeare: sonnets (14 lines)
• John Milton: Paradise Lost
• William Wordsworth: nature, The Daffodils
• Sir Walter Scott: poems & novels about Scotland
• 19th century: William Blake, John Keats, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert & Elizabeth Browning
• WWI poets: Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon
• Later: Sir Walter de la Mare, John Masefield, Sir John Betjeman, Ted Hughes
• Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey

Film & Comedy

• Films first shown publicly in UK 1896
• Charlie Chaplin: tramp character, silent movies
• Sir Alfred Hitchcock: later moved to Hollywood
• Nick Park: 4 Oscars, Wallace and Gromit
• BAFTA: British equivalent of the Oscars
• Ealing Studios: oldest continuously working film studio
• Punch magazine (1840s): satire; Private Eye: continues tradition
• Morecambe and Wise: music hall to TV
• Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)

Leisure

• TV licence required; fine up to £1,000 without one; over 75 free; blind 50% discount
• BBC: largest broadcaster in the world; funded by TV licence; independent of government
• Pubs: must be 18+ to buy alcohol; at 16 can drink wine/beer with meal if with someone 18+
• National Lottery: must be 16+ to participate
• Betting/gambling: must be 18+

Places of Interest

• 15 national parks in England, Wales & Scotland
• National Trust: founded 1895 by 3 volunteers; now 61,000+ volunteers

5 — The UK Government, the Law & Your Role

Development of Democracy

• Chartists (1830s–40s) wanted 6 reforms: vote for every man, annual elections, equal regions, secret ballots, any man can be MP, MPs paid
• 1918: women over 30 could vote; 1928: men & women over 21
• 1969: voting age reduced to 18
• UK has had fully democratic voting since 1928

The British Constitution

• Unwritten (not in a single document) — because UK never had revolution leading to totally new government
• Key institutions: monarchy, Parliament (Commons & Lords), PM, cabinet, judiciary, police, civil service, local government

The Monarchy

• Queen Elizabeth II: head of state; reigned since 1952; Diamond Jubilee 2012
• Constitutional monarchy: monarch appoints government but does not rule
• Monarch can advise, warn and encourage the PM
• Prince Philip = Duke of Edinburgh; Prince Charles (Prince of Wales) = heir
• Queen opens parliamentary session, makes Queen's Speech
• National Anthem: "God Save the Queen"

Parliament

The Government

• PM: leader of party in power; lives at 10 Downing Street; country house = Chequers
• Cabinet: ~20 senior MPs/ministers; meets weekly

• Opposition: second-largest party; shadow cabinet
• Prime Minister's Questions: weekly while Parliament sitting
• Main parties: Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats
• Lobby groups: CBI (business), Greenpeace (environment), Liberty (human rights)
• Civil service: politically neutral; chosen on merit; values = integrity, honesty, objectivity, impartiality
• Hansard: official reports of Parliament proceedings
• Free press: not controlled by government (since 1695); radio/TV must give equal time to rival viewpoints

Local Government

• Councils / local authorities; funded by central government & local taxes
• Mayor: ceremonial leader (some areas directly elected)
• London: 33 local authorities + Greater London Authority + Mayor of London
• Local elections: usually in May

Devolved Administrations

• Central government retains: defence, foreign affairs, immigration, taxation, social security

Voting

• UK citizens + Commonwealth + Irish residents in UK: can vote in all elections
• EU citizens resident in UK: all elections except General Elections
• Electoral register: updated every year in September or October
• NI: individual registration system; photo ID required to vote
• Polling stations open 7:00 am to 10:00 pm
• Can register for postal ballot
• Standing for office: UK/Ireland/Commonwealth citizens aged 18+
• Cannot stand: armed forces, civil servants, those with certain criminal convictions

International Institutions

The Law

The Courts

• Scotland has unique "not proven" verdict
• Magistrates/JPs: local community, usually unpaid, no legal qualifications needed
• Judiciary: independent of government

Police

• Duties: protect life & property, prevent disturbances, prevent & detect crime
• Independent of government; headed by Chief Constables
• Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs): elected in England & Wales since November 2012
• PCSOs: police community support officers

Fundamental Principles

• Rights rooted in Magna Carta (1215), Habeas Corpus Act (1679), Bill of Rights (1689)
• European Convention on Human Rights: UK signed 1950; incorporated by Human Rights Act 1998
• Equal opportunities: no discrimination based on age, disability, sex, pregnancy, race, religion, sexuality, marital status
• Domestic violence: serious crime (includes marital rape)
• FGM: illegal (including taking someone abroad for it)
• Forced marriage: illegal; Forced Marriage Protection Orders (2008 Eng/Wales/NI; 2011 Scotland)

Taxation

• Income tax: PAYE (Pay As You Earn); self-assessment for self-employed; collected by HMRC
• National Insurance: pays for state benefits & NHS; NI number sent before 16th birthday

Driving

• 17+ to drive car/motorcycle; 16+ to ride moped
• Licence valid until 70, then renewed every 3 years
• NI: display 'R' plate for 1 year after passing test
• EU/Iceland/Liechtenstein/Norway licence: valid while licence is valid
• Other countries: can use for 12 months, then need UK licence
• Must register with DVLA; pay annual vehicle tax
• SORN if parked off road and not used
• MOT required if vehicle over 3 years old (annual test)
• Motor insurance: mandatory (criminal offence to drive without it)

Your Role in the Community

• Jury service: ages 18–70 (England & Wales: 18–75)
• School governors / school boards: aged 18+; set strategic direction, ensure accountability, monitor performance
• Can volunteer as special constable or magistrate
• Blood donation and organ donation: available; register at NHS websites
• National Citizen Service: for 16–17 year olds
• National Trust and many charities accept volunteers