Daily roundup: Adoption pay, tuition fees and dormant accounts

Surrey County Council has announced it will give staff who adopt children the same cash support as birth parents. Currently, employees at the council receive maternity pay at 90 per cent of their normal weekly earnings for six weeks before getting a lower statutory rate for another 33 weeks. Under the new scheme, women who adopt will be entitled to the same amount, rather than the lower statutory rate.

Tuition fee increases in England are having an impact on the number of young people applying to university, an expert panel on the subject has said. The Independent Commission on Fees says total university applicant numbers in England have dropped by 8.8 per cent in the first year of higher fees. It says the decline is “much steeper” for 19-year-olds than 18-year-olds, although separate figures suggest a fall in the expected application rate for 18-year-olds in 2012.

Dormant bank account money will be used to boost sport and play activities for young people in Scotland, the Big Lottery Fund Scotland has said. The Young Start fund, aims to help young people in Scotland between the ages of eight and 24 to reach their full potential through a range of projects. A total of £468,974 is being divided between a range of projects, including one that trains young people to become swimming coaches and a new “floating youth club”.

A charity for disabled children has been saved after it received more than £20,000 in donations, the Leicester Mercury reports. The Steps education centre, in Shepshed, helps children with cerebral palsey and similar conditions but had suffered from a steep drop in donations as a result of the recession. The newspaper said that the centre still needs a further £130,000 by Christmas to ensure it survives next year.

Young people in Wirral are being invited to to apply for an apprenticeship at local hospitals, the Wirral Globe reports. The paper says Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is eager to recruit young people to add to their workforce. More than 150 staff at the trust have been recruited through apprenticeships in the past two years.

Children as young as seven have been reported for rape offences in Suffolk over the last five years, according to the BBC. Suffolk Police said it deals with the offences in partnership with Suffolk Youth Offending Team by assessing the behaviour of the child. The statistics were compiled after a freedom of information request made by the BBC.