Studentgems.com is a website designed to put students in touch with jobs quickly and easily. Students and small businesses can both register on the site for free. The site is for holiday jobs, part time work, and temporary work throughout the UK. It offers companies the chance to find someone to work cheaply while gaining experience, and students the chance to gain experience while earning as they study.

Small businesses can then post Jobs for a small monthly fee, and the details of this job are then passed to all registered students whose skills match what you are looking for. They then get in touch with you, and you can discuss the job in greater detail with any students who look suitable to you, and hire the one who is best for the job.

Students register and complete a profile which allows your skills to then be matched automatically to any jobs which are posted on the site. You can add examples of your work experience and create a portfolio of what you can do. You can search the site for jobs, and apply for any that appeal to you.

The site is well laid out and easy to use, and there are plenty of success stories to read about on there too. There is a whole section on the site dedicated to useful information such as writing your CV, Professional ways to write letters and e-mails, and hints and tips on interview techniques as well. The tips and hints aren’t just for students either, there’s a separate section for businesses with information and advice on such things as hints on commissioning a logo, financial aspects of giving a student a job, and how to get the best if you’re getting a student to design your website for you.

Although many people don’t think so, the answer to the question ‘do students pay tax?’ is yes, they do. They pay tax in exactly the same way that everyone else does.

The reason many people don’t think that students pay tax is because for most students what they earn is below their tax threshold of £6,475 per year.

What this means is that if you are a single person, you can earn up to £6,475 per tax year before you are liable for any tax. The tax year runs from April to April. This income is from all sources so if you receive money as a student grant, this may count.

Sometimes, you will be taxed by your company and then have to claim the tax back from the HMRC, but for most people working in larger companies, the calculations are done in such a way that you’re not charged out of your pay packet. If you know for certain that you won’t earn more than £6,475 from April to April, then you can ask your employer for a P38(s) form, and you’ll be paid without being taxed.

Make sure you open the best student bank account and highest interest rate savings account you can while you are at university as this will help you improve your finances. It is also worth remembering that if your income falls below your tax threshold each year, you shouldn’t pay tax on any savings in your bank account either. Ask at your bank or building society and they will give you the forms to fill in to say that you’ve earned less than your tax threshold and are therefore exempt from paying tax on your savings.

Student Finance England, has warned students to watch out for fraudulent e-mails asking for their bank details.

Students have been told to be on the look out for fake e-mails asking for their banking details after it emerged that in the last year, 50 phishing websites that were targeting young people and particularly those waiting for loans and grants to come through.

Many thousands of people are starting university over the coming weeks, and Student Finance England expects to make loan and grant payments to more than 600,000 students this week.

Unfortunately it seems that a number of groups are targeting these same students and pretending to be from either Student Finance England, or its parent company the Student Loans Company. In these fake e-mails students are being asked for personal or banking details which then allow these scammers to exploit these young adults.

Heather Laing the fraud manager from Student Finance England has said that although students are likely to receive a great deal of correspondence from Student Finance England at this time in the form of payment schedule letters or letters requesting further information, they will never be asked for bank details via e-mail. Scammers exploit this period of increased contact from the company, and some students may fall victim to an e-mail request that appears to be from the Student Loans Company or

Student Finance England asking for confirmation of bank details.

If you are receive an e-mail which you suspect is a phishing e-mail and it purports to come from either the Student Loans Company or Student Finance England, you should contact security@slc.co.uk

Laing said that the organisation is monitoring the problem closely and ‘When a student alerts us about phishing sites, we shut them down as quickly as we can to protect other students. In the last year we have closed down around 50 phishing sites which is double the number closed in 2008.”

If you have already disclosed your details in an e-mail then you should change your account password immediately and also contact Student Finance England as well. The National Union of Students is supporting the campaign and has said that if a students application had been received and processed, then enrolling on their course would unlock any grant or loan that they are entitled to, and the first lump sum should then reach their account within two or three working days.

The NUS has suggested that one of the best ways for students to protect themselves is to make sure that their e-mail address does not appear openly online anywhere – this includes social networking sites such as Facebook where you should ‘hide’ your details if you have not already done so.