Fact Service December 2010

Issue 50 (16/12/2010), Issue 49 (09/12/2010), Issue 48 (02/12/2010)

Issue 50

What’s in store for UK economy in 2011? (101 words)

The UK economy is expected to grow by 2.0% in 2011, according to a Treasury compilation of independent and City forecasts. That is slightly ...

‘Puny’ bank levy (398 words)

Details of the Con-Dem’s bank levy have been published amid accusations that the sums involved are “puny” and far from a “fair contribution”. ...

Unemployment outlook ‘bleak’ as numbers rise (486 words)

Unemployment on the main official count has risen through the two and a half million mark, the latest figures show. ...

Inflation on the rise with more to come (330 words)

Inflation bounced back upwards as a result of dearer clothing and footwear and higher food prices, the Office for National Statistics said. ...

Little movement in earnings growth (344 words)

Weekly earnings growth has settled at just above the 2.0% mark in the first quarter of the 2010-11 bargaining pay round, according to the ...

Two-tier code scrapped (196 words)

The two-tier code regulating employee benefits in public sector outsourcing is to be scrapped with immediate effect, the government has announced. It is replacing ...

Issue 49

Don’t dock pay during bad weather, says TUC (712 words)

With large parts of the UK under snow and ice, the TUC is urging employers to adopt a flexible attitude to staff attendance, and ...

Manufacturing output marks year of growth (193 words)

Manufacturing posted its 12th consecutive three-monthly rise in the three months to October, according to the Office for National Statistics. ...

Hours and earnings survey for April 2010 (572 words)

Average earnings did increase last year, according to official figures, while the gender pay gap closed marginally. ...

Takeover activity posts a small recovery (264 words)

Spending on mergers and takeovers involving UK companies showed some recovery in the third quarter, particularly in deals involving foreign companies taking over UK ...

Indexation switch for private pensions? (292 words)

The linking of private sector pension schemes to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) is to be the subject of a government consultation. ...

Issue 48

Council job losses to mount to 140,000 (411 words)

Birmingham City Council has given the GMB general union statutory notification of 2,450 redundancies in 2011-12 as a result of the spending cuts set ...

UK employment rights for Polish workers (94 words)

Key employment rights in the UK including the right to join a trade union are set out in an updated guide in Polish from ...

Hutton fails to deal with fair pay issue (825 words)

The case for a maximum pay multiple that would keep the pay of top executives in the public sector linked to what their staff ...

Xmas party policy needs a sanity clause? (217 words)

Two-thirds of employers do not have a policy in place setting out the standard of acceptable employee behaviour at their work Christmas party, according ...

Employers not paying enough towards skills (449 words)

Employers are not contributing enough to skills training in the UK and the government should do more to make them foot the bill, according ...

UK's economic future (402 words)

The economy is expected to perform better than expected this year, according to the fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). ...