Fact Service April 2011

Issue 17 (28/04/2011); Issue 16 (21/04/2011); Issue 15 (14/04/2011); Issue 14 (07/04/2011)

Issue 17

Grandparent carers (240 words)

The traditional image of grandparent carers is shattered in a revealing report from the childcare charity the Daycare Trust. ...

Rogue employers deny workers their leave (369 words)

Tens of thousands of workers in low-paid, low-skilled jobs are being denied their legal right to take time off, according to a report from ...

City workers' pay formula changes (161 words)

Bonus payouts in the City for 2010-11 fell by 8% to £6.7 billion, down from £7.3 billion in the previous fiscal year. But lower ...

Economy recovers at start of year (351 words)

The economy made up for lost ground at the start of the year, following a weather-affected contraction in the final quarter of 2010, the ...

Gold standard set in EU for training (353 words)

A new “gold standard” for training of employees in the chemical and process industries — based on the UK model — is now in ...

Settlements pitched at around 3% (165 words)

Settlement figures from LRD’s Payline database of collective agreements show that in the three months to March the only variation from a median of ...

It pays to sit in a City boardroom (445 words)

Pay in the City continues to rise as the accompanying report on the Cebr’s findings show all too well. And they are doing particularly ...

Issue 16

TUC opposes plans for tribunal restrictions (430 words)

Government plans to extend the qualifying period for protection against unfair dismissal from one year to two will affect nearly three million workers, the ...

Business as usual for ‘discredited’ PFI (736 words)

George Osborne, the chancellor, is pressing ahead with private finance initiative (PFI) projects on a multibillion-pound scale despite having dismissed the infrastructure funding mechanism ...

Shift working hazards highlighted in study (278 words)

Workers on nightshift are three times more likely to have a work-related accident than their colleagues on day shifts and twice as likely to ...

Privatisation of public pensions opposed (362 words)

The administration of the pensions of over 1.5 million civil servants will be handed over to a joint venture between MyCSP — a new ...

Bob Diamond has got a lovely bunch of cocos (589 words)

Barclays faces shareholder protests at its annual general meeting on 27 April over a pay deal for chief executive Bob Diamond and proposals to ...

Issue 15

Spring brings surprise fall in inflation (393 words)

Inflation hit the reverse gear for the first time in 2011, official figures show. A big fall in food prices was the main contributory ...

Unemployment down (535 words)

The unemployment figures gave the Con-Dems an underserved but welcome break by showing a fall, according to the latest figures from the Office for ...

State pension reform? (481 words)

A reform of the basic State Pension which could see a singe-tier pension is the subject of a government reen Paper, A state pension ...

Sharp dip in earnings (387 words)

Average earnings growth dipped by almost two-thirds, latest official figures show. ...

Woman to head NUJ (77 words)

The NUJ media union has elected its first ever woman general secretary. Michelle Stanistreet, the current deputy general secretary, will take over the role ...

Issue 14

Manufacturing reined back in early 2011 (212 words)

Whether it is a trend or stutter remains to be seen, but manufacturing growth has slowed, according to official figures. ...

Families could lose out with tax credit change (414 words)

In the wake of tax credit changes that could leave families thousands of pounds out of pocket taking effect from 6 April, the TUC ...

Legal changes coming into force in April (790 words)

April, along with October, rings the changes to employment law, although there are only a few measures this time around. ...

Bonanza in boardroom pay just goes on and on (452 words)

The 36 top executives in the table over earned at least £500,000 last year, including 14 who were on over £1 million a year. ...

Pay settlements at 3% lag behind inflation (321 words)

Pay settlements as recorded by the LRD Payline database rose by an average of 3.0%. The median (midpoint) for all settlements in the three ...