Fact Service October 2011

Issue 43 (27/10/2011) - Employment tribunal fees proposal condemned; NHS constitution to protect whistleblowers; Swedish derogation and agency workers; Redundancy deal for largest council; Employment law reform anger; Job cuts fuel massive drop in morale; Employers slow to pass on tips to staff; Pension funds for council housing

Issue 42 (20/10/2011) - Council tax allowance change to hit families; RPI inflation hits 5.6%; It pays to support newly disabled staff; Winning recognition and union-busting; Benefits-inflation link under threat?; Forecasts for economy; Two new general secretaries elected

Issue 41 (13/10/2011) - Public sector job losses must be delayed; Unemployment hits 17-year high; Insurance firms fail over asbestos bid; UK poverty levels to rise by 2020; Earnings growth down across most sectors; Manufacturing output in summer slowdown

Issue 40 (06/10/2011) - Facility time under attack from Tories; Top employers back informal homeworking; Tory offensive against tribunal system; Stress now main cause of sickness absence; Economy in danger of double dip recession; Default retirement age of 65 abolished; Rising surveillance of staff by employers

Issue 43

Employment tribunal fees proposal condemned (341 words)

The lowest paid workers may not have to pay fees to pursue a claim in the employment tribunal following a hostile reception to changes ...

NHS constitution to protect whistleblowers (365 words)

The NHS constitution is to be changed so that workers have a duty to report malpractice, and it will reinforce the point that those ...

Swedish derogation and agency workers (198 words)

Retail giant Tesco has joined Marks and Spencer and Jaguar Land Rover in using the so-called Swedish derogation to try to avoid the effects ...

Redundancy deal for largest council (223 words)

Unions at Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Britain, have signed a new redundancy agreement covering both voluntary and compulsory redundancies. ...

Employment law reform anger (410 words)

At a recent meeting with small business employers deputy prime minister Nick Clegg gave an insight into some of the coalition government’s plans for ...

Job cuts fuel massive drop in morale (316 words)

A recent report by recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark found that morale amongst public sector workers had plunged dramatically in the wake of job ...

Employers slow to pass on tips to staff (277 words)

Employers in the hospitality sector are being slow, following the coming into force of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, to arrange for agency workers ...

Pension funds for council housing (147 words)

A new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) proposes that local councils should be encouraged to use money from their pension ...

Issue 42

Council tax allowance change to hit families (290 words)

More than a million families could lose a chunk of their council tax allowance under government proposals to replace the universal Council Tax Benefit ...

RPI inflation hits 5.6% (323 words)

Inflation is at a 20-year high. Under the Retail Prices Index (RPI), it was up to 5.6% in September from 5.2% the previous month. ...

It pays to support newly disabled staff (270 words)

There is a cost benefit of least 2.5 times an employer’s investment in keeping a newly disabled person in employment, according to a report ...

Winning recognition and union-busting (323 words)

Workers at the brewery support company Kammac have voted overwhelmingly for the general union Unite to be their recognised trade union. ...

Benefits-inflation link under threat? (426 words)

The link between the September inflation rate and the uprating of state benefits could be broken, according to the PoliticsHome website. ...

Forecasts for economy (157 words)

The economy is expected to grow more slowly than forecast earlier, according to the Treasury’s summary of forecasts from around 40 independent institutions. ...

Two new general secretaries elected (129 words)

Two new general secretaries have been recently elected. Doug Nicholls was elected at a special delegate general council meeting to take over at the ...

Issue 41

Public sector job losses must be delayed (206 words)

Weak economic growth means public sector job cuts should be delayed, if necessary beyond the next general election, the human resources organisation the Chartered ...

Unemployment hits 17-year high (489 words)

Unemployment is at its highest level since 1994, the latest official figures show. ...

Insurance firms fail over asbestos bid (231 words)

Insurance companies have failed in a legal bid to scrap the right of people in Scotland to claim damages for an asbestos-related condition. ...

UK poverty levels to rise by 2020 (366 words)

The government’s 2020 child poverty targets will be missed and the number of children in poverty will increase unless drastic action is taken now, ...

Earnings growth down across most sectors (444 words)

Average weekly earnings, including bonuses, for the whole economy posted an annual rise of just 2.2% in August against the revised figure of 3.0% ...

Manufacturing output in summer slowdown (125 words)

There was slower growth in manufacturing output in the latest three-month period, according to the latest official figures. ...

Issue 40

Facility time under attack from Tories (428 words)

Two Conservative cabinet ministers have used the Tory conference to attack paid facility time for union reps. ...

Top employers back informal homeworking (265 words)

Introducing ad hoc homeworking is a key first step for putting more flexibility into the workforce, reducing absenteeism and making the most efficient use ...

Tory offensive against tribunal system (347 words)

Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed the disgraceful decision to increase the qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims from one year to two and said ...

Stress now main cause of sickness absence (129 words)

Stress is, for the first time, the most common cause of long-term sickness absence for both manual and non-manual employees, according to this year’s ...

Economy in danger of double dip recession (192 words)

The economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), grew by just 0.1% in the second quarter of 2011, according to the final estimate ...

Default retirement age of 65 abolished (399 words)

No employee who turned 65 on or after 1 October can be retired under the default retirement age. From now, if an employer wishes ...

Rising surveillance of staff by employers (422 words)

Employers can now use software that scans the publicly available information on the internet to check where applicants for jobs have information that can ...