Fact Service July 2013

Issue 29 (25/07/2013) - New price for justice - tribunal fees; Scheme to help disabled people into work; Union political funds; UK economy gathers pace with 0.6% growth; Static contractual obligations win out; Samaritans try to derecognise Unite; UK's current trading position worsens; Employment law changes take effect

Issue 28 (18/07/2013) - Inflation up again; Inconvenient home truths for coalition; No joy in earnings data; Fall in unemployment; Workplace temperature

Issue 27 (11/07/2013) - Cable confirms sale of family silver; Rules on NEST to be eased by 2017; Rise in factory output; Executive pensions rise in real terms; Inequality narrows - but not for long; Fuel poverty cut at stroke of pen; Promotion just a pipe dream for part-timers

Issue 26 (04/07/2013) - 148 too many deaths in the workplace; Zero-hours contracts; TUC shows how to close the wage gap; Equal pay victory; Public sector staff targeted by Osborne; BBC pay-offs slated

Issue 29

New price for justice — tribunal fees (425 words)

From 29 July, claims made to the employment tribunals or appeals made to the Employment Appeal Tribunal will attract fees. ...
Subscribers only

Scheme to help disabled people into work (485 words)

A campaign to help more disabled people into work and to raise employers’ confidence about recruiting disabled people has been launched by the ...
Subscribers only

Union political funds (291 words)

The number of members contributing to their union’s political fund has increased, according to the latest annual report of the union watchdog, the ...
Subscribers only

UK economy gathers pace with 0.6% growth (242 words)

The UK economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), grew by 0.6% in the second quarter of the year, according to the preliminary estimate ...
Open access

Static contractual obligations win out (204 words)

Unions have suffered a rebuff in the European courts in a case which highlights the inadequacy of TUPE protection on transfers to privatised ...
Open access

Samaritans try to derecognise Unite (188 words)

Samaritans, the charity that has helped people with their problems for 60 years, has a problem of its own — it has derecognised Unite as the union ...
Open access

UK’s current trading position worsens (190 words)

Britain’s trading position with the rest of the world has deteriorated, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. ...
Open access

Employment law changes take effect (149 words)

Two changes to employment law come into effect on 29 July in addition to the introduction of tribunal fees. ...
Open access

Issue 28

Inflation up again (481 words)

The rate of inflation rose for the second consecutive month, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). ...
Subscribers only

Inconvenient home truths for the coalition (503 words)

Such is the state of the housing market, workers are being priced out of even more of Britain, according to a report, Home truths, from the ...
Subscribers only

No joy in earnings data (535 words)

Average weekly earnings were back to the low level rises of the past year as the distorting effect of City bonuses fell out of the figures. ...
Subscribers only

Fall in unemployment (607 words)

Unemployment remains stubbornly above 2.5 million despite a recent fall, according to the Office for National Statistics. ...
Subscribers only

Workplace temperature (201 words)

With the hot weather looking set to be with us for some time, the TUC has called on employers to be sensible and temporarily relax dress codes. ...
Open access

Issue 27

Cable confirms sale of family silver (413 words)

Business secretary Vince Cable confirmed the government's decision to privatise the Royal Mail. ...
Subscribers only

Rules on NEST to be eased by 2017 (437 words)

The government has announced that the restrictions on the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) will be lifted in April 2017, when ...
Subscribers only

Rise in factory output (151 words)

Manufacturing output managed to rise, according to one set of new figures from the Office for National Statistics. ...
Open access

Executive pensions rise in real terms (357 words)

The value of executive pensions has grown by 7.6% over two years, reversing the previous trend of declining cost to employers, a recent survey has ...
Subscribers only

Inequality narrows — but not for long (227 words)

The gap between the richest and poorest in the UK has narrowed, the latest official figures show, but both are paying more in some taxes. ...
Open access

Fuel poverty cut at stroke of pen (237 words)

The coalition government has come up with a radical way to cut fuel poverty — they have come up with a new definition. ...
Open access

Promotion just a pipe dream for part-timers (355 words)

More than three-quarters of UK workers feel trapped in their jobs, due to too few opportunities for promotion and inflexible roles, a new report has ...
Subscribers only

Issue 26

148 too many deaths in the workplace (650 words)

The number of workers fatally injured at work in the year to March 2013 fell by 14%, according to provisional figures from the Health and Safety ...
Subscribers only

Zero-hours contracts (153 words)

Over 300,000 workers in the care sector alone are employed on zero-hours contracts according to shadow health secretary Andy Burnham. ...
Open access

TUC show how to close the wage gap (430 words)

The share of the economy going to wages fell by more than five percentage points between 1980 and 2011 — equivalent to £85 billion in today’s ...
Subscribers only

Equal pay victory (278 words)

The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of more than 200 women classroom assistants and nursery nurses in an equal pay case against a Scottish council. ...
Subscribers only

Public sector staff targeted by Osborne (399 words)

Millions of public sector workers face further pay freezes and are to lose automatic annual pay increases as part of an £11.5 billion cuts package ...
Subscribers only

BBC pay-offs slated (476 words)

The National Audit Office (NAO) found that savings the BBC made from senior manager redundancies exceeded the cost of severance payments and the BBC ...
Subscribers only