Fact Service December 2015

Issue 50 (17/12/2015) - UK unemployment rate at nine-year low; Inflation on rise again; Weekly earnings growth back below 2%; Well-being and work; Prentis re-elected

Issue 49 (10/12/2015) - Pensions, poverty and incomes of the older; Flood safety and guidance; Factory output weak; More guidance over transgender workers; Disabled workers with invisible impairments; Mergers and takeovers at low level; More women needed in science and technology; Land Registry sell-off back on agenda

Issue 48 (03/12/2015) - Millions to be worse off
; Work-related violence - get it down; Growth in UK economy is confirmed
; Transgender guidance
; Firms should have to reveal pay ratios; Freeze in statutory payments next April; Cuts threaten key public services

; Is leaveism the new presenteeism?
; Action over utility pension closure

Issue 50

UK unemployment rate at nine-year low
 (584 words)

Unemployment posted big autumnal fall, official figures show.
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Inflation on rise again 
 (420 words)

Retail price inflation put on a spurt last month, official figures show.
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Weekly earnings growth back below 2%
 (631 words)

In October, most of the movement in the weekly earnings growth data was downwards.
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Wellbeing and work
 (242 words)

With health and work being closely linked, the importance of healthy workplaces cannot be understated.
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Open access

Prentis re-elected
 (91 words)

Dave Prentis has been re-elected as general secretary of the public sector union UNISON.
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Open access

Issue 49

Pensions, poverty and incomes of the older
 (267 words)

The UK has the third-lowest pensions in the developed world, according to an OECD report, Pensions at a glance.
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Flood safety and guidance
 (308 words)

The Environment Agency has continued to issue warnings of severe flood and gales.
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Subscribers only

Factory output weak
 (276 words)

Manufacturing output remains weak latest official figures show. Factory output grew by just 0.4% in the three-month period ending October compared ...
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More guidance over transgender workers
 (143 words)

Guidance for solicitors on good practice in working with transgender employees has been published by the Law Society.
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Open access

Disabled workers with invisible impairments
 (246 words)

A good practice guide for workplace reps to help them support trade union members with invisible impairments has been published by the TUC.
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Open access

Mergers and takeovers at low level
 (158 words)

Mergers and takeovers involving UK companies continued at much lower levels of activity than those seen before the 2008-09 economic downturn, ...
Open access

More women needed in science and technology
 (413 words)

Taking practical steps to recruit and retain more women in science, technology, engineering and maths roles — or STEM for short — could help ...
Subscribers only

Land Registry sell-off back on agenda
 (232 words)

To union anger, the Conservative government has announced it is to “consult on options to move operations of the Land Registry to the private ...
Open access

Issue 48

Millions to be worse off
 (332 words)

It takes less than a day for the respected think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), to burst a chancellor’s good news balloon.
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Subscribers only

Work-related violence — get it down
 (223 words)

The reporting of work-related violence is important on any day of the week and not just a shopping frenzy day like Black Friday when shopworkers have ...
Open access

Growth in UK economy is confirmed
 (166 words)

The economy grew by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2015 compared with the second quarter, the latest official estimate shows.
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Open access

Transgender guidance
 (76 words)

Sometimes a lack of awareness and understanding in relation to gender identity results in employers failing to support staff effectively; often they ...
Open access

Firms should have to reveal pay ratios
 (406 words)

Companies should have to publish the pay gap between bosses and their workforces in the hope of shaming firms into curbing excessive pay and benefits ...
Subscribers only

Freeze in statutory payments next April
 (158 words)

The government is proposing to freeze a vast swathe of statutory payments from April 2016.
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Open access

Cuts threaten key public services
 (327 words)

Severe spending cuts are already undermining public service quality, the TUC warns, and that if the chancellor doesn’t rethink his plans to cut ...
Subscribers only

Is leaveism the new presenteeism?
 (342 words)

The phenomenon of “leaveism” seems to be widespread, particularly in the public sector, new research shows. 
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Subscribers only

Action over utility pension closure
 (204 words)

Trade unionists in the North West working for United Utilities are considering their next steps after rejecting the company’s plan to close its ...
Open access