Fact Service March 2016

Issue 13 (31/03/2016) - National Living Wage and April legal changes; Firms sign women in finance charter; Critical reports on academy trust; Fresh privatisation threat to Land Registry; Disabled people failed by government

Issue 12 (24/03/2016) - Inflation stuck at 1.3%; Working mothers-to-be face discrimination; Government complicit in gender pay gap; Stiffer sentences over dangerous dogs; Defeats for Tories in Lords over unions; Care home owner faces equal pay claim

Issue 11 (17/03/2016) - MPs reject Sunday shopping change; Unemployment cut by 28,000 in January; Budget 2016 - the economic background; Changes to inflation's shopping basket; Swings in earnings growth

Issue 10 (10/03/2016) -Trade Union Bill moves closer to becoming law; Factory output falls; Too many not putting enough into pension; Mergers and takeovers; Motherhood penalty on earnings; Pension disadvantage of different workers; Pay in manufacturing - no change on 2% rise

Issue 9 (03/03/2016) - UNISON can continue fight against fees; Economy slows at end of last year; Lords say dilute union fund proposals; National Living Wage - productivity and pay; Period policy

Issue 13

National Living Wage and April legal changes
 (522 words)

Each year, April generally heralds a raft of legal changes. This April sees the introduction of the National Living Wage, which is in effect a higher ...
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Firms sign women in finance charter
 (274 words)

A number of City firms have signed up to a new charter that links executive pay to gender diversity.
 ...
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Critical reports on academy trust 
 (650 words)

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has insisted there will be no retreat on plans to convert every state school in England into an academy, enduring a ...
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Fresh privatisation threat to Land Registry
 (394 words)

The government likes to bury bad news by releasing it just before parliament breaks. It did so with Perry Beeches The Academy Trust (see previous ...
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Disabled people failed by government
 (452 words)

The government is failing to protect disabled people from discrimination, according to a report arising from a nine-month investigation by a House of ...
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Issue 12

Inflation stuck at 1.3%
 (510 words)

The main inflation measures showed no change in February, official figures show.
 ...
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Working mothers-to-be face discrimination
 (557 words)

Three out of four working mothers say they have experienced pregnancy and maternity discrimination, new research suggests. The Equalities and Human ...
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Government complicit in gender pay gap
 (498 words)

The lack of effective policy in many of the areas that contribute to the gender pay gap is highlighted in a report by a cross-party committee of ...
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Stiffer sentences over dangerous dogs
 (281 words)

Owners convicted of dangerous dogs offences will face harsher punishments under new guidelines announced by the Sentencing Council.
 ...
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Defeats for Tories in Lords over unions
 (258 words)

The government was defeated in three votes on the Trade Union Bill in the House of Lords on 16 March.
 ...
Subscribers only

Care home owner faces equal pay claim
 (166 words)

Female carers are taking their employer to the High Court over an equal pay claim.
 ...
Open access

Issue 11

MPs reject Sunday shopping change
 (261 words)

The government’s plans to expand Sunday trading hours in England and Wales have been dropped after they were rejected by MPs.
 ...
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Unemployment cut by 28,000 in January
 (584 words)

Unemployment has fallen, official figures show. The number of unemployed people under the Labour Force Survey count fell by 28,000 to 1.69 million in ...
Subscribers only

Budget 2016 — the economic background
 (349 words)

The economy will not grow as fast as expected in 2016 and the following few years, chancellor George Osborne was forced to admit in his Budget speech. ...
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Changes to inflation's shopping basket
 (247 words)

Coffee pods from the likes of Nespresso and cream liqueurs, such as Baileys, are in and nightclub entry fees are out. 
 ...
Open access

Swings in average earnings growth
 (587 words)

Growth in average weekly earnings appears to be on a roller coaster ride at the moment.
 ...
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Issue 10

Trade Union Bill moves closer to becoming law
 (362 words)

The Conservative government’s pernicious Trade Union Bill is moving to its next stage in the House of Lords, with the report stage due to start on 1 ...
Subscribers only

Factory output falls
 (234 words)

Manufacturing output went into reverse between the end of last year and the beginning of 2016, latest official figures show. 


 ...
Open access

Too many not putting enough into pension
 (585 words)

Millions of people in the UK are not saving enough for retirement, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in its latest report on ...
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Mergers and takeovers 

 (233 words)

There was an increase in both the number and the value of domestic and cross border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving UK companies between ...
Open access

Motherhood penalty on earnings
 (451 words)

Women who become mothers before the age of 33 earn 15% less than similar women who haven’t had children, according to an analysis published by the ...
Subscribers only

Pension disadvantage of different workers
 (260 words)

Women have barely half the pension savings of men, according to a new report. 
 ...
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Pay in manufacturing — no change on 2% rise
 (133 words)

The average settlement level across industry was 2% in the three months to January, according to the EEF’s latest Pay Bulletin — in line with the ...
Open access

Issue 9

UNISON can continue fight against fees
 (822 words)

The Supreme Court has granted the public service union UNISON permission to continue its legal challenge against employment tribunal fees.
 ...
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Economy slows at end of last year
 (155 words)

GDP growth for the final quarter of 2015 was unrevised at 0.5%, official figures show.
 ...
Open access

Lords say dilute union fund proposals 
 (711 words)

A watering down of the government’s interference in trade union matters has been recommended by a House of Lords select committee, but it has given ...
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National Living Wage — productivity and pay 
 (427 words)

The need to boost productivity in low-paying sectors and among small employers will be reinforced by the introduction of the new National Living Wage ...
Subscribers only

Period policy
 (149 words)

A Bristol company is planning to introduce a “period policy” to allow female staff to work flexibly around their menstrual cycles.
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Open access