Fact Service August 2018

Issue 35 (30/08/2018) - Data deficit on ethnic and disability staff


; No deal Brexit and workers' rights; Workbook on mental health and workplace; Poorest households and employment growth
; Employers can't provide T-Level work experience

; Peanuts for digital innovation skills
; Banking group signs up to Dying to Work

Issue 34 (23/08/2018) - Eye-watering cost of raising a child; We're watching you - surveillance at work
; Survey finds pay rises based on staff retention; 'Feeble' economic growth
; Yorkshire NHS trust drops subsidiary plan

; Auditors and partner slated over BHS

Issue 33 (16/08/2018) - FTSE 100 executive pay juggernaut rolls on; Retail price inflation at 15-month low; Jobless total falls below 1.4 million mark; Earnings growth rate lowest for over a year

Issue 32 (09/08/2018) - Workers set for pay rise in coming year; Firms favour dividends over pensions; Equality Act: MPs to review effectiveness


; Widen net on gender pay gap reporting


; Workers being 'fleeced' by umbrella firms

Issue 31 (02/08/2018) - Sickness absence - a case of presenteeism?; Universal Credit - back to the 1950s?; Yorkshire brewery fined over pensions; Workers are missing out on holidays; Dividends showered on water shareholders; EEF - trends in holiday entitlement
; Carillion apprentices dumped by receiver



Issue 35

Data deficit on ethnic and disability staff
 (484 words)

Ethnic minority and disabled people’s careers are at risk because employers are failing to collect meaningful data on their representation in the ...
Subscribers only

No deal Brexit and workers’ rights
 (357 words)

There will be no change to workers’ rights and protections in the event of a no deal Brexit, the government has said.
 ...
Subscribers only

Workbook on mental health and workplace
 (205 words)

Mental health and the workplace is an increasingly important issue for unions. 
 ...
Open access

Poorest households and employment growth
 (380 words)

People in the poorest third of households have accounted for over half of the increase in employment since the start of the financial crisis, ...
Subscribers only

Employers can't provide T-level work experience
 (335 words)

A potential mismatch between the amount of work experience T-Level students will need to complete their qualification, and what UK employers ...
Subscribers only

Peanuts for digital innovations skills
 (246 words)

A new Digital Skills Innovation Fund has been announced by the government.
 ...
Open access

Banking group signs up to Dying to Work
 (206 words)

Lloyds Banking Group is the latest employer to sign up to the Dying to Work Voluntary Charter, following in the footsteps of employers such as ...
Open access

Issue 34

Eye-watering cost of raising a child 
 (580 words)

The cost of bringing up a child until they are 18 has fallen over the past two years, but many parents are still struggling to cope with the outlay, ...
Subscribers only

We’re watching you — surveillance at work
 (378 words)

The TUC is calling for new protections to prevent excessive and intrusive surveillance at work.
 ...
Subscribers only

Survey finds pay rises based on staff retention
 (356 words)

More than half (55%) of employers who are experiencing difficulties in retaining employees over the past 12 months have increased staff salaries, ...
Subscribers only

'Feeble' economic growth
 (235 words)

The economy grew in the second half of the year, but the TUC called the increase “feeble”.
 ...
Open access

Yorkshire NHS trust drops subsidiary plan
 (223 words)

Industrial action by members of the public services union UNISON has been called off in what is the latest success in its campaign against the ...
Open access

Auditors and partner slated over BHS
 (356 words)

PwC, one of the “Big Four” accountancy firms, has been heavily criticised by the City watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), over its ...
Subscribers only

Issue 33

FTSE 100 executive pay juggernaut rolls on
 (293 words)

The median pay for a FTSE 100 CEO leapt by 11% in 2017, according to new research from the High Pay Centre pressure group and the Chartered Institute ...
Subscribers only

Retail price inflation at 15-month low
 (537 words)

The retail price inflation rate was cut to its lowest level for 15 months, official figures show.
 ...
Subscribers only

Jobless total falls below 1.4 million mark
 (618 words)

The latest official figures for unemployment show a further fall.
 ...
Subscribers only

Earnings growth rate lowest for over a year 
 (622 words)

The tightening of the labour market with a fall in unemployment is not, however, reflected in higher earnings data, which show growth at a 13-month ...
Subscribers only

Issue 32

Workers set for pay rise in coming year
 (286 words)

The UK is set for pay rise, say the British Chambers of Commerce and Indeed.
 ...
Subscribers only

Firms favour dividends over pension deficits
 (396 words)

Some of the UK’s biggest companies are paying seven times more to shareholders in dividend than they are spending plugging their pension scheme ...
Subscribers only

Equality Act: MPs to review effectiveness
 (402 words)

An inquiry has been launched by a group of MPs into the enforcement of the Equality Act 2010 — legislation which is designed to “provide a legal ...
Subscribers only

Widen net on gender pay gap reporting 
 (672 words)

The net should be widened on companies reporting on their gender pay gap, a committee of MPs says.
 ...
Subscribers only

Workers being 'fleeced' by umbrella firms 
 (390 words)

The government has washed its hands of thousands of workers who are experiencing the misery of being paid via an umbrella company, according to the ...
Subscribers only

Issue 31

Sickness absence — a case of presenteeism?
 (522 words)

There have been warnings that presenteeism could be on the rise after official figures revealed that sickness absence in the UK workforce has reached ...
Subscribers only

Universal Credit — back to the 1950s?
 (342 words)

Welfare payments are turning the clock back to the 1950s and allowing abusers to control family finances, MPs say.
 ...
Subscribers only

Yorkshire brewery fined over pensions 
 (332 words)

Yorkshire-based Samuel Smith Old Brewery and its company chair have been ordered to pay £27,990 for failing to provide financial information ...
Subscribers only

Workers are missing out on holidays 
 (360 words)

Working people are entitled to a statutory annual minimum of 28 days paid leave (pro rata and including public holidays), yet one in 12 UK workers ...
Subscribers only

Dividends showered on water shareholders
 (125 words)

Shareholders in England's nine privatised water companies have received more than £6.5 billion in just five years, an investigation by the GMB ...
Open access

EEF — trends in holiday entitlement
 (289 words)

Companies give a median of 25 days paid basic holiday entitlement (excluding bank holidays) a year. This amount is consistent across manufacturing ...
Subscribers only

Carillion apprentices dumped by receiver
 (233 words)

Almost 350 apprentices at the collapsed construction giant Carillion are to lose their jobs. 
 ...
Open access