![[Basket]](images/basket.png){kind=small}
Your order![[cover image]](images/issue/FS201310.jpg)
![[PDF]](images/pdf.gif)
Fact Service October 2013
Issue 43 (30/10/2013) - Acas amends advice about companions; Third-party harassment rule repealed; 'Little to boast about' as economy improves; UK losing out on green growth and jobs; Living Wage to be paid at Welsh council; Rights when adverse weather hits work; Seven in 10 need to supplement pension; Campaign targets modern-day slavery
Issue 42 (24/10/2013) - Workers on the board; UK in right state, says Milburn; Sexual harassment still rife at work; Gender gap in pensions; 'Tragic day for the UK'
Issue 41 (17/10/2013) - No let up in inflation; Average earnings' growth stagnates; Jobs not shares at Royal Mail; Unemployment down below 2.5 million; Compensation for blacklisted workers?
Issue 40 - 10/10/2013 - Women's rise in labour market over 40 years; Own up, clean up, pay up over blacklisting; Apprentices' pay; Factory output and production rise; Care workers lose out over travel time; Drawdown of pensions
Issue 39 (03/10/2013) - Share-owning democracy dream — just that; Days of Action; Balance of payments deficit shrinks; October brings few legislation changes; NHS pay submissions; UK growth confirmed; Success for Hovis strikers; Settlements stuck at 2.5% for six months
Issue 43
Acas amends advice about companions (407 words)
A recent ruling from the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has clarified the rules about who workers can choose to bring with them to grievance ...
Subscribers only
Third-party harassment rule repealed (123 words)
From this October, the rule brought in by the Equality Act 2010, which made employers liable if staff were harassed by customers on three occasions ...
Open access
'Little to boast about' as economy improves (277 words)
The economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), performed a little better in the third quarter of 2013, according to official figures. ... Subscribers only
UK losing out on green growth and jobs (367 words)
Britain is losing the global race on green growth, a failure that could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, general secretary Frances O’Grady has ... Subscribers only
Living Wage to be paid at Welsh council (220 words)
Swansea Council is set to introduce a Living Wage for around 3,000 of its lowest paid workers next month, earlier than expected. ... Open access
Rights when adverse weather hits work (290 words)
Given the disruption the weather caused to large parts of the country, the Acas employment relations service’s web pages handily provide key ... Subscribers only
Seven in 10 need to supplement pension (196 words)
Nigh on three-quarters (71%) of respondents believe they will need to supplement their income in retirement, according to research by the financial ... Open access
Campaign targets modern-day slavery (201 words)
A group of employers and industry bodies have launched an initiative to combat the problem of forced labour and hidden migrant worker abuse in the ... Open access
Issue 42
Workers on the board (549 words)
If workers were allowed to sit on company boards, top executives’ pay would not only be set at more reasonable levels, but it would also encourage ... Subscribers only
UK in right state, says Alan Milburn (800 words)
The legally-binding goal of ending child poverty by 2020 is likely to be missed by a considerable margin, and progress on social mobility may be ... Subscribers only
Sexual harassment still rife at work (252 words)
Sexual harassment in the workplace has not gone away. Six in 10 working women have had a male colleague behave “inappropriately” towards them, ... Subscribers only
Gender gap in pensions (303 words)
The number of women preparing adequately for retirement is at an all-time low and remains well behind that of their male counterparts, according to ... Subscribers only
‘Tragic day for the UK’ (495 words)
The Co-operative Group has been forced to cede control of its banking arm by American hedge funds, raising concerns about whether it can maintain ... Subscribers only
Issue 41
No let up in inflation (491 words)
Retail price inflation remained stubbornly above the 3% mark, the latest official figures show. ... Subscribers only
Average earnings' growth stagnates (591 words)
There appears to only one direction for growth in earnings at the moment, as official figures show more shrinkage. ... Subscribers only
Jobs not shares at Royal Mail (122 words)
Postal workers in Royal Mail have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, putting their jobs, terms and conditions and a pay rise ahead of ... Open access
Unemployment down below 2.5 million (576 words)
Unemployment under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count fell by 18,000 to 2.49 million in the three-month period ending August, compared with the ... Subscribers only
Compensation for blacklisted workers? (343 words)
Major construction firms are to compensate workers who were blacklisted from working on sites. ... Subscribers only
Issue 40
Women's rise in labour market over 40 years (511 words)
Over the past 40 years there has been a rise in the percentage of women aged 16 to 64 in employment and a fall in the percentage of men — that is ... Subscribers only
Own up, clean up, pay up over blacklisting (381 words)
For more years than we know, employers in the construction industry used secret files to vet new recruits and keep out of employment trade union and ... Subscribers only
Apprentices’ pay (505 words)
Almost a third of apprentices were paid less than the legal minimum wage in 2012, according to official figures published by the government. ... Subscribers only
Factory output and production rise (161 words)
Manufacturing output rose by 1.2% in the three months to August compared with the previous three-month period. ... Open access
Care workers lose out over travel time (325 words)
At least one in eight homecare workers were paid less than the National Minimum Wage, mainly because they don’t get paid for the time they spend ... Subscribers only
Drawdown of pensions (215 words)
On retirement, people with money purchase pension schemes can buy an annuity or enter an income drawdown arrangement. ... Open access
Issue 39
Share-owning democracy dream — just that (350 words)
Margaret Thatcher as prime minister famously sold off “the family silver” — the nationalised industries — to create her dream of a ... Subscribers only
Days of Action (476 words)
A day of action on 7 October — the World Day for Decent Work — has been organised by the Dockers section of the International Transport Workers' ... Subscribers only
Balance of payments deficit shrinks (160 words)
There was some improvement in Britain’s trading position with the rest of the world, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics ... Open access
October brings few legislation changes (241 words)
From 1 October 2013, section 40 of the Equality Act 2010 is repealed so that the provisions that previously made an employer liable if an individual ... Open access
NHS pay submissions (590 words)
It appears to be a case of “Do as I say, not as I do” for the NHS employer's side. ... Subscribers only
UK growth confirmed (104 words)
The UK economy grew by 0.7% in the second quarter of the year, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show, in line with ... Open access
Success for Hovis strikers (216 words)
Strike action by workers over the use of agency staff on zero-hours contracts at the Hovis bakery in Wigan has resulted in success; a third week’s ... Open access
Settlements stuck at 2.5% for six months (126 words)
The latest figures from the LRD Payline database of collective agreements show that increases in the three months to August had a median (midpoint) ... Open access