Fact Service December 2019

Issue 50 (12/12/2019) - UK economy flat
; Council services - the legacy of Tory cuts
; Unite takes on sham self-employment firm; Sikh wins tribunal over 'no beards' policy
; Gender pay gap starts from young age

Issue 49 (05/12/2019) - Shareholders-come-first model hits wages
; Wealth inequality in UK
; Disability pay gap stuck around 12-13%
; Great train robbery over fares; Rich getting richer; Increase in outward M&A activity
; UK manufacturing 'zombified'

Issue 50

UK economy flat
 (349 words)

The latest official figures show the economy was flat in the three months ending October.
 ...
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Council services — the legacy of Tory cuts
 (439 words)

The scale of almost a decade of savage austerity cuts to local communities across Britain is laid bare in a study published by public services union ...
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Unite takes on sham self-employment firm 
 (367 words)

General union Unite has started legal proceedings against the Munnelly Group and several of its subsidiaries, claiming its workers’ were being ...
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Sikh wins tribunal over 'no beards' policy
 (584 words)

A Sikh job hunter who was denied work because of a recruitment agency’s "no beards" policy has won a religious discrimination case and been awarded ...
Subscribers only

Gender pay gap starts from young age 
 (428 words)

With gender pay gap reporting now on most organisations’ radars, employers must do more to understand the causes behind their gap
 ...
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Issue 49

Shareholders-come-first model hits wages
 (411 words)

The extent to which returns to shareholders, in the forms of dividend payments and share buybacks, are dramatically outpacing wages across the wider ...
Subscribers only

Wealth inequality in UK
 (354 words)

The level of wealth inequality in the UK has spiralled since 2010, according to a paper from anti- poverty charity the Equality Trust.
 ...
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Disability pay gap stuck around 12-13%
 (394 words)

Disabled employees are paid 12.2% less than their non-disabled colleagues, according to the Office for National Statistics. 
 ...
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Great train robbery over fares 
 (216 words)

A TUC analysis reveals that rail franchise shareholders have taken £1.2 billion in dividends in the last five years.
 ...
Open access

Rich getting richer
 (187 words)

Total wealth inequality in Great Britain is broadly unchanged in the most recent period, though it has increased since July 2006 to June 2008, based ...
Open access

Increase in outward M&A activity
 (339 words)

There was a significant increase in the estimated value of outward mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving UK companies recorded in the third ...
Subscribers only

UK manufacturing 'zombified'
 (396 words)

Employment in the manufacturing sector has fallen for the eighth month in a row as factories lay off workers at the fastest rate in seven years. The ...
Subscribers only