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Fact Service October 2021
Issue 43 (27/10/2021) - Public sector pay freeze to end; Minimum wage will rise to £9.50; Pay 'recovering' most for those worst affected; Ambulance service 'facing crisis'; Extra NHS funding also needs workforce boost; Plea for free travel for COP26
Issue 42 (21/10/2021) - Inflation rise slows; Half of mothers refused flexible working; Councils urged to improve pay or face action; Lorry driver shortages mapped in latest figures; Strike ballots under way at 152 universities; UK happiness plummets; Appeal Court ruling is 'hammer blow'; Unions express shock over MP's death
issue 41 (14/10/2021) - Job vacancies at 20-year high; Education unions urge return of Covid countermeasures; Unions hold PM to account over energy crisis; Royal Mail to provide personal alarms; Neo-fascists attack Italian trade union
Issue 40 (07/10/2021) - Massive leak reveals secret property owners; Fifth ran out of money during pandemic; ILO, WHO report 2 million work-related deaths; Business numbers up slightly; Firefighter numbers hit new low; 'Half million extra care staff needed by 2030'; Union to ballot on 1.75% offer
Issue 43
Public sector pay freeze to end (421 words)
The “temporary pause” on public sector pay rises introduced last November is to end, the Treasury has promised as part of this week’s budget, ...
Subscribers only
Minimum wage will rise to £9.50 (410 words)
The UK’s National Living Wage (NLW) is set to rise to £9.50 an hour from next April, up from the current £8.91 for workers aged 23 and over. For ... Subscribers only
Pay 'recovering' most for those worst affected (820 words)
Pay increased for most workers in 2021, and in particular for those most affected by the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics ... Subscribers only
Ambulance service ‘facing crisis’ (186 words)
The ambulance service is facing a crisis this winter, general union GMB has warned. ...
Open access
Extra NHS funding also needs workforce boost (222 words)
Health unions have welcomed the Treasury’s announcement of £5.9 billion capital funding to help tackle the backlog in the NHS, but pointed to the ... Open access
Plea for free travel for COP26 (201 words)
Transport union the TSSA has challenged Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon to demonstrate Scotland’s green credentials by making rail travel ... Open access
Issue 42
Inflation rise slows (381 words)
The rise in prices dipped slightly last month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), but remains well above Bank of England targets. ... Subscribers only
Half of mothers refused flexible working (154 words)
Half of working mothers surveyed said they had had a request for flexible working rejected or only partly accepted, the TUC has stated. ... Open access
Councils urged to improve pay or face action (139 words)
Unions representing 1.4 million council and school support staff have called on local government employers to return to pay talks and improve their 1. ... Open access
Lorry driver shortages mapped in latest figures (493 words)
The extent of the UK’s shortage of HGV drivers has been laid out by the ONS. The drop in numbers of drivers – 53,000 in four years – has led to ... Subscribers only
Strike ballots under way at 152 universities (199 words)
The University and College Union (UCU) is balloting members for strike action at 152 universities over issues including cuts to pensions, declining ... Open access
UK happiness plummets (258 words)
Levels of wellbeing and happiness in the UK have dropped to new lows, according to the ONS’s survey of life satisfaction, anxiety and the feeling ... Subscribers only
Appeal Court ruling is ‘hammer blow’ (121 words)
A Court of Appeal judgment is a “hammer blow for dodgy dealers in the gig economy”, according to the IWGB (Independent Workers’ Union of Great ... Open access
Unions express shock over MP’s death (412 words)
A number of unions have spoken out to condemn the killing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess and to defend the system by which members of parliament ... Subscribers only
Issue 41
Job vacancies at 20-year high (1,200 words)
UK job vacancies have reached their highest level since records began in 2001, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The increase ... Subscribers only
Education unions urge return of Covid countermeasures (297 words)
Five unions with members in the schools sector have written to the secretary of state for education urging him to reconsider reintroducing additional ... Subscribers only
Unions hold PM to account over energy crisis (456 words)
Unions have called on the prime minister to “get a grip” over a looming energy crisis caused by high gas prices. ... Subscribers only
Royal Mail to provide personal alarms (167 words)
The Royal Mail has agreed with communication workers’ union the CWU that it will provide personal attack alarms to postal delivery workers. ... Open access
Neo-fascists attack Italian trade union (143 words)
Italy’s CGIL union has spoken out after its Rome headquarters was besieged by a mob of anti-vaxxers that included neo-fascist attackers. ... Open access
Issue 40
Massive leak reveals secret property owners (348 words)
A coalition of journalists has uncovered the secret owners of more than 1,500 UK properties bought using offshore firms, after they examined the ... Subscribers only
Fifth ran out of money during pandemic (188 words)
A fifth (20%) of key workers questioned for a TUC poll say that they have had to reduce their spending ahead of pay day during the Covid pandemic. ... Open access
ILO, WHO report 2 million work-related deaths (430 words)
Work-related diseases and injuries were responsible for the deaths of 1.9 million people worldwide in 2016, according to the first joint estimates ... Subscribers only
Business numbers up slightly (355 words)
The number of UK businesses has risen slightly since March 2021, when the lockdown began, according to figures from the Organisation for National ... Subscribers only
Firefighter numbers hit new low (293 words)
There may no longer be enough firefighters to tackle all emergencies, the FBU union has warned, after a freedom of information request revealed that ... Subscribers only
‘Half million extra care staff needed by 2030’ (406 words)
Independent charity The Health Foundation has released projections for future health care funding for both the next three years and up to 2030/31. ... Subscribers only
Union to ballot on 1.75% offer (146 words)
Public services union UNISON has announced that it plans to ballot for industrial action over pay next month among the 400,000 council and school ... Open access