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Workplace Report January 2024
PAY AND PRICES
BARGAINING Managing bank closures Junior doctors continue strike, consultants decide on offer Unions address rail issues
EQUALITY TUC: young people lack employment rights
LEARNING AND TRAINING Apprenticeship minimum wage could be scrapped
RECRUITMENT AND ORGANISATION 7 Latest deals and derecognition threat
EUROPE How right to disconnect works in practice
LAW AT WORK Employment law — the latest cases
HEALTH AND SAFETY Government fails to provide funding for school buildings crisis Report shows 1.8 million affected by ill health at work
STEP FORWARD, GREEN REPS Trade unions made their presence felt at the COP28 climate meeting but, now it’s over, what can the new generation of union ‘green reps’ achieve in their workplaces and industries?
SICKNESS ABSENCE: WHAT'S THE RIGHT RESPONSE IN 2024? The workplace agenda around sickness absence became significantly more complex after the arrival of Covid-19. Four years on, Workplace Report looks at where we stand now
WHAT'S THE OUTLOOK FOR JOBS AND PAY IN 2024? The last few years have been exceptional, so what does the bargaining environment look like this year? The forecasts are gloomy, but they don’t all point in the same direction
Pay and prices
Earnings growth falls (117 words)
Whole economy regular earnings growth for the year to October (excluding bonuses) dropped noticeably to 6.3% (down from 7.7%). The most marked ...
Open access
Full-time weekly average earnings (33 words)
... Open access
XpertHR (21 words)
Median increases for three months to end of November 2023 ... Open access
Labour Research Department’s Payline database (270 words)
Percentage increases on lowest basic rates (by agreements covered) ...
Subscribers only
Average weekly earnings (AWE) (204 words)
(r) revised, (p) provisional ... Open access
Prices (65 words)
... Open access
2024 Forecasts (37 words)
Source: HM Treasury, Forecasts for the UK economy, December 2023. 1Fourth quarter 2Calendar year
... Open access
Bargaining news
A mountain to climb? (867 words)
We’ve become sadly accustomed to reports telling us how much living standards have slipped. But when respected researchers say UK households are ... Subscribers only
Managing bank closures (221 words)
More than one in eight UK bank branches that were open at the start of 2023 will have closed by December, the Financial Times newspaper has ... Open access
Fire service staff to strike (75 words)
Fire control staff in Merseyside were due to strike for eight days from 27 December over an imposed reduction in night-time staffing numbers and the ... Open access
Junior doctors continue strike, consultants decide on offer (485 words)
NHS consultants in England were being consulted on a new pay offer as Workplace Report went to press, but doctors in training (“junior doctors”) ... Subscribers only
Teachers' unions want new remit for pay review body (279 words)
Teachers’ unions the NEU and NASUWT are pressing education secretary Gillian Keegan to issue the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) with its new ... Subscribers only
Unions address rail issues (429 words)
The long-running dispute between the RMT transport union and train operating companies represented by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) came to an end ... Subscribers only
Pay in packaging (382 words)
Unite has negotiated a 7.9% pay increase from 1 September 2023 at paper-based packaging manufacturer Smurfit Kappa, under a national one-year deal. ... Subscribers only
Leave and work patterns change (159 words)
Following the Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act 2023, which allows parents up to 12 weeks’ paid leave if their new-born baby is admitted to ... Open access
School psychologists reject pay offer (117 words)
Members of the Association of Educational Psychologists in England and Wales paid on Soulbury Committee scales rejected a pay offer of £1,925 on all ... Open access
Equality news
Union's anger at abuse of migrant workers (135 words)
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea has called on the government to crack down on the exploitation of migrant workers in the care sector after ... Open access
Time to ‘break the silence’ on deaf workers (138 words)
Human resources expert Sue Tumelty has called for Britain’s 12 million deaf and hard of hearing adults to receive more support overcoming ... Open access
TUC: young people lack employment rights (257 words)
Nearly three-quarters of young workers are missing out on key employment rights, according to the TUC, which has called for all workers to receive ... Subscribers only
Young women hit by bias (229 words)
The number of young women facing discrimination at work has risen markedly over the last 12 months, the Young Women’s Trust charity reports in its ... Open access
BAME workers face yawning pay gap (165 words)
Black and Minority Ethnic workers from almost all groups are still earning less than White employees, new ethnicity pay gap figures from the Office ... Open access
Learning and training news
Minimum wage could be scrapped (353 words)
The Low Pay Commission (LPC) is considering scrapping the apprenticeship minimum wage amid evidence that the low rate is putting young people off ... Subscribers only
'Exempt carers from benefits rule' (217 words)
Young adult carers should be exempt from the benefits system rule that stops them receiving the Carers Allowance if they study for more than 21 hours ... Open access
Recruitment and organisation news
Latest deals and derecognition threat (381 words)
Catering staff working at the University of Sussex will now have collective bargaining rights thanks to a new recognition agreement reached by the ... Subscribers only
European news
Rush of above-inflation deals in Austria (152 words)
Austrian unions have signed a series of deals delivering increases well above inflation in recent weeks. With prices increasing at 5.4% (October ... Open access
New banking agreement cuts hours in Italy (143 words)
The new settlement for around 270,000 bank workers in Italy will cut working hours and result in a real pay increase, according to figures produced ... Open access
How right to disconnect works in practice (401 words)
The growth of remote working and the increasing use of mobile digital tools mean that workers can increasingly work and be contactable almost ... Subscribers only
Regional staff negotiate higher rates and €3,000 tax-free (314 words)
The ver.di services union, along with other unions representing public sector workers, has reached agreement on pay increases which will directly ... Subscribers only
Employment law - Case reports
Deliveroo riders not entitled to union recognition (682 words)
The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is a trade union organising primarily among gig economy workers. In 2016, the IWGB made a ... Subscribers only
Partner cannot be an employee (495 words)
Mr Webb worked for Anglian Windows as an area sales leader (ASL) from 2015 to 2019 when Anglian terminated the engagement. His contract said that ... Subscribers only
Wrong comparators used in discrimination claim (500 words)
Ms Simmons had worked as a dental nurse for the No. 8 Partnership (the Partnership) for 30 years. In April 2020, as a result of the Covid pandemic, ... Subscribers only
Delayed resignation did not prevent successful claim (601 words)
Leisure Employment Services (LES) operates the Butlin’s holiday resorts. Ms Brooks was a resort holiday sales advisor and had been employed since 19 ... Subscribers only
Equality act definition of sex is not entirely biological (585 words)
The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 contains an objective that 50% of non-executive members of public boards should be ... Subscribers only
Whistleblower’s allegation of forgery was in public interest (507 words)
Mr Kristensen was a dental hygienist and started working in a practice at Harley Street, London in 2008. In 2016 there was a proposal to sell the ... Subscribers only
Requirement to wear a facemask was reasonable (510 words)
Ms Shanks was employed by Lothian Health Board (LHB) as a catering assistant at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. During the Covid pandemic, LHB required ... Subscribers only
Time limit extended (409 words)
Khalid Mahmood is the Labour MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham. Ms Cohen worked in his Westminster office from 2003 until she was dismissed on 27 ... Subscribers only
Health & safety news
Union calls for air quality monitors in schools (347 words)
The NASUWT teachers’ union is calling for the installation of air quality monitors in all city schools in Scotland to track levels of air pollution ... Subscribers only
No toilet dignity for workers, unions say (409 words)
Women workers are still struggling to access clean toilets, according to a new Unite general union poll. More than 12,000 women responded to the ... Subscribers only
Government fails to provide funding for school buildings crisis (271 words)
Unions called on chancellor Jeremy Hunt to provide funding to make school buildings safe after a report published by the Public Accounts Committee, ... Subscribers only
Health & safety - HSE Monitor
First BSR strategic plan (132 words)
The BSR building safety regulator within the HSE, which is overseeing the new regime for high-rise residential buildings and the wider system for ... Open access
£1.4 million fine for cider maker (131 words)
Herefordshire-based cider maker H Weston and Sons Ltd, manufacturer of Henry Westons Cider, was fined £1.4 million following the death of farm ... Open access
Union slams HSE report (246 words)
The FBU fire brigades’ union has warned that the Health and Safety Executive has undermined its status as an independent regulator. The union says ... Open access
Report shows 1.8 million affected by ill health at work (201 words)
Nearly two million workers reported suffering from work-related ill health in 2022/23, with around half of the 1.8 million cases resulting from ... Open access
HSE advises on working in cold weather (193 words)
The HSE reminded employers of their responsibilities to keep both outdoor and indoor workers safe as the first spell of cold weather of this winter ... Open access
Features
Step forward, green reps (1,119 words)
There were understandably mixed reactions to the outcome of last year’s United Nations’ COP28 summit. The top-line pledge to transition away from ... Subscribers only
Sickness absence: what's the right response in 2024? (2,160 words)
“Sickness absence rate jumps to the highest in a decade”. So said the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and healthcare ... Subscribers only
What's the outlook for jobs and pay in 2024? (2,426 words)
There is no doubt that living standards have taken a hammering, with some UK households up to 27% poorer than their French and German counterparts ... Subscribers only