Fact Service October 2012

Issue 43 (25/10/12) Third quarter growth brings end to recession; Soaring rents leave families struggling; Reports to reveal senior women in post; Wellbeing - well gone; Equal pay landmark ruling by court; Building firm's apology over blacklisting; Civil service staff axed; Pension changes will penalise women

Issue 42 (18/10/12) Inflation fall to hit state benefits; Average weekly earnings growth up; Unemployment down to 2.53 million; The sorry tax affairs of multinationals

Issue 41 (11/10/12) No sign of recovery in manufacturing; Sickness absence down, presenteeism up; Tories' different take on employment rights; Reps in civil service face facility time ban; Petition to increase disabled representation; Change in RPI could hit pensioners

Issue 40 (04/10/12) Workers lose out in real terms; UK trade with rest of world worsens; UK still in recession; Employers want further pay freeze in NHS; Modern day slavery; Pay closing in on prices; Economy adds jobs but 'long way to go'

Issue 43

Third quarter growth brings end to recession (311 words)

The double-dip recession has ended, according to the preliminary official estimates for the economy. ...
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Soaring rents leave families struggling (340 words)

Years of not building enough homes have led to rising rental and house prices, leaving millions of families struggling to pay for their home. The ...
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Reports to reveal senior women in post (207 words)

Companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange will in future be required to report on the number of women and men within the organisation, both ...
Open access

Wellbeing — well gone (459 words)

A mixture of deep recession and high inflation has left national wellbeing in Britain more than 13% down on its level before the global financial ...
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Equal pay landmark ruling by court (283 words)

Thousands of women will be able to sue employers over equal pay, even if they left their job years ago, following a landmark court ruling. ...
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Building firm's apology over blacklisting (319 words)

Construction firm Carillion has made a public apology over the blacklisting activities of one of its subsidiaries. ...
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Civil service staff axed (245 words)

More than 60,000 civil service jobs have been cut over the first two years of the coalition government being in office. PCS, the largest civil ...
Open access

Pension changes will penalise women (125 words)

Government proposals to raise the income trigger for pensions auto-enrolment will leave women worse off, Labour has warned. ...
Open access

Issue 42

Inflation fall to hit state benefits (556 words)

There were falls in both of the main measures of inflation last month, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show. But it means ...
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Average weekly earnings growth up (552 words)

It may prove a false dawn, but earnings growth has accelerated, according to the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics. ...
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Unemployment down to 2.53 million (661 words)

There were falls in the both the main unemployment counts, official figures show. ...
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The sorry tax affairs of multinationals (517 words)

Starbucks, the multinational coffee chain, may face an inquiry into its British tax affairs after a senior MP called for an investigation into how ...
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Issue 41

No sign of recovery in manufacturing (233 words)

Factory output shows no signs of recovery, although there are glimmers of hope in some sub-sectors. ...
Open access

Sickness absence down, presenteeism up (345 words)

Staff sickness absence levels dropped by nearly a day in 2012 compared to the previous year, according to the annual Absence management survey from ...
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Tories' different take on employment rights (523 words)

Employees will be able to forfeit some employment rights in exchange for a stake in the firm they work for, chancellor George Osborne revealed in ...
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Reps in civil service face facility time ban (394 words)

Civil servants are to face new restrictions on the amount of paid time they can spend on trade union activities, under proposals set out at the ...
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Petition to increase disabled representation (245 words)

Pressure group Disability Politics UK is urging people to sign an e-petition to help increase the number of disabled MPs. ...
Open access

Change in RPI could hit pensioners (583 words)

A range of options for the way retail price inflation (RPI) is calculated has been set out in a consultation document from the Office for National ...
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Issue 40

Workers lose out in real terms (421 words)

Workers will have to wait another nine years to get back to the level of income they enjoyed in 2009, during which time they’ll have lost an ...
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UK trade with rest of world worsens (314 words)

The UK current account showed a record deficit of £20.8 billion in the second quarter of 2012, up from a revised deficit of £15.4 billion ...
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UK still in recession (172 words)

The UK economy shrank by less than previously thought in the second quarter of 2012, revised data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have ...
Open access

Employers want further pay freeze in NHS (351 words)

NHS Employers has recommended that pay for health service employees should be frozen for a third year running. If this didn’t happen, the ...
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Modern day slavery (197 words)

Reported cases of “modern-day slavery” are becoming increasingly common, according to the police and homeless charities. ...
Open access

Pay closing on prices (695 words)

The gap between pay and prices has closed, but both figures show falls this month. ...
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Economy adds jobs but 'long way to go' (176 words)

The UK economy added 236,000 new jobs over three months between May and July 2012. John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute ...
Open access