Fact Service June 2013

Issue 25 (27/06/2013) - Action needed on workplace equality; High cost of child poverty in Britain; Emphatic 'No' to Royal Mail sell-off; New Acas Code on settlement agreements; Review of banking urges change for good; New whistleblowing rules introduced

Issue 24 (20/06/13) - Inflation back over 3%; More children growing up in poverty; Government looks into zero-hours contracts; More councils paying Living Wage; Older workers at record level; Invest more in young people; nflation hitting workers' pay packets; New mums lose jobs

Issue 23 (13/06/13) - Annual City bonuses distort earnings figures; Dip in unemployment; Fillip for factory output; Taxpayer bails out C2C; Right to strike; Gissa pay rise; Shame of child slavery

Issue 22 (06/06/2013) - Rise in the number of union members; Retirement poser; Takeover activity on downward trend; The income-divide in recession and future; Blacklisting claims go to High Court; National Minimum Wage crackdown

Issue 25

Action needed on workplace equality (389 words)

The coalition government must match it rhetoric on workplace equality with action, a House of Commons select committee report has said. ...
Subscribers only

High cost of child poverty in Britain (437 words)

The high levels of child poverty in the UK are currently costing the country at least £29 billion a year — or £1,098 per household ...
Subscribers only

Emphatic ‘No’ to Royal Mail sell-off (226 words)

Postal workers, members of the CWU communications workers’ union, have voted overwhelmingly against the government’s proposals to ...
Open access

New Acas Code on settlement agreements (396 words)

The employment service Acas has published revised rules on settlement agreements (what originally were called compromise agreements). The agreement ...
Subscribers only

Review of banking urges change for good (669 words)

Top bankers guilty of reckless misconduct should be jailed, the cross-party Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards has said. ...
Subscribers only

New whistleblowing rules introduced (156 words)

The law on whistleblowing is changing with the introduction of a “public interest test”. From 25 June, any worker blowing the whistle ...
Open access

Issue 24

Inflation back over 3% (469 words)

Inflation rebounded following sharp falls, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. ...
Subscribers only

More children growing up in poverty (309 words)

We’re all in this together, says the coalition government. Well tell that to the some 2.6 million children — almost one in five of all ...
Subscribers only

Government looks into zero-hours contracts (397 words)

Zero-hours contracts are to be the subject of a fact-finding exercise by the government amid concerns of their misuse by some employers, the ...
Subscribers only

More councils paying Living Wage (133 words)

The congress of the GMB general union was told that over 100 councils in Britain are now committed to paying staff the Living Wage. ...
Open access

Older workers at record level (224 words)

The number of people aged 65 and over in employment has reached one million for the first time, Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures have ...
Open access

Invest more in young people (249 words)

The UK’s training providers have called for a better targeting of resources in the government’s skills programmes, at a time when ...
Open access

Inflation hitting workers' pay packets (313 words)

Despite recent signs of improvement in the UK economy and private sector wage growth, the latest findings the Take Home Pay Index from pay processor ...
Subscribers only

New mums lose jobs (117 words)

New research has found that one in seven women lose their jobs while on maternity leave. ...
Open access

Issue 23

Annual City bonuses distort earnings figures (593 words)

Average weekly earnings were up on a year ago thanks to bonus payments being paid a month later this year, the Office for National Statistics said. ...
Subscribers only

Dip in unemployment (581 words)

Unemployment has fallen, reversing the recent trend, according to the Office for National Statistics. ...
Subscribers only

Fillip for factory output (203 words)

Manufacturing output rose after six consecutive periods of falls, official figures show. ...
Open access

Taxpayer bails out C2C (182 words)

Taxpayers are to foot a £15 million bill to bail out private rail operator National ExpresThe firm, which operates C2C routes between London ...
Open access

Right to strike (299 words)

In a report examining law and practice in the UK, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association has emphasised that “the right to ...
Subscribers only

Gissa pay rise (283 words)

Britain needs a pay rise was the message from the TUC as it revealed that the UK’s overall pay packet was billions of pounds smaller last ...
Subscribers only

Shame of child slavery (187 words)

An estimated 10.5 million children worldwide — most of them under age — are working as domestic workers in people’s homes, in ...
Open access

Issue 22

Rise in the number of union members (561 words)

There was good news in the latest trade union membership figures produced by National Statistics for the Department for Business, Innovation and ...
Subscribers only

Retirement poser (395 words)

Compulsory retirement might still be justified in some circumstances, an employment tribunal (ET) has ruled. ...
Subscribers only

Takeover activity on downward trend (309 words)

Merger and takeover activity remained at low levels in the first quarter of 2013 and on a downward trend — in both terms of value and the ...
Subscribers only

The income-divide in recession and future (335 words)

The better-off were hit hardest by the recession initially, but it is the poor who are feeling the squeeze now, an analysis from the respected ...
Subscribers only

Blacklisting claims go to High Court (613 words)

Claims have been lodged in the High Court in London by the GMB general union seeking compensation for 70 members blacklisted by Carillion and other ...
Subscribers only

National Minimum Wage crackdown (219 words)

Employment agencies in Corby, Northamptonshire, are being investigated by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on suspicion of significantly underpaying ...
Open access