Fact Service April 2016

Issue 17 (28/04/2016) - Tata Steel package; Lloyds Bank offshores and axes jobs; Water industry - the pay gulf; Inflation and earnings forecasts for 2016; Apprenticeship matching scheme; Sickness absence change unlawful; Bulging pay packages for City executives

Issue 16 (21/04/2016) - Rise in unemployment; Guide to make pensions clearer; Growth in weekly earnings nosedives; BAME workers more likely to be jobless; Trade Union Bill - more concessions

Issue 15 (14/04/2016) - Young women and the gender pay gap; Top executives in £1m a year pay club; Directors' greed led to death of worker; Retail price inflation increases to 1.6%; Lead In and Out campaigns chosen

Issue 14 (07/04/2016) - Increase in number of high earners in banking; Low take-up of Shared Parental Leave

; Blacklist victims get their day in court; Year-end economic growth uprated; Old and unemployable?; Acas updates guide on sex discrimination; New employers to pay voluntary Living Wage; Above-inflation rise for minimum wage; UK trading deficit worsens in 2015

Issue 17

Tata Steel package
 (267 words)

The UK and Welsh governments are willing to take a 25% stake in any rescue of Tata Steel's UK operations, it has been announced.
 ...
Subscribers only

Lloyds Bank offshores and axes jobs
 (240 words)

It may be that António Horta-Osório, chief executive at Lloyds Banking Group, wants to increase his already large remuneration package of £8.54 ...
Open access

Water industry — the pay gulf
 (330 words)

Even if they were on the voluntary Living Wage rate, it would take nearly 130 years for the lowest paid employees in the water industry to earn the ...
Subscribers only

Inflation and earnings forecasts for 2016
 (182 words)

Inflation and average earnings growth are now expected to be lower than previously thought at the start of the year, according to the latest ...
Open access

Apprenticeship matching scheme
 (141 words)

Up to 10,000 young people every year could be helped to find a job in the automotive sector with the launch of an apprenticeship matching service.
 ...
Open access

Sickness absence change unlawful 
 (230 words)

Imposed changes to a Department for Transport (DfT) sickness absence policy were unlawful, an appeal court judge has confirmed.
 ...
Open access

Bulging pay packages for City executives
 (864 words)

The banks may have brought the country to its knees in 2008, but City firms continue to reward its top people with huge remuneration packages. 
 ...
Subscribers only

Issue 16

Rise in unemployment 
 (570 words)

UK unemployment has risen for the first time in almost a year, official figures show. 
 ...
Subscribers only

Guide to make pensions clearer
 (199 words)

Trade body, the Association of British Insurers, is preparing a new guide to pensions language that could see the end of terms such as ...
Open access

Growth in weekly earnings nosedives
 (549 words)

Growth in average weekly earnings plummeted in February.
 ...
Subscribers only

BAME workers more likely to be jobless
 (276 words)

Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) workers with degrees are two and half times more likely to be unemployed than white graduates, according to ...
Subscribers only

Trade Union Bill — more concessions
 (463 words)

The government has been forced to make further concessions in its vindictive Trade Union Bill.
 ...
Subscribers only

Issue 15

Young women and the gender pay gap
 (275 words)

Young women with vocational qualifications earn 15% less than men with comparable qualifications, according to a TUC analysis.
 ...
Subscribers only

Top executives in £1m a year pay club 
 (734 words)

Forty-three executives of top companies were happy to receive a remuneration package of at least £1 million in their firm’s last financial ...
Subscribers only

Directors’ greed led to death of worker
 (489 words)

Two company directors have been jailed over safety failings in Heaton Norris, Stockport.
 ...
Subscribers only

Retail price inflation increases to 1.6% 
 (579 words)

After a stutter, the main inflation measures posted higher increases in March, Office for National Statistics figures show.
 ...
Subscribers only

Lead In and Out campaigns chosen
 (133 words)

The two lead campaign organisations in the EU referendum have been named by the watchdog, the Electoral Commission.
 ...
Open access

Issue 14

Increase in number of high earners in banking
 (271 words)

The number of high earners in EU banks increased significantly in 2014, according to a new report from the European Banking Authority (EBA).
 ...
Subscribers only

Low take-up of Shared Parental Leave
 (382 words)

A year on from the introduction of Shared Parental Leave, a report shows a low take-up by new fathers.
 ...
Subscribers only

Blacklist victims get their day in court
 (150 words)

Blacklisted workers will demand compensation in court this week from eight construction firms for loss of earnings over decades.
 ...
Open access

Year-end economic growth uprated
 (122 words)

The latest Official for National Statistics estimate on the economy for the final quarter of 2015 shows it grew by more than previously thought.
 ...
Open access

Old and unemployable ?
 (309 words)

Age stereotypes can strongly affect people’s choices about who to hire, new research from the University of Kent has shown. If one of two equally ...
Subscribers only

Acas updates guide on sex discrimination
 (311 words)

Over the past year, the Acas helpline has dealt with over 7,000 calls related to sex discrimination in the workplace. This has led to employment ...
Subscribers only

New employers to pay voluntary Living Wage
 (338 words)

More employers are embracing the voluntary Living Wage rather than the lower statutory National Living Wage of £7.20 an hour introduced by the ...
Subscribers only

Above-inflation rise for minimum wage
 (143 words)

Younger workers will see their national minimum wage rate rise from 1 October 2016.
 ...
Open access

UK trading deficit worsens in 2015
 (199 words)

Britain’s trading position with the rest of the world deteriorated in 2015. The UK’s current account deficit was £96.2 billion, up from a ...
Open access