A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has revealed staff appointments in the private sector grew in June, albeit at the slowest rate for five months. The survey, which questions 400 recruitment firms, showed a strong rise in permanent staff placements, with engineering and construction growing. Commenting on the data, Rec’s [...]
Defence firm Qinetiq has today announced the loss of almost 400 jobs – which union leaders have said are the result of public spending cuts. According to the firm, around 130 jobs could be axed in Farnborough, Hampshire, and about 230 jobs may go in Malvern, Worcestershire. The remaining 30 positions will be spread across [...]
Italian workers are the latest to stage strikes amid tough austerity measures, introduced by the country’s Government to bring its budget deficit down. The union, CGIL, called the strike, after cuts were made in funding for local Government, as well as the freezing of public sector pay. Protests were held in Rome, Milan and Bologna, [...]
This weekend’s G20 summit, held in Toronto, Canada, saw more than 400 protesters arrested. Four police cars were set alight, while shop windows were broken with baseball bats and hammers, according to reports. Similar protests have occurred during the summit in past years and this year was no different as demonstrators came in their droves [...]
A Saving Gateway scheme, aimed at encouraging low-paid workers to save, has been axed by the coalition Government. The scheme, proposed by Gordon Brown to help lower-income families, was due to be launched next month via the Post Office and would have contributed 50p for every £1 saved. It was designed to help up to [...]
Spanish public sector workers will go on strike today to protest against austerity measures, which include average cuts this year to public workers’ salaries of 5%. As well as a 5% cut for civil servants, there will be severe cuts in public investment and development aid. Today’s strikes, which have been set up by Spain’s [...]
Chancellor George Osborne has today unveiled details of the new coalition Government’s plans to shave £6.2 billion off public spending this financial year. The new Con/Lib coalition Government has said trimming the budget deficit is one of its priorities. However, Mr Osborne’s predecessor, Alistair Darling, warned that cutting the deficit too quickly could pose a [...]
Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has today unveiled tough measures to deal with the country’s deficit, which is currently 11% of GDP. Spain plans to reduce the deficit by 4.7% by the end of next year and endeavours to achieve this by cutting pensions and civil service salaries. Speaking in parliament, the PM [...]
Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is set to unveil massive budget cuts later as fears mount that the debt crisis in Greece may spread to Spain. The country’s deficit is currently 11% of GDP and Spain plans to reduce it by 4.7% by the end of next year. There have been fears that [...]
The Unite union has been unsuccessful in its High Court action against British Airways (BA) to stop the airline from imposing cost-cutting measures. The union claimed it was not properly consulted on the measures, which include a pay freeze and a switch to part-time working for 3,000 staff. BA cabin crew had been set to [...]
Middle class parents are outraged at plans by the Conservative Party to limit Child Trust Funds (CTFs) to the poorest families if they win the next election. Research by Family Investments found that eight in ten parents do no support the plans, announced by shadow chancellor George Osbourne earlier this month. The study found that [...]
Over half-a-million affordable homes could be axed from the Government’s building plans over the next ten years, a campaign group has warned. Proposed public spending cuts have prompted The National Housing Federation to study the figures and come up with a total of 556,000 affordable homes at risk, in favour of a 17.98% reduction the [...]
International ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), has cut Greece’s credit rating by one notch, to BBB+ from A-minus. The downgrade came just a few hours after the Greek government unveiled measures including a 10% cut in public spending. Last week, credit rating agency, Fitch, also cut Greece’s sovereign debt rating to a decade-low to [...]
A survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and recruitment consultancy Harvey Nash, has discovered that more than half (55%) of British companies are proposing to freeze pay for the second consecutive year. Furthermore, the survey found that just over one third are planning a modest increase, while just 4% were looking to increase [...]
Russia’s largest retail bank Sberbank is to reduce headcount by 25% – or 67,000 jobs by 2014. However, around 27,000 of the jobs will be axed by the end of 2009, said the bank. The bank, which is state-controlled, has been hit by the economic downturn and the cuts are part of a modernisation plan. [...]
Nationwide has launched a number of initiatives aimed at helping first-time buyers and homemovers. For first-time buyers, the building society is discounting its reservation fee by up to £500 and offering a £250 reservation fee discount, plus free legals. The lender is also extending this offer to its four and five-year fixed rate deals. The [...]
Woolwich has announced its second round of mortgage rate cuts this month. From today, the lender is introducing a one-year tracker mortgage at 1.98% for a 60% loan-to-value (LTV) deal, which comes with a £999 fee. The Barclays-owned firm is also cutting rates on its two-year 70% LTV fixed-rate deals with a £999 fee, to [...]
According to the TUC’s general secretary, Brendan Barber, Britain could be faced with a “double-quick, double-dip” recession if future Governments try to cut public sector jobs. The TUC leader described the outlook as “very precarious” and cuts in public spending could result in over four million people unemployed. Official figures show that unemployment increased by [...]
The Bank of England’s 0.5% base rate cut has proved unpopular with Brits, according to the results of a new survey. An online poll by moneysupermarket.com found that over two thirds of 16,000 respondents were angry with the Bank of England’s decision, which lowered the base rate to 1.5%, its lowest in over 300 years. [...]
Last month, in a co-ordinated move with other banks, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) slashed UK interest rates from 5% to 4.5%. Central banks in the US, Japan and China have all cut interest rates in the last week in a bid to fight off a recession. Many analysts believe that the [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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