Employers’ group, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has today revised down its economic growth forecast for the UK. The group said stubbornly high inflation and public sector job cuts will slow the economic recovery with growth falling to just 0.2% in the first quarter of 2011. However, it does not expect the UK fall [...]
Cutbacks in the public sector will be impacting on UK jobseekers across all sectors between now and the end of the year, according to research from The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). The professional body has warned that employers are expecting to make an average 5.5% headcount reduction in the remainder of 2010, [...]
Insurance giant Axa has announced plans to cut 350 jobs despite a 2% rise in its UK profits. The insurer said the jobs are being axed to streamline costs and ensure it emerges “fitter and stronger” from the recession. Redundancies will be made at Axa Insurance UK’s life business unit, which has offices across the [...]
The world’s largest advertising group WPP has announced that revenue is down by 5.8 percent like-for-like in the first 3 months of 2009 and recovery is unlikely until 2010 after a trading update was released today. Cuts in clients’ spending, as a result of tightening advertising and marketing budgets means that 2009 will be a [...]
HSBC, which employs around 58,000 people in the UK, has announced that following a review of the business, 1,200 of its UK staff face potential redundancy which will be mainly in the processing, operations, finance, HR and IT areas. HSBC has not received taxpayer support but has just approved a £12.5bn rights issue to strengthen [...]
The world’s leading mobile phone maker has announced that it will lay off 1,700 people worldwide in order to cuts costs as the economic downturn has resulted in a reduced demand for the mobile phones. The cut backs will be made across several sectors and departments as it will hot both the corporate development office [...]
A survey has produced an alarming account of the UK’s job prospects with 36% of UK employers proposing to cut jobs in the first three months of this year. The latest Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey, carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and consultancy firm KPMG, questioned 892 UK employers. [...]
Swiss banking giant UBS has announced it is to axe 5,500 jobs as a result of the global credit squeeze. It is understood that 2,600 of the job cuts would be in its investment banking unit, which has a workforce of 19,000 people but which has been hit by a 40% contraction in global deal [...]
The world’s largest stockbroker, Merrill Lynch, has announced it is to axe 4,000 jobs worldwide with up to 400 of its 4,500 London staff facing redundancy. The job cuts are as a result of poor risk management for Merrill’s over-exposure to bad sub-prime mortgage debt. Merrill also announced heavy losses from the first quarter of [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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