The government has announced changes to its pensions offer for NHS staff, which it claims are an improvement designed to protect low-paid employees, but which unions claim is a tax on middle-earners. Last week up to two million public sector workers went on strike over the government’s plan to increase the amount they will have [...]
Unions have vented their anger at directors today after a report found that the average annual bonus for a director in a FTSE 100 company has soared by 187% in the last decade. The findings were in a report by the High Pay Commission and discovered that top executives received a bonus worth 90% last [...]
British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has warned that next year will be “difficult” as he delivered his new year speech. However, Mr Cameron said Britain has a “really bright future to look forward to” and defended his Government’s spending cuts as tough but necessary, in order to trim the budget deficit. The cuts have received [...]
Job losses resulting from the Government’s spending cuts is expected to bring widespread industrial action next year, unions have suggested. In his New Year message, Brendan Barber, the TUC’s general secretary, claimed 2011 would be a “horrible” year of cuts and will also be tough for the Government. Unemployment will undoubtedly rise, said the union. [...]
Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has today announced it will reduce headcount by 4,500 in its IT division – a move which has angered unions. The banking giant, which is 43% owned by the taxpayer, has now axed 20,000 jobs since the start of 2009, some of which were due to overlap following the bank’s takeover [...]
London Underground (LU) has today announced it will axe a further 400 office and management jobs. LU says it is reviewing all non-frontline services in a bid to cut costs. The announcement comes after unions were enraged over the loss of 800 ticket office jobs, which has led to industrial action on the underground. Two [...]
The UK minimum wage will rise by 13p (2%) to £5.93 an hour today and is set to benefit almost one million people, according to the Low Pay Commission. The 13p an hour rise applies to workers aged 21 and over. Meanwhile, the rate for 18 to 20-year-olds will increase by 9p to £4.92, while [...]
Credit rating agency Moody’s has downgraded Spain’s credit rating today – just a day after unions held a general strike to protest against tough austerity measures. Like many other euro zone nations, Spain has introduced austerity measures, aimed at cutting its budget deficit, which is currently 11% of GDP. Spain aims to reduce the deficit [...]
Bank of England governor Mervyn King will today prepare himself for questions from union leaders over Government spending cuts. Mr King becomes only the second governor in history to address the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Earlier this week, it was revealed that the tough austerity measures introduced by the coalition Government are set to lead [...]
It has been announced that the tough austerity measures introduced by the coalition Government are set to lead to industrial action following a trade union gathering in Manchester today. At the annual Trades Union Congress (TUC) meeting, union leaders urged delegates to “stand up and fight” against the massive spending cuts. The motion was supported [...]
The tough austerity measures implemented by the Greek Government appear to be a success after the country’s Finance Minister, George Papaconstantinou, claimed the deficit has been trimmed by 42% this year and the country had “met its goal“. According to figures from the central bank, the deficit was €11.5 billion in the first half of [...]
Greece’s two main unions have called a fresh general strike for July 8 to protest against tough austerity measures, introduced by the Government to trim the country’s budget deficit. Should the strike go ahead, it will be the country’s 6th since February. However, some of the protests have been violent. Last week’s strike saw seven [...]
Spain’s Government has passed the €15 billion (£13 billion) austerity plan, which has been implemented to deal with the country’s deficit, which is currently 11% of GDP. Spain aims to reduce the deficit to 6% by 2011, which involves a 5% cut for civil servants. Deputy Prime Minister, Maria Teresa Fernandez De la Vega, acknowledged [...]
Asian shares have fallen sharply today as fears mount that Greece’s crisis would spread to other European countries. In an interview with French newspaper, La Parisien, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, admitted earlier this week that the possible spread of the crisis was a concern. He said: “We have to [...]
A deal designed to prevent Greece from defaulting on its massive debt has been agreed over the weekend. It is also hoped the €110 billion (£95 billion) three-year rescue package will strengthen the single currency, which has been plummeting over recent months as a result of Greece’s debt crisis. The EU will provide €80 billion [...]
Crisis-hit Greece has come to a standstill again today after workers staged the third general strike in as many weeks. The further strike comes after austerity measures to rescue Greece’s debt-stricken economy angered Greek trade unions. Greece is currently taking action to reduce its public deficit from 12% to 8% of GDP this year. The [...]
Talks aimed at averting industrial action at British Airways (BA) have collapsed and failed to reach an agreement. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: “Despite a prolonged period of negotiations it has not been possible to reach agreement between BA and Unite.” Last month, BA‘s 12,000 cabin crew members voted to [...]
Up to 270,000 civil servants are to stage a 48-hour national strike today in a dispute over redundancy pay. The walkout involves job centre staff, tax workers, coastguards, border agency officials, courts staff and driving test examiners. If a satisfactory outcome is not reached then further strike action could take place later this month, according [...]
Gender directive could slash men’s annuity payouts
The EU Gender Directive, which came into force today, could see men losing up to £10,000 from their annuity payouts, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Under the new rules insurers are no longer allowed to take gender into account when setting annuity rates and premiums on insurance products. Men previously enjoyed higher annuity rates than [...]
Home rental costs down in November
The cost of renting a house in England and Wales fell by 0.4 per cent in November, its first dip since March, according to a survey by LSL Property Services. Average rent was £741m during the month, returning to the level seen in September. However, it was 3.4 per higher than in November last year. [...]
Lloyds TSB halts sale of packaged accounts in branches
Lloyds TSB will stop selling packaged account in its branches from 1 January 2013, until its sales procedures are brought into line with those operated by sister bank The Halifax. Lloyds TSB is one of the main providers of packaged accounts in Britain, with around one in three of its customers choosing to pay fees [...]
Housing market recovery to continue next year
Recent improvements in the housing market should continue into next year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Gross lending is estimated to have increased to £12.9 billion in November, helped by the Funding for Lending scheme which provides banks and building societies with lower-cost funding, which they are then supposed to pass on [...]
Newcastle Building Society exits interest-only mortgages
Newcastle Building Society has stopped offering interest-only mortgages to new borrowers, following the lead of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, Co-operative bank and Coventry Building Society. The decision will not affect existing Newcastle customers and applications for interest-only mortgages received before 14 December will still be processed. Prior to the credit crunch, interest-only mortgages [...]
Less than half of Brits considered creditworthy
Fifty-seven per cent of UK adults are at risk of having an application for credit turned down by a mainstream lender according to a new report. The ‘Mind the Credit Gap‘ report commissioned by aqua credit cards suggests that even people with a good credit rating and earning more than £50,000 could have a credit [...]
Monthly incomes £22 lower in 2012
The average monthly income of UK households fell by £22 in real terms compared with last year, according to a survey carried out for the Bank of England (BoE) by NMG Consulting. People on lower incomes have seen their income eroded more than higher earners and households still have high levels of debt the BoE [...]
Savers dig deep to fund Christmas
New research from the Halifax suggests that savers are funding their Christmas spending with money set aside for other purposes. Thirty-seven per cent of 2,138 savers surveyed by the bank at the end of November had withdrawn savings in the last three months. The average amount withdrawn was £1,186, more than double the average savings [...]
Financial data at risk from unsafe passwords
According to a survey by the Payments Council the problem of having to remember a different password for several accounts means that many internet users are compromising the security of their financial data. Internet users have 22 password-protected accounts on average and many use the same log-in details for more than one account, even though [...]
Wonga launches Paylater loans on retailer website
Payday loan company Wonga has launched a new Paylater service on furniture firm Cotswold Company’s website. The service, which allows customers to “buy now, pay later” will be introduced on other retailers’ sites in the near future. Although the Paylater branding is similar to Wonga’s, the Wonga name only appears in the small print. A [...]
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