Government consults over adult learning overhaul
The Coalition Government has launched a consultation setting out its proposals for the overhaul of adult learning in the UK. According to our sister site www.Trainingzone.co.uk, the consultation document entitled New Challenges, New Chances includes proposals ranging from informal adult and community learning to data requirements on colleges and is a follow-up to the Government’s […]
Benefits must be tailored to age to attract top talent
Benefits must be tailored to workers’ age profile if such packages are to help employers attract and retain top talent effectively, a study has shown. According to a survey among 2,000 UK adults undertaken by YouGov and commissioned by workplace consultancy Croner, issues such as flexible working, company reputation and workplace culture were highly valued […]
Proposed MBNA sale puts 5,000 UK and Irish financial services jobs at risk
The recent contraction in the financial services sector appeared to tighten further following Bank of America‘s announcement that it is to sell its MBNA credit card business, putting 5,000 jobs in the UK and Ireland at risk. MBNA claims to be the largest credit card provider in Europe, employing a total of 4,000 staff, supplying […]
Union ballots Fujitsu’s ICT staff for strike action over pay
The Public and Commercial Services union is balloting 750 ICT staff working on contracts for five major government Departments and agencies for strike action over pay. According to our sister site www.publictechnology.net, the conflict centres on supplier Fujitsu and its outsourcing work for HMRC, Home Office, Ministry of Defence, the Office of National Statistics and […]
Blog: The kids aren’t alright
The riots in London and other cities this week brought the issue of youth unemployment into sharp focus. Roughly 20% of 16-24 year-olds are currently unemployed. This figure climbs sharply for those living in some inner-city areas. Many observers feel more should be done to create job opportunities for young people. But would it have […]
Youth unemployment led to riots, says Carpetright CEO
The chief executive of Carpetright, one of the stores destroyed in the Tottenham riots on Saturday night, has called on the coalition government to do more to create jobs for young people. Lord Harris of Peckham told the Daily Telegraph that he believed part of the reason behind the violence, which started in London but […]
The Workplace: Equipping Starbank for the future
Starbank is a highly successful company. Started in1976 by Gordon and Kathleen Darbyshire, Starbank began as a supplier of furniture components to the caravan industry. It later expanded to service a growing number of industries who required a reliable and quality outsourcing service for the fabrication of high pressure laminates and wood based panel products. […]
PM and Chancellor plan top tax rate cut to 45p
David Cameron and George Osborne plan to cut the top rate of income tax from 50 pence to 45 pence as early as next March. According to the Daily Mail, the Prime Minister and Chancellor decided to back the move after seeing Treasury figures, which showed that the current 50 pence rate for those earning […]
Employment downturn imminent, say experts
Conditions in the labour market are weaker than earlier in the year and evidence suggests that a renewed employment downturn is imminent, experts have warned. Although figures from the Office of National Statistics indicated that UK unemployment fell by 26,000 to 2.45 million or 7.7% of the total workforce in the three months to May, […]
Unemployment will not improve before 2016, says CIPD
Unemployment will peak at 2.7 million in mid-2012 but anaemic economic growth will lead to the same number of people being out of work in four year’s time as there are today, an HR body has warned. The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development has revised down its December 2010 forecast, in which it predicted […]
AA accused of ‘corporate bullying’
The Automobile Association is indulging in “corporate bullying” by attempting to ‘performance manage’ 450 staff out of their jobs in a bid to replace them with cheaper, lower skilled workers, the GMB union has claimed. Patrollers across the country have allegedly been called into meetings and given a “take it or leave it” offer of […]
Two councils to sack entire payroll in order to meet cuts
Two local councils plan to sack their entire workforces in drastic moves they say are the only way to meet cuts targets. Shropshire County Council has already P45-ed its entire workforce to try and force through a salary cut of 5.4% and reductions in sick pay, while Southampton City Council says it will do the […]
Mind the British skills gap
British jobs for British workers, we were told last week. Well, yes… if they’re the most competitive in the market and the most qualified to do the job. What are we banging on about? Works and Pension Secretary Ian Duncan Smith lambasted the previous government’s job creation record last week, arguing that too many […]
Duncan Smith calls to ‘give our young people a chance’ at employment
UK employers must stop taking on labour from abroad and give work to jobless British youths instead, the Work and Pension Secretary will say today. In a speech to the Spanish Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies think tank in Madrid, Iain Duncan Smith will attest that the coalition government is attempting to tackle […]
‘Don’t strike’ Cameron plea to public sector
David Cameron will make a last ditch appeal to public sector workers today not to go on strike on Thursday after talks between the coalition government and the unions broke down last night. The Prime Minister is to address the Local Government Association’s annual conference two days before a walkout of an expected 750,000 teachers, […]
Cable announces C-suite pay crackdown
Vince Cable pledged to crack down on the “outrageous” renumeration packages offered to some senior business managers just as it emerged that Network Rail is to hand its former chief executive a £1 million payoff. Speaking at the Association of British Insurer’s biennial conference yesterday, the Business Secretary said that, over the next few weeks, […]
Government must join up their jobs policies
If the UK is to create a sustainable jobs market, the coalition government must develop joined up policies around welfare-to-work and apprenticeship-focused skills provision, learning providers have warned. Martin Dunford, chairman of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, formerly known as the Association of Learning Providers, told the organisation’s annual conference in London yesterday […]
Britain’s recovery ‘fragile’
Despite positive headline labour market figures, the overall picture is of a “fragile, weak recovery” that could be tipped into reverse as public sector job cuts really start to bite, experts have warned. According to official figures from the Office for National Statistics, unemployment fell significantly by 88,000 to 2.43 million or 7.7% in the […]
Surprise drop in movement in the City
Uncertainty over the pace of economic recovery led to a 19% drop in new vacancies in the City last month compared with April, a move deemed to be unusual at this time of year. The figures produced by Square Mile recruiter Morgan McKinley are significant given that financial services was the first sector to go […]
Growth won’t solve the UK’s labour market problems
The UK’s labour market has deep-seated structural problems that will not be solved by a return to economic growth alone, the CBI has warned. In a report entitled ‘Mapping the route to growth: rebalancing employment’, the employers’ lobby group said that the decade of growth before the recession had masked a number of entrenched problems. […]
