Recruitment report identifies sharp rise in vacancies for warehouse staff and cleaners but large fall in graduate opportunities
Graduates fresh from university will find it difficult to find a job after a 35% drop in hiring by employers over the last year, according to analysis by a leading recruitment data provider.
Hiring freezes at many employers have taken the biggest toll on graduates and meant there is fierce competition for the few jobs left for younger workers.
Continue reading...Recruitment report identifies sharp rise in vacancies for warehouse staff and cleaners but large fall in graduate opportunities
Graduates fresh from university will find it difficult to find a job after a 35% drop in hiring by employers over the last year, according to analysis by a leading recruitment data provider.
Hiring freezes at many employers have taken the biggest toll on graduates and meant there is fierce competition for the few jobs left for younger workers.
Continue reading...Nationwide survey in London, Manchester and Glasgow shows pandemic trends may be reversing as more people return to office
People buying homes in London 500 metres from a tube or railway station pay £42,700 more than buyers of similar properties 1,500 metres away from transport hubs, according to new data.
The figures indicate that despite the reshaping of the housing market sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and dramatic changes to working patterns, the traditional estate agent mantra of “good transport links” continues to wield its power over buyers.
Continue reading...Newcastle building society aims for those with smaller deposits and no help hoping to get on to housing ladder
First-time buyers are being offered the chance to borrow up to 98% of the price of a property – but they cannot get help with their deposit from the bank of mum and dad.
Newcastle building society’s First Step mortgage is designed to help those who have been saving to get on the housing ladder.
Continue reading...Those on typical £200,000 mortgages taken out between October 2020 and February 2023 may see costs jump by £3,996 a year this winter
More than 350,000 households who locked in to low-interest fixed-rate mortgages five years ago are expected to see their costs jump this winter as they reach the end of their deals.
Analysis by the bill management app Nous found almost half of mortgages taken out between October 2020 – as the housing market revived after an initial Covid shock – and February 2023 were five-year fixed-rate deals.
Continue reading...Stalling house prices and shift back to office working are affecting people’s ability to move out of city, say experts
Londoners are buying the lowest share of houses outside the capital in more than a decade as their moving plans are curtailed by a stalling local market and the shift back to office working.
They were behind just 5.3% of house purchases elsewhere in the country in the first seven months of this year, the lowest proportion since 2013, research has found.
Continue reading...A new survey finds less than half of British people now carry a wallet – even though 80% own one
Name: The wallet.
Age: The word originates from the late 14th century, meaning something like knapsack. That’s how Shakespeare uses it in Troilus and Cressida, when Ulysses says: “Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back.”
Continue reading...Experiences of booking for big London gigs underscore the opaque practices of some online platforms
When Danny bought tickets to see Deftones in Crystal Palace Park he was not expecting to be initiated into an apparent subterfuge.
Yet shortly before the south London gig, Viagogo, the resale platform that sold him the tickets, sent him a scanned copy of a passport ID page belonging to a Dutch man he had never met.
Continue reading...East Midlands passengers to test digital tickets that will automatically charge best fares at end of day
Train passengers in the East Midlands are to test technology that will let them tap in and out for journeys and be charged the best fare for their trip at the end of the day.
Trials of digital rail tickets based on GPS tracking will begin on Monday as part of the government’s plan to improve the rail network’s complex fare system.
Continue reading...Findings suggest since 2004 ONS failed to properly account for fact it received more data from larger employers
The UK’s gender pay gap has been underestimated for more than 20 years, according to research that could raise fresh questions about the quality of data used to inform key pay decisions across the UK.
The findings, released in the British Journal of Industrial Relations on Monday, suggest that, since 2004, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) had failed to properly account for the fact that it received more data from larger employers, when it reported its annual survey of hours and earnings (Ashe).
Continue reading...Borrowers say higher repayments under changed Save plan means placing life on hold and creating further anxiety
When Faith, a 33-year-old in Burlington, North Carolina, went back to get her master’s degree in higher education administration in 2020-21, she hoped it would accelerate her career growth and maybe even help her get on the housing ladder.
Now, Faith has federal student loan debts of $38,113, and a repayment schedule that is much more demanding than she realized so she feels like the program stalled her progress.
Continue reading...Monthly report from surveyors’ body sees ‘firmly negative trend’ that is expected to push up rental prices
The flow of new rental properties coming on to the market has fallen at the fastest rate since the first Covid lockdown five years ago, according to research by Britain’s property surveyors.
Although the demand for properties is steady, there are fewer new rentals from landlords coming available, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) found.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Chancellor also looking at tweaks to capital gains tax to try to bridge £40bn-plus spending gap before budget
The Treasury is looking at ways to raise more money from inheritance tax amid growing pressure on the country’s finances ahead of the autumn budget, sources have told the Guardian.
Officials have been tasked with examining whether tightening rules on the gifting of money and assets could be one way of addressing a gap between revenue and spending that is estimated to reach more than £40bn.
Continue reading...Some higher-earning couples with smaller deposits could borrow extra £130,000 as a result of overnight changes
Some couples applying for a Santander mortgage will see the maximum they can borrow increase by £130,000 overnight after the bank loosened its lending rules.
Santander is the latest in a line of lenders to allow some borrowers to access bigger mortgages after intervention by the City regulator and new guidelines from the Bank of England designed to help more people on to the housing ladder.
Continue reading...Motoring groups welcome plan to ban over-70s who fail eye tests but call for young drivers to face passenger restrictions
Motoring groups have welcomed government plans to overhaul road safety laws that could result in over-70s being banned if they fail eyesight tests but have implored ministers to go further with measures they believe could protect younger drivers and their passengers.
Ministers are considering cutting the drink-drive limit in England and Wales and introducing mandatory eye tests for older drivers, the Times reported on Monday. The proposals also reportedly include tougher penalties for uninsured driving and failing to wear a seatbelt – but not measures to stop inexperienced drivers being responsible for the safety of groups of their friends.
Continue reading...Lower mortgage rates have helped cool rental sector after years of above-inflation increases in rent, data shows
Average private rents in Great Britain have fallen for the first time in five years as lower mortgage rates helped take some of the heat out of the rental sector, data shows.
Years of above-inflation increases in rents have put the squeeze on many households but the estate agent Hamptons said the average rent on a newly let property fell by 0.2% year on year in July. It was the first annual decline since August 2020, during the height of the Covid pandemic – although this national figure masks wide regional variations.
Continue reading...Plans have provoked outrage from communities in areas of Great Britain expected to host new infrastructure
The government is pushing head with a plan to offer those who live near new electricity pylons a discount of £2,500 from their energy bills over the next 10 years to ease the backlash against its clean power plans.
Thousands of households within half a kilometre of new or upgraded electricity infrastructure could each receive up to £250 off their annual energy bill from next year to help speed up the rollout of infrastructure critical to the government’s targets.
Continue reading...City regulator says motorists should start to get payments in 2026 with ‘most payouts likely to be under £950’
Explainer: what the supreme court ruling means for UK motorists
Editorial: Mis-sold loans demand action, not excuses or spin
Millions of drivers could be handed a share of a multibillion-pound compensation package after the City regulator said it would open a redress scheme for consumers affected by the car finance scandal.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will consult on the redress scheme, which could cost banks between £9bn and £18bn when it begins paying consumers compensation next year.
Continue reading...Defending industry over consumers sends ‘really bad message’, says Treasury committee member Bobby Dean
Rachel Reeves’ efforts to intervene in the supreme court case on the car finance scandal were “unprecedented and disgraceful” and send a “really bad message” to consumers that the government is willing to defend wrongdoing by banks, Treasury committee member and Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean has said.
While the supreme court largely sided with finance companies on Friday – helping lenders avoid a £44bn compensation bill – Dean said the chancellor had gone too far to show she was on the side of business.
Continue reading...Defending industry over consumers sends ‘really bad message’, says Treasury committee member Bobby Dean
Rachel Reeves’ efforts to intervene in the supreme court case on the car finance scandal were “unprecedented and disgraceful” and send a “really bad message” to consumers that the government is willing to defend wrongdoing by banks, Treasury committee member and Lib Dem MP Bobby Dean has said.
While the supreme court largely sided with finance companies on Friday – helping lenders avoid a £44bn compensation bill – Dean said the chancellor had gone too far to show she was on the side of business.
Continue reading...