Category Archives: Pay

Labour’s employment rights bill: what key changes will it bring?

Posted on by

Improvements to workers’ rights to include day-one universal sick pay and an end to zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire

Labour’s employment rights bill is the biggest step towards enacting one of its key election offers: to make sweeping changes to rights at work and improve pay. Here are the main details of the legislation, though much of it will take more than two years to consult on and implement.

Guidance – but not legislation – on the right to switch off, preventing employees from being contacted out of hours, except in exceptional circumstances.

Legislation to end pay discrimination, which is expected to come separately in a draft bill that will include measures to make it mandatory for large employers to report their ethnicity and disability pay gap.

A consultation on a move towards a single status of worker – one of the most important changes that has been left out of the bill, which Labour sources have said needs a much longer consultation period.

Reviews into the parental leave and carers’ leave systems.

Continue reading...

Waiter! Soho’s cafe society confused after law changes on tipping

Posted on by

Staff should now receive every penny paid in tips – including service charges

Whoever said it’s better to give than to receive wasn’t talking about tipping. Waiters around the UK should be starting to receive a £200m-a-year bonanza thanks to a new law that means every penny paid in tips, including service charges, on a restaurant bill will have to go to staff.

Yet exactly how much of the money will end up in servers’ pockets is unclear. The law was changed because some restaurants took service charges as part of their profits or to pay for overheads such as lighting.

Continue reading...

Jobs market and pay growth are cooling off, large UK employers and recruiters warn

Posted on by

Survey reveals net fall in permanent jobs last month amid lengthening slowdown in employment market

The UK’s largest employers have warned the jobs market is cooling amid a slowdown in wage growth in July and a fall in vacancies, extending an almost two-year downturn in hiring demand for permanent staff.

Figures from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the accountancy firm KPMG showed a fall in permanent staff placements in July as large employers made more redundancies and hired fewer new starters.

Continue reading...

Low wages under Tories have pushed 900,000 UK children into poverty, report finds

Posted on by

TUC says party has overseen ‘huge rise’ in poverty, as Resolution Foundation says average wages just £16 a week higher in real terms than in 2010

The crisis of poverty that has taken root in the UK over the past 14 years has been laid bare in two reports that reveal the devastating effects low wages and price increases on the lives of 900,000 children.

With both main parties proposing tough welfare spending plans, reports have highlighted the link between rising child poverty and slow wage growth under five Conservative governments since 2010 – the slowest growth since the second world war.

Continue reading...

UK real pay grows at fastest rate in two years as unemployment rises

Posted on by

Figures provide mixed message for Bank of England when it considers interest rate cut next month

The level of real pay for UK workers is rising at its fastest rate in more than two years despite a cooling of the labour market that has led to rising unemployment and falling job vacancies, the latest official figures show.

Fresh data from the Office for National Statistics showed the mild recession in the second half of 2023 has had an impact on demand for workers but has been slower to affect wages.

Continue reading...

Real terms average pay lower in most UK local authorities than in 2008, TUC finds

Posted on by

Union body says austerity is to blame for longest squeeze on wages since Napoleonic era with most ‘wage black spots’ in London

Pay packets are smaller than they were in 2008 in most local authority areas in the UK, according to analysis by the Trades Union Congress, which described the findings as a “damning indictment” of the Conservatives’ economic record.

The TUC, which includes 48 unions with more than five million members, said stagnating wages meant British workers were in the midst of the longest squeeze on wages since the Napoleonic era.

Continue reading...

Junior doctors in England vote to continue striking until mid-September

Posted on by

BMA members overwhelmingly back further stoppages and overtime bans in long-running pay dispute

Junior doctors in England have voted to keep on striking until the middle of September in their long-running pay dispute, bringing a fresh wave of disruption to the NHS.

Those belonging to the British Medical Association voted overwhelmingly to stage further stoppages in addition to the 41 days of strikes held since last March.

Continue reading...

UK pay growth slows less than expected as workers bid up wages

Posted on by

December figures prompt predictions Bank of England may cut interest rates later than previously expected

Pay growth slowed less than expected in December, prompting predictions the Bank of England could start cutting interest rates later than previously expected.

Earnings growth, excluding bonuses, fell only modestly to 6.2% in October to December 2023 from a revised 6.7% in the previous three months, as workers continued to bid up their wages amid skills shortages and a record number of people with long-term sickness.

Continue reading...

UK workers should expect smaller pay rises this year, warns HR body

Posted on by

Employers are reining in hiring plans despite improved business confidence driven by services sector

Workers in the UK can expect less generous salary settlements this year, as employers rein in hiring plans, according to a report from the professional body for human resources.

In its regular labour market outlook, which gauges employers’ expectations for the year ahead, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said employers were pencilling in the most meagre pay rises since the pandemic.

Continue reading...

UK workers must accept lower pay deals to help beat inflation, says Bank ratesetter

Posted on by

Deputy governor Sarah Breeden also says firms must rein in profits as there is ‘some way to go’ to meet 2% inflation target

Victory in the war on inflation will require British workers to accept lower pay deals and companies to rein in their profits, a senior Bank of England policymaker has said.

Sarah Breeden, one of the central bank’s four deputy governors, said there was still “some way to go” before inflation would fall back to the 2% target set by the government for the Bank to achieve on a sustainable basis.

Continue reading...

How Labour’s plan for ‘fair pay deals’ looks to solve UK social care crisis

Posted on by

Underfunded, overstretched sector to become testing ground for battle against low pay but critics say policy is weak and vague

“My sister is a care worker. She was a care worker during the pandemic. Fourteen-hour shifts, often overnight. Unimaginable pressure. And the reward? A struggle every week – and I mean every week – just to make ends meet.”

So spoke Keir Starmer last month, drawing on experience close to home in his party conference speech to underline his determination to overhaul the cash-strapped social care sector.

Continue reading...

Gender pay gap for UK women aged 40 and over ‘will not close till they are pensioners’

Posted on by

Equal Pay Day report from Fawcett Society blames lack of flexible working in well-paid high-quality jobs

UK women aged 40 and older will not experience the closure of the gender pay gap until after they reach state pension age, according to a report by the Fawcett Society.

The Equal Pay Day 2023 report, “Making flexible working the default”, found that on average working women take home £574 a month less than men – or £6,888 a year.

Forty per cent of unemployed women said access to flexible work would enable them to take on paid work. Almost a third of unemployed men said the same.

Women were significantly more likely to report working part-time (27%) compared with men (14%).

About 77% of women agreed that they would be more likely to apply for a job that advertised flexible working options.

Continue reading...

Autumn statement: Jeremy Hunt looks to cut UK taxes and ‘turbo-charge growth’

Posted on by

Amid less gloomy OBR forecasts the chancellor is expected to take first steps towards cutting personal taxes

Jeremy Hunt will announce 110 measures to boost Britain’s stagnant economy and bow to demands from anxious Tory MPs for tax cuts when he delivers his second autumn statement on Wednesday.

In one of the last set-piece economic events before the general election, the chancellor will pledge to “turbo charge” growth while taking the first steps to cut personal taxes after recent sharp increases.

Continue reading...

Real living wage rises to £12 an hour as cost of living crisis continues

Posted on by

The half a million workers whose employers pay the voluntary real living wage will earn £3,000 a year above the minimum wage

Almost half a million workers in the UK whose employers are signed up to pay the voluntary real living wage are in line for a pay rise to at least £12 an hour, taking their annual wage to £3,000 a year above the government’s minimum wage.

The Living Wage Foundation said employers in London that are part of the scheme will pay an enhanced rate of £13.15 an hour to cope with the extra costs of living in the capital.

Continue reading...

Holiday pay ruling ‘entitles many UK workers to thousands in unfairly deducted wages’

Posted on by

Unison says decision affects other types of employee payments and is ‘victory for underpaid workers’

Many UK workers could be entitled to thousands of pounds “unfairly” deducted from their pay after a supreme court decision, according to unions.

The judgment relates to a long-running row about holiday pay but Unison, which participated in the case, said the ruling affected all other types of payment to employees and called it a “victory for underpaid workers”.

Continue reading...

Exploitation of care workers in England is ‘appalling’, says government adviser

Posted on by

Brian Bell says ministers have let social care become reliant on low-paid and vulnerable foreign workers

Ministers have allowed England’s creaking social care system to become too heavily reliant on low-paid foreign workers who are vulnerable to exploitation, the government’s migration adviser has warned.

In a strongly worded intervention, Prof Brian Bell, who has just been reappointed by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, as chair of the migration advisory committee (MAC), called the government’s tacit acceptance of exploitation in the sector “appalling”.

Continue reading...

Record UK pay growth adds to pressure for interest rate rise

Posted on by

Jeremy Hunt and Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey call for wage restraint to help curb inflation

Wages increased at a faster rate than expected in May, putting pressure on the Bank of England to push up the cost of borrowing at its next meeting in August.

Earnings growth hit 7.3%, driven by the strongest rise in private sector pay growth outside the pandemic period of 7.7%, the Office for National Statistics said.

Continue reading...

Union fury at reports Sunak might overrule some public sector pay rises

Posted on by

Recommendations from independent pay review bodies could be rejected by PM if he deems them unaffordable

Unions have expressed outrage over reports the prime minister plans to block public sector wage increases owing to fears about pushing up UK inflation, which remains worse than in other leading economies.

Recommendations from the independent pay review bodies could be overruled by Rishi Sunak if they are considered unaffordable, the Times reported, because of concerns they could set off a “wage-price spiral”.

Continue reading...

UK’s best known retailers top list of firms fined £7m over pay breaches

Posted on by

WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos among more than 200 firms that failed to pay workers legal minimum wage

Some of the UK’s best known retailers including WH Smith, Marks & Spencer, Argos and LloydsPharmacy are at the head of a list of more than 200 companies collectively fined £7m for failing to pay the legal minimum wage.

The businesses were also forced to pay out £4.9m to about 63,000 workers left out of pocket after violations of the rules were uncovered by inspectors at HMRC, varying from breaches related to asking workers to pay for aspects of their uniform to paying the incorrect apprenticeship rate.

Continue reading...

Real value of UK pay continues to slide as inflation bites

Posted on by

Wage increases in February outstripped by rises in cost of living, as unemployment rate rises

The real value of UK workers’ pay has continued to fall at the fastest rate for more than a decade, as wage increases in February were outstripped by high inflation.

The Office for National Statistics said annual growth in average pay, excluding bonuses, held steady at 6.6% in the three months to February despite a small rise in unemployment and decline in the number of job vacancies.

Continue reading...