News – Page 85
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ArticleNewham Council becomes living wage employer
Newham Council in east London has been officially recognised as a London living wage employer.The accreditation – given this week by the Living Wage Foundation – means all staff will receive at least the recommended £10.85 per hour.The council was also recognised for its ‘Community Wealth Building Pledge’ which insists ...
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ArticleHow will the Budget 2021 affect pay and benefits?
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak delivered his much-anticipated Budget speech to the House of Commons on Wednesday 3 March 2021. Below is a summary of the key announcements that could impact pay and benefits strategies:Income tax thresholds frozen until 2026UK furlough scheme extended until September Pensions lifetime allowance frozen ...
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ArticleHalfords repays £10.7m furlough payment
Halfords, the specialist cars parts and cycles retailer, has revealed it has repaid more than £10 million in government furlough payments, thanks to a surge in demand for bicycles during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.An overall sales uplift of +6.2% for the first seven weeks of 2021 means it has given ...
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ArticleIncome tax thresholds frozen until 2026
Budget 2021: Income tax thresholds will be frozen until 2026, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said today (3 March).Setting out plans to help the UK recover from the £407 billion spent on Covid-19 (Coronavirus) support measures, he revealed the personal income tax allowance would rise with CPI as planned ...
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ArticleHMRC taskforce created to investigate furlough fraud among employers
Budget 2021: Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has announced the creation of a ‘taskforce’ to tackle fraud within the furlough scheme.Sunak revealed a £100 million investment in the HM Revenues and Customs' (HMRC) Taxpayer Protection Taskforce to crack down on those who defraud Covid-19 (Coronavirus) government support initiatives, including ...
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ArticleNational living wage to increase by £345 per year
Budget 2021: The national living wage (NLW) is to rise by £345 a year from April, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak confirmed in the Budget today (3 March).Under the plans, the existing rate of £8.72 an hour will increase by 19p to £8.91 – equivalent to £345 annually for ...
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ArticleUK furlough scheme extended until September
Budget 2021: The UK’s furlough scheme has been extended until the end of September, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak (pictured) confirmed in the Budget today (3 March).The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which currently pays 80% of furloughed employees’ wages up to £2,500 per month for hours that cannot ...
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ArticleSynergy Vision becomes employee-owned
Medical communications company Synergy Vision has become employee-owed, after transferring itself over to the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT).The business – which became well known for introducing a four-day week in 2018 – officially became employee-owned yesterday (2 March), after founder Ffyona Dawber signed the remaining papers transferring 87.5% of the ...
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ArticleTomahawk denies abuse of furlough scheme
Steakhouse restaurant group Tomahawk has rejected accusations by the GMB union of bullying workers to lend it money to pay for their own national insurance (NI) and pension contributions.The union claims that a meeting was called for all staff, during which they were asked by the company if they could ...
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ArticleKeep updated with the Budget 2021
Tomorrow (3 March) Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his long-awaited Budget 2021 – a statement widely anticipated to outline how the government will seek to rebalance the books after nearly a year of on-and-off economic shutdown.With debt now at 99.4% of GDP and borrowing at its highest level since 1993, ...
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ArticleGo North West drivers to strike indefinitely
The long-running ‘fire and rehire’ dispute between bus drivers at Go North West and their bosses escalated further over the weekend, with the announcement staff would be staging indefinite strike action.More than 500 drivers walked out yesterday (28 February) over the increasingly bitter dispute, which involves firing the drivers and ...
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ArticleSainsbury’s gives employees thank-you bonus and pay rise
Employees at supermarket giant Sainsbury’s have twice as many reasons to feel happier this week after it was announced they would receive both a bonus and a pay rise.As a thank you to staff, the company is awarding a 3% annual bonus, which will mean the average full-time employee will ...
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ArticleAcas calls for paid vaccine time off
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) is calling on employers to give their staff paid time off when they have Covid-19 (Coronavirus) vaccinations.In new advice, Acas wants organisations to provide the right level of support – which it said includes paid time off for staff to attend vaccination appointments ...
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ArticleWorkers did £24 billion in unpaid overtime during 2020
Number crunching by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has revealed the extent to which Britons have put in unpaid overtime since the start of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.The data – released to coincide with Work Your Proper Hours Day today (26 February) – found that more than three million people ...
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ArticleWall's finds happiness more valued than pay
Something for the weekend: “My boss told me to have a good day. So I went home.” It’s an old joke but one employers might be heeding after Wall's research revealed that 78% of people believe happiness and wellbeing should be prioritised over money.The global survey of 12,500 people by ...
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ArticleRenault cuts staff working hours
French car giant Renault is cutting the hours of nearly 13,000 of its staff in Paris in an attempt to reduce costs.The firm’s engineering and support workers will be given Friday off from now until at least the middle of August.Under the terms of the day off, staff will still ...
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ArticleBEIS records big rise in minimum wage avoidance
A report from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), has revealed a huge rise in the number of organisations not paying their staff the minimum wage during 2019-20.According to the report, BEIS dealt with more than 3,500 enforcement cases – an increase of 27% from the previous ...
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ArticleA third of over-50s have seen pay cuts
New research by SunLife suggests it has been the over-50s who have suffered significant pay cuts since the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic began.A poll conducted by the organisation among 1,051 respondents aged 50-plus revealed 30% had seen their hours or salaries cut; 25% had been furloughed, and one-in-10 had lost their ...
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ArticleHR pay rises less than the national average
Research by Reed has found pay rises for HR professionals were less than those enjoyed by the rest of the workforce.The survey revealed average wages for those in the HR sector grew by 1.9% during 2020, compared to the UK average of 2.3%. The data confirmed this was the third-lowest ...