General Election 2015 cabinet reshuffle: Sajid Javid – three things you need to know about the new business secretary in David Cameron’s cabinet May 11, 2015 David Cameron has lined up Sajid Javid as his new secretary of state for business in his first all-Conservative government. 1. In government Javid has had a meteoric rise in politics, having gone from parliamentary candidate to secretary of state in less than five years. Javid was culture secretary in the last government, a role he [...]
Hackney voting issues: Registration problems leave at least 100 residents unable to vote as polls open on day of General Election May 7, 2015 A technical error with the government's new online voter registration system has left at least a hundred residents in Hackney unable to vote as polls opened this morning, despite registering on time. Many more who completed their registration before the 20 April cut-off date, but were not registered due to a backlog, were left unable [...]
City watchdog launches study into pension fund fee structure March 2, 2015 THE FINANCIAL Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have called on members of the country’s investment industry to help fashion new rules on how workplace pension scheme costs should be reported to savers. From April this year, Independent Governance Committees (IGCs) and pension scheme trustees will be required to report [...]
Departments lose £5.1bn in just one year February 15, 2015 GOVERNMENT departments lost a total of £5.1bn in one year through avoidable errors, the Taxpayers’ Alliance has said today. The loss amounts to over five per cent of the UK’s projected budget deficit for this year. The majority was down to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) which made losses of £3.07bn. In the 12 months [...]
Pensions shake-up could give savers £100k boost when fee cap is introduced in April February 4, 2015 Savers paying into a pension could save up to £100,000 once a new cap on fees is introduced in April. Charges for those automatically enrolled in a workplace pension will be capped at 0.75 per cent a year compared to current average annual charges of 1.5 per cent used to cover the costs associated with [...]
Why do immigrants want to come to the UK? It’s not to get benefits or steal British jobs November 4, 2014 A relatively high proportion of non-UK nationals come the UK to study, and migrants have jobless rates comparable to those of UK nationals, official data suggests. According to an Office of National Statistics analysis of 2011 census data, 14 per cent of all migrants were students, compared to only 9.7 per cent for the UK [...]
UK and European migration map: Why immigration is good for the economy and immigrants aren’t stealing British jobs October 22, 2014 When outgoing European Commission president José Manuel Barroso accused David Cameron of potentially making a “historic mistake” with plans to call a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union, he may have had a point. Cameron has faced heavy criticism for his increasing focus on curbing immigration in response to Ukip’s growing [...]
Government launches poster campaign to crack down on benefit fraud October 21, 2014 Benefit fraud is to be the target of the government's latest ad campaign with posters to be extended across almost 50 towns and cities. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) wants claimants who have a change of circumstances to report it, so they don't fall foul of the rules. Over the course of the [...]
Insurers fear a £1bn blow from pensions cap as DWP insists saver benefit August 19, 2014 Insurers face a £1bn hit from the new pension fund fee cap which comes in next year, Royal London claimed yesterday – five times above the £200m cost the government predicts over the coming decade. However, the mutual is likely to make little headway complaining about the fees. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) [...]
DWP accused of attempting to hide failings on universal credit reform August 19, 2014 Parliament's public spending watchdog has accused the Department of Work and Pensions of hiding failings of the government's universal credit reform in a report published today. The Committee of Public Affairs, chaired by Margaret Hodge MP, has claimed the move to create a new category to “reset” the £2.4bn reform project could have been [...]