Exclusive: Londoners take out 133 per cent more payday loans to cover Christmas this year December 4, 2020 Pressure on households to overspend this Christmas is increasingly making Londoners resort to payday loans to cover the costs of the festive period. Payday loans in London are set to increase by 133 per cent as households struggle to cover the costs of the holidays, according to the findings of a survey that pan-European credit [...]
Four Glastos, nine Wembleys and 9,000 London buses: Here’s how many people have lost their jobs in 2020 December 1, 2020 Since March 2020, the number of payroll employees has fallen by 782,000 in the UK. Stats from the Office of National Statistics show the unemployment rate now hovering around 5 per cent. That’s hard to visualise – but what’s the scale of the economic carnage wrought on the UK economy? Those numbers are equivalent to… [...]
Boris Johnson vows ‘no return to austerity’ amid plans to freeze public sector pay November 20, 2020 Nearly 4m public sector workers may face a pay freeze next year, including soldiers, police officers, teachers and civil servants
UK youth unemployment reaches its highest level in four years November 20, 2020 UK youth unemployment reaches its highest level in four years
UK jobs market weak ahead of lockdown despite rise in vacancies November 3, 2020 The number of firms looking to add to their workforces grew in the third quarter after a historic contraction in the spring, but the UK jobs market remained weak ahead of the recently announced second lockdown, a survey has shown. In the third quarter, 37 per cent of firms attempted to recruit, according to the [...]
Criminal gangs steal £2bn through furlough fraud October 23, 2020 Criminal gangs have scooped up almost £2bn of government cash intended for furloughed workers, according to official tax estimates. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said that between 5 and 10 per cent of the £39bn sum handed out by chancellor Rishi Sunak to support workers during the pandemic had been claimed fraudulently. A report published [...]
London jobs market shows signs of recovery after 50 per cent hike in listings October 21, 2020 London has begun to recover from a swathe of redundancies handed out during the pandemic, with job listings in the capital hiking more than 50 per cent over the last three months, according to new research. Adverts for jobs based in London jumped 52 per cent between July and September, data from independent job board [...]
Employers have a crucial role to play in tackling domestic abuse October 2, 2020 Domestic abuse has been referred to as a “shadow pandemic” by the UN, with the number of cases increasing significantly across the world throughout lockdown. For many people suffering abuse, the respite of the weekday commute and being able to go to office were lost overnight. Recognising the signs of abuse and having the confidence [...]
Rishi Sunak’s Kickstart scheme can help blunt the impending youth unemployment crisis September 18, 2020 This week’s unemployment figures from the Office for National Statistics paint a gloomy picture for Britain’s young people. In the UK those aged 16 to 24 have been hit hardest by job losses since the economy locked down. There were 156,000 fewer young people in employment in the three months to July when compared with [...]
Pandemic hysteria is blinding us to the virus’s real risks August 31, 2020 I have long held off writing this column, as I well know it will lead to some hysterical responses. Nevertheless, the credo of any good opinion writer surely must be to be fearless, to fly in the face of received opinion if the cause is just. And there has rarely been a greater need for [...]