One in three employers have reported that absence levels have increased due to staff members struggling to cope with caring responsibilities outside of work. Even though more people are absent from work due to caring for others, the overall rate of absences has fallen in the UK from an average of 7.6 days to 6.6 days this year.
Companies in the Eurozone have continued to struggle throughout the third quarter of 2014, with the French economy performing particularly badly. Figures showed growth in the Eurozone economy has continued to slow down in recent months.
Vince Cable will today announce plans to raise the apprentice minimum wage by £1.06. According to the government’s website, apprentices at the moment are entitled to a minimum wage of £2.68 per hour if they are aged 16 to 18 or aged over 19 and are in their first year.
Morrisons have launched a new loyalty card as it tries to compete with the low prices offered at Aldi and Lidl. The retailer says its Match & More loyalty card will provide a price match guarantee against Aldi and Lidl as well as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda.
David Cameron has pledged to cut tax for 30 million people if the Conservatives are voted in power again in the 2015 general election. He will raise the tax-free personal allowance from £10,500 to £12,500 and has also promised that the threshold for the 40p income tax rate would be raised from £41,900 to £50,000 under a future Conservative government.
The government could receive extra revenue from motorists in the new car tax system, the AA has advised. The new electronic tax disc system may enable the government to get “double money” from drivers.
Chancellor George Osborne has vowed to crackdown on global technology companies who operate in the UK, but do not pay enough tax. He accused some multinational technology firms of going to “extraordinary lengths” to avoid UK taxes, but claimed things will soon have to change.
Household incomes are predicted to grow by a modest 1.8% to 2.0% a year over the next few years, according a survey completed by Earnest & Young (EY), a multinational professional services firm. They also discovered that any boost in household incomes from wage growth in the next few years will be offset by a slowdown in employment growth. Median pay in real-terms is forecast to fall from £18,852 in 2008 to £17,827 by 2017, the survey suggests.
David Cameron has announced that a Conservative government would restructure the benefits system for 18-21 year olds. The prime minister said that if the Conservatives win the next general election, then they would cut the maximum household benefits cap from £26,000 to £23,000.
The number of unemployed graduates has fallen over the last 12 months, a study has suggested. The Higher Education Careers Service Unit (Hecsu) studied 256,350 recent graduates for six months after they left university, and found that just 7.3% were unemployed in January 2014.
