You are currently browsing the monthly archive for July 2011.
Talk of the possibility of widespread strikes in the public sector has prompted the usual clichés about the return of 1970s-style industrial relations. There may be similarities but the discontinuities are probably more noteworthy. For instance, take the Government’s public sector pay freeze. This is the first time in living memory that an administration has introduced such a strict policy on public sector pay. And while there are echoes of the incomes policies of the 1970s, there are also important differences. More
A clear pattern in earnings growth has emerged in the first half of 2011, with pay growth in finance and business services outstripping all other sectors of the economy. In the year to May, average weekly earnings in finance and business services grew by 5.3 per cent on the total pay measure and by 4.6 per cent on the regular pay measure, which excludes bonuses. More
Mention the word ‘equity’ in the presence of a lawyer and you may catch their eyes glazing over, as they fear the conversation is about to turn to the law of trusts. But equity has a role to play in that much more cutting-edge branch of law, employment. A recent case in the EAT put this role under the spotlight, and it may have some relevance to the fallout from the demise of the News of the World. More
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation fell from 5.2 per cent in May down to 5.0 per cent in June. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI), which excludes mortgage costs and council taxes, also fell back, from 4.5 per cent in May to 4.2 per cent in June. More
In this article – first published in IDS Pay Report - Sheila Wild, long-time policy lead on equal pay at both the Equal Opportunities Commission (the EOC) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (the EHRC), and now an independent consultant, argues that current approaches to closing the gender pay gap will not deliver, and that the time has come for a more strategic approach. More
The law has been called many things – ‘the embodiment of the moral sentiment of the people’, ‘mind without reason’ and, perhaps most memorably, ‘an ass’. A recent case in the Supreme Court has now asked whether the TUPE Regulations can be described as ‘dynamic’. The Regulations protect employees’ contractual rights when the company or service they work in is transferred to a new owner. The extent of that protection depends on how ‘dynamic’ the Regulations are. More
There is an important public debate currently about differences in public and private sector pay. IDS has joined that debate with an explanation of the entirely different jobs that exist in the private sector compared with the public sector. Each sector has a different skills mix and gender mix. The public sector has a much higher proportion of women workers, many of whom are in professional roles. The private sector has the highest number of the top paid and a larger proportion of the lowest paid. Our findings were published in a recent issue of IDS Pay Report. More
