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Excess household lending + deficient business lending = no New Hope for galaxy

Aug 4, 2017By Touchstone blog

Worries about excessive bank lending to households are (understandably) never far from the headlines, but there is too little concern about the very low levels of lending to firms. The point of departure is a speech by Alex Brazier of the Bank of Engla…Read more…

Aug 4, 2017Touchstone blog

Poorest pensioners hit by rise in state pension age

Aug 4, 2017By Touchstone blog

Raising the state pension age for women is hitting the poorest hardest – and is having an impact on some men too. Two pieces of research published this week show the dangers of restricting access to the state pension to attempt to force people to work longer. The first was from the Institute for…Read more…

Aug 4, 2017Touchstone blog

What would it take for trade deals to protect workers’ rights?

Aug 3, 2017By Touchstone blog

Protecting workers’ rights in trade deals is essential to ensure trade is fair. If trade deals don’t contain effective protections for workers’ rights, they just make it easier for companies to locate themselves in countries where wages are lower and workers are less able to resist…Read more…

Aug 3, 2017Touchstone blog

Demand needs to rise before rates do

Aug 3, 2017By Touchstone blog

With the economy showing increased signs of weakness, it is welcome that that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted today to keep interest rates on hold. More surprising perhaps has been the recent positioning of MPC members that has fostered specu…Read more…

Aug 3, 2017Touchstone blog

Labour enforcement agencies – six potential developments

Jul 31, 2017By Touchstone blog

The Immigration Act 2016 brought about significant changes to the remit and powers of the Gangmasters Labour Abuse Authority.  It also created the position of director of labour market enforcement.  Sir David Metcalf has been appointed to this post.  It is the director who is responsible for…Read more…

Jul 31, 2017Touchstone blog

After another lost decade, it’s time to fix the UK’s broken skills system

Jul 31, 2017By Touchstone blog

Workers have suffered from a lost decade of wage growth. While the jobs recovery has been strong, the wage recovery has been agonisingly slow. Wages in 2016 were still 4% lower in real terms than they were a decade before, and they are falling again.   Britain’s dreadful performance on…Read more…

Jul 31, 2017Touchstone blog

Immigration – confusion and inaction from government

Jul 28, 2017By Touchstone blog

The Home Secretary’s announcement yesterday on post-Brexit immigration plans was barely out the door before the government’s all-encompassing confusion over Brexit enveloped it. Amber Rudd’s junior minister, Brandon Lewis, contradicted her spin if not her substance, almost…Read more…

Jul 28, 2017Touchstone blog

We need a voice at work – but was the Taylor Review listening?

Jul 27, 2017By Touchstone blog

In our evidence to the Taylor Review, the TUC and trade unions argued that strengthening workers’ rights to voice in the workplace is key to addressing insecurity and exploitation at work. So was the Taylor Review listening? “The Review believes that for work to be fair and decent, workers must…Read more…

Jul 27, 2017Touchstone blog

Massive win for working people as Supreme Court rejects employment tribunal fees

Jul 26, 2017By Touchstone blog

The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the government’s sky-high tribunal fees are unlawful, accepting UNISON’s argument that the fees are restricting working people’s access to justice. What’s more, the government will have to refund any fees paid since 2013 — at a…Read more…

Jul 26, 2017Touchstone blog

Employment Tribunal Fees found to be unlawful

Jul 26, 2017By Touchstone blog

Following UNISON’s legal challenge, the Supreme Court has, today, ruled that employment tribunal fees are unlawful because they price workers out of accessing justice and discriminate against women. This means that from today, employment tribunal fees will no longer apply and that all previous fees…Read more…

Jul 26, 2017Touchstone blog

A right to request fixed hours is no right at all

Jul 25, 2017By Touchstone blog

The Taylor Review wants those on zero hours contracts to have a legal right to request a contract that guarantees hours that better reflect the actual hours they work. A right to request fixed hours, however, is no right at all. It’s more of a vague hope. To see why, we just need to…Read more…

Jul 25, 2017Touchstone blog

Why don’t companies recognise that unions are essential in the fight against modern slavery?

Jul 24, 2017By Touchstone blog

Everyone, it seems, is now committed to ending forced labour and child labour.  Governments, international institutions, NGOs and businesses have come under enormous pressure to do something — and to be seen to be doing something. A good example of this is a resolution on forced labour passed…Read more…

Jul 24, 2017Touchstone blog

Britain needs EU midwives – the government must make them feel welcome

Jul 24, 2017By Touchstone blog

England’s maternity services are desperately short of midwives. In October 2015, health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons that ‘we need more midwives’. But since then, the number has increased by less than 0.7%. Across England, we have a shortage of around 3,500. Of the…Read more…

Jul 24, 2017Touchstone blog

Why multipliers matter

Jul 24, 2017By Touchstone blog

“Nothing in economics is more potent than a simple idea whose time has come”, Gavyn Davies, October 21st 2012 The week before last, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published a new assessment of ‘fiscal risks’ to the UK. Reporting on threats to the public finances, they warned against new…Read more…

Jul 24, 2017Touchstone blog

Our enforcement system isn’t working. What’s the Taylor Review going to do about it?

Jul 21, 2017By Touchstone blog

The Taylor Review includes a section on “fairer enforcement”, which concludes with the statement: “The two-tier enforcement framework in the UK works”. No it doesn’t.  Two things immediately spring to mind that show this statement isn’t true: Employment tribunal fees price people out of justice….Read more…

Jul 21, 2017Touchstone blog

The BBC can afford millions for the talent, but other staff are denied a fair wage

Jul 21, 2017By Touchstone blog

Over the last two days, we’ve seen wall-to-wall coverage of what the BBC’s leading lights get paid. That’s not surprising. Few stories offer such a perfect mix of celebrity gossip, financial drama and political intrigue. Of course journalists are going to jump on this one. But…Read more…

Jul 21, 2017Touchstone blog

Is there really a public sector pay premium?

Jul 20, 2017By Touchstone blog

Over the weekend Chancellor Philip Hammond was reported as saying that public sector workers are overpaid. On the Andrew Marr show on Sunday he was given multiple opportunities to deny the accusation. But while he did not repeat the tone-deaf claim, ne…Read more…

Jul 20, 2017Touchstone blog

5 reasons why a “dependent contractor” test is a bad idea

Jul 20, 2017By Touchstone blog

One of the more curious suggestions to emerge from the Taylor Review is the proposal to replace the concept of “worker” in employment law with that of “dependent contractor”. This proposal might sound interesting, but here’s 5 reasons why it may not be such a good idea. All working people…Read more…

Jul 20, 2017Touchstone blog

Follow the money: How do the tax and social security proposals in the Taylor Review measure up?

Jul 20, 2017By Touchstone blog

The rise of insecure work has had real consequences for both personal budgets and the national exchequer. The lower earnings and lower tax paid by the self-employed and those on zero hours contracts means the rise in insecure work has come with a £5bn price tag for the exchequer. But the cost of…Read more…

Jul 20, 2017Touchstone blog

The Taylor Review – should the Low Pay Commission be given more to do?

Jul 19, 2017By Touchstone blog

The Taylor review of modern working practices contains some important recommendations on low pay, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the Low Pay Commission (LPC). Taylor’s broad aim of empowering the LPC to do more to promote decent work is the right one, so the short answer to the question in the…Read more…

Jul 19, 2017Touchstone blog
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