Tesco and Boots lead 100,000 jobs pledge to tackle Neets crisis Retail Tesco, Boots and dozens of other retailers have pledged to create 100,000 new jobs in a bid to tackle the youth unemployment crisis, which they say is trapping young people in a “doom loop”. A group of top high street firms – which also includes Asda, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer – have joined [...]
Neets dip below one million as Labour blamed for youth unemployment Economics The number of Neets, who are young people not in employment, education or training, has fallen marginally below the one million mark, the UK’s official data body said. The Office for National Statistics said it estimated the number of people aged between 16 and 24 out of work to be about 981,000 in the three [...]
Pensioners to hand over bank statements in government benefits crackdown Personal Finance Pensioners will have to hand over their bank statements to the government as part of its crackdown on the ballooning benefits system. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is preparing to inform pensioners they will need to provide bank statements as part of its review into Pension Credit claims, I News first reported. The [...]
Pensioners hit with £8bn tax bill after government freezes allowances July 30, 2026 Pensioners paid some £8bn in extra tax last year after a freeze on personal allowances dragged people into higher bands, new figures have revealed. The amount of tax paid by people in retirement climbed from £21.1bn to £29.8bn, an increase of over 40 per cent in just two years, according to the latest pension participation [...]
Students urged to rethink idea of a ‘safe job’ as Labour pledges major education reform July 28, 2026 A Cabinet minister has warned young people against depending on “safe and secure jobs” as Andy Burnham announced that children as young as 14 will get access to technical education. Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, has said that changes to the education system were “more urgent” given disruption to the jobs market from [...]
Starmer ally defends minimum wage quango after Sunak calls for it to be axed June 9, 2026 Welfare secretary Pat McFadden has leapt to the defence of the minimum wage quango after former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for the body to be axed. The top ally of Sir Keir Starmer told City AM it “would be a mistake” to abolish the Low Pay Commission (LPC), an independent body that advises the [...]
Mandelson Files add insult to injury, but the patient was already beyond saving June 2, 2026 The deluge of emails, Whatsapp messages and hand-written notes released yesterday cover the full range of political and diplomatic life, from the absurd to the poignant; from rows over a gift for Donald Trump to soul-searching over Keir Starmer’s failures, it’s all there in black and white. What’s clear at a glance is quite how [...]
Ministers back SNP probe as Sturgeon refuses to apologise for Murrell May 31, 2026 Two top government ministers have backed an inquiry into the SNP after its former chief executive Peter Murrell admitted to embezzling over £400,000 from the party. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that there “should definitely be an inquiry because trust in politics has been fundamentally undermined by the [...]
Pension deadlock: Government and Lords refuse to back down in stalemate April 28, 2026 The government and the House of Lords are locked in a high-stakes political standoff over pensions, both refusing to back down on their demands for the Pension Schemes Bill, leaving its passage up in air as the clock winds down on this parliamentary session. Attempts to finalise the bill in the upper house remain ensnared [...]
UK ministers to push ahead with ‘capped’ mandation powers after peers backlash March 27, 2026 Ministers are set to go toe-to-toe with the House of Lords over a plan to grant them powers to force pension funds into private assets and UK companies. Government officials said ministers would make concessions to try and get the measure through the upper house, which voted last week to remove a “reserve power” allowing [...]