London flexible office occupancy rates recover to pre-pandemic levels December 22, 2022 Flexible office spaces in central London have seen their occupancy rates recover to pre-pandemic levels, new data shows. A majority (86 per cent) of the world’s top 30 flexible workspace providers have seen now seen occupancy rates in their central London offices surpass levels of 60 per cent, a survey by Knight Frank shows. A [...]
Workforce shrinkage risks roiling growth and embedding inflation December 20, 2022 A workforce squeezed by older Brits retiring earlier threatens to intensify inflation in the UK and whack economic growth, a new report out today claims. The some 565,000 people who have left the jobs market since the start of the Covid-19 crisis will drag on a UK economy that is already tumbling into an at [...]
Decade high 400k working days lost to strike action in October December 13, 2022 Over 400,000 working days were lost to strikes in October, the highest since November 2011, official figures from the Office for National Statistics out today reveal. Britain has been hit with a wave of industrial action by railway, postal and health workers sparked by pay and working conditions disputes. Working days lost to staff walk [...]
UK jobs market wobbles after months of defying economic reality December 8, 2022 The UK jobs market is looking increasingly fragile after months of defying economic gravity, a new survey out today reveals. KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC) permanent hiring index came in at 46.4 points last month, below the 50 point mark that separates growth and contraction. Despite the index indicating businesses are cooling [...]
Exclusive: Planned redundancies in financial services up 46 per cent in last quarter December 7, 2022 Redundancies in financial services are up 46 per cent in the last quarter as employers look to save money amid the prospect of a bleak economic winter. Recessionary headwinds have “caught up” with hundreds of firms, forced to move on from desperately filling a shortage of staff, to letting existing employees go. In figures exclusively [...]
UK’s new flexible working laws still give employers right to reject requests, employment lawyers say December 5, 2022 New rules aimed at boosting uptake of flexible working arrangements still give employers’ significant discretion to reject those requests, lawyers have told City A.M. New laws aimed at increasing flexibility in the workplace, by giving low paid workers the legal right to ask for a more flexible arrangement and letting all staff ask for flexible [...]
Ageing population and weaker post-Brexit migration has damaged UK economy, experts claim December 5, 2022 An ageing population, weaker migration inflows since Brexit and a sicker society due to the pandemic has damaged the UK long-term economy’s health, top City economists have warned. A steadily rising elderly population has resulted in a jump in Brits leaving the jobs market to take retirement or due to ill health, putting the workforce [...]
Link between long-Covid and work absence is strongest in older workers, ONS says December 5, 2022 A link between so-called ‘long Covid’ and absence from the labour market has been highlighted for the first time since the pandemic. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show 23.3 per cent of 16-64 year-olds with long-covid were economically inactive as of July of this year. This, compared to 21.4 per cent being [...]
Criminal solicitors ‘highly unlikely’ to make ‘reasonable’ living, Law Society warns December 1, 2022 The UK government’s refusal to hike criminal solicitor’s legal aid fees by 15 per cent means it is “highly unlikely” those lawyers coming into the job will be able to make a “reasonable” income from their work, the Law Society has warned. Law Society president Lubna Shuja said justice secretary Dominic Raab’s refusal to increase [...]
Bird & Bird hikes new lawyers’ salaries for second time this year December 1, 2022 London law firm Bird & Bird has given its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers a pay hike for the second time this year. The law firm has given its NQ lawyers a five per cent pay rise in upping their annual pay to £92,400 per year, a Bird & Bird spokesperson told City A.M. The pay [...]