Published: 15 May 2023
By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight
Senior doctors have begun voting on strike action, saying the government has failed to put forward a "satisfactory" offer on pay. The union, the British Medical Association (BMA), is urging consultants to vote in favour of strike action in the ballot, which closes on 27th June. The BMA says consultants' take-home pay fell 35% between 2008/9 and 2021/22, with the squeeze compounded by double digit inflation over the last year. Tens of thousands of other NHS staff, including junior doctors, nurses and paramedics have already been out on strike and are planning more.
British public sector employers plan the biggest pay increases in over a decade, according to a survey published today by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD). The data suggested most expected median pay settlements in the public sector for the coming 12 months to rise to 3.3%, up from 2% in the previous three months, and the highest level since records began in 2012.
The Insolvency Service launched 36% more investigations into alleged misconduct by the directors of insolvent companies than the year before, data from international law firm RPC reveals. According to RPC, the number of investigations increased from an average of 142 per month between April 2021 and March 2022 to 193 between 1st April 2022 and 31st December 2022. The data also reveals that the number of cases referred to the Insolvency Service compliance and targeting department, which investigates corporate abuse, more than doubled from an average of 528 per month to 1,077 in the same period, City A.M. reports. A total of 459 directors were disqualified. James Wickes, partner in RPC’s professional and financial risks team, said: “With insolvencies on the rise, we can expect to see more instances of fraud and other types of misconduct coming to light.” Last month, the Insolvency Service reported that more companies in England and Wales had entered insolvency in March than at any point since monthly records began. Business directors have also been guilty of misusing Covid-19 support schemes: the Financial Times reported last year that more than one in three UK company directors disqualified in April and May 2022 were found to have abused the schemes.
Some £233bn is being held in zero-interest bank and building society accounts, according to Bank of England data analysed by asset management firm Bowmore. This is more than double the amount of £109bn held in such accounts 2013, and up from the total held back in November 2021, at the beginning of the Bank of England’s rate-hiking cycle. The central bank last week raised interest rates again to 4.5%. Charles Incledon, client director at Bowmore Asset Management, said: “People need to be aware that savings in a zero-interest account are being eaten away at an alarming rate (by inflation) at the moment”.
Cancer Research UK, The Teenage Cancer Trust and Melanoma Focus are calling on the Government to scrap VAT on sunscreen to make it more affordable and prevent skin cancers. It is currently classified as a "cosmetic" product hence it is subject to the 20% tax, adding an average of £1.50 to the cost of a bottle. Melanoma Focus surveyed 2,000 people in the UK aged 16 and over and around half of them thought sunscreen was too expensive. Scottish National Party MP Amy Callaghan is backing the campaign; she was diagnosed with melanoma at age 19.
Travelodge inspires confidence that domestic and business travel is recovering post-covid lockdowns, having just reported results significantly ahead of its previous record year in 2019. The UK’s largest independent hotel brand said revenues in the UK, Spain and Ireland were up 25% on 2019 to £909.9m, and posted pre-tax earnings for the year of £212.9m, up from £83.8m. Travelodge CEO Jo Boydell said: “Travelodge delivered an excellent trading performance in 2022, with record profits and revenue growth. The market recovered, with strong demand for events and short staycation breaks throughout the year as well as for essential business travel and we continued to outperform the midscale and economy segment.”
A Canadian class action lawsuit against British pharma giant Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) has been dismissed. It had been brought on behalf of Canadian users of ranitidine, a heartburn treatment marketed under the Zantac brand, which they claimed can cause cancer, a charge GSK has denied repeatedly. However, the US Food and Drug Administration withdrew approval for the drug in 2020, prompting a number of lawsuits in North America. GSK welcomed the decision by the British Columbia Supreme Court, saying: "GSK will continue to vigorously defend proposed class actions by ranitidine users that have been filed in Ontario and Quebec as well as individual actions filed by ranitidine users in Canada."
Apollo Global Management has today confirmed that it does not intend to make a £1.7bn takeover offer for the oil and gas engineering giant, John Wood Group. Wood initially rejected four proposals and refused to engage with Apollo, according to reports in the Sunday Times, but had been considering the fifth and final proposal since 17th April.
Although celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has seen turnover treble across his restaurant chain, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants (GRR) has still posted a loss of £504,000. GRR reported record revenues of £78.9m for the 12 months ending August 2022, up from £26.2m the year prior, reflecting the business's post-Covid recovery as it enjoyed “12 months of uninterrupted trading in the UK,” it said. Before lockdowns, which forced Ramsay's business operations to close, losses hit almost £6.5m. The group runs 36 venues in the UK, and others overseas, including in Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
The Daily Mail reports that Tesco CEO Ken Murphy was still paid more than £4m last year, even as shoppers faced soaring food prices. He took home £4.44m, as his £1.37m salary was topped up with bonuses and other benefits. Although less than the £4.75m he earned the previous year, Andrew Speke from the High Pay Centre think tank criticised the income, saying it was “a bad look for the Tesco” given many customers are struggling with the soaring cost of food. Murphy's pay is also 200 times higher than the average Tesco salary of around £20,000, the newspaper said, claiming too that it understands Murphy, born in Cork, is registered for tax in Ireland, and so pays a lower rate than he would here in the UK. MPs on the House of Commons’ Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee are currently investigating rising food prices and whether parts of the supply chain are 'unduly' benefiting from grocery inflation.
JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin has called on businesses and the government to do more to stop people retiring early, demanding “we should get the b******s back to work” to combat the labour shortages experienced since covid regulations were introduced and around 300,000 more over-50s left the workforce. Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Martin said: “It is up to businesses to make it attractive to work, maybe part time, which is what a lot of the oldies do in our business”. “We are built to work, and it suits me,” he added. “I think me and Warren Buffett should launch a campaign to say life is sweeter if you go out to work when everyone else is retired.”
The Sunday Times said yesterday that FTSE 100 Investment firm M&G is asking its managers to get back in the office for three days a week in a bid to boost the morale and development of its junior staff – but that they won’t be allowed to simply swan in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. “Our aim is to build a team and an environment that helps everyone at M&G be at their best. A big part of that is about spending time with colleagues, clients, customers and stakeholders,” an M&G spokesperson told City A.M.
In an article for the Financial Times, Schroders CEO Peter Harrison has said the asset management sector needs to “come to the party” and “embrace risk” in order to revive London’s floundering status as an international financial centre. The FTSE 100 boss argued that London had developed an obsession with “commentating on its own demise” and firms instead need to throw themselves behind risk and reform. Writing in the Financial Times, and said the City needed a culture shift on issues such as executive pay and allocating pension cash to more productive assets. He said he applauded Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, who earlier this month said UK executives should be paid more if the country wants to retain talent and deter companies from moving overseas.
It has been confirmed that Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson is quitting his job after two years in post. The move follows a long and bitter dispute with the Communication Workers Union (CWU). Royal Mail parent company International Distributions Services said Thompson would leave at the end of October, but continue to receive his salary every month for half a year after that in lieu of notice, giving him around £289,000. He will also receive a bonus and be able to claim up to £17,500 towards legal fees linked to his departure and up to £50,000 towards outplacement support. The industrial dispute, which Royal Mail said was costing it £1m a day, was finally resolved last month after 12 months of strikes when a 10% pay increase for staff together with a £500 one-off payment was agreed. Thompson said it was the "right time" for the company to move forward under new leadership to “deliver the next stage of the company's reinvention”. Royal Mail is set to publish its full-year results to March 2023 this week, but in January said it was predicting an adjusted operating loss somewhere between £350m and £450m.
British American Tobacco has appointed finance director Tadeu Marroco as CEO, succeeding Jack Bowles who is stepping down after about four years. Marroco started working for the FTSE 100 tobacco firm in Brazil in 1992 and was appointed to the board in 2019.
As expected, Elon Musk has named former NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino as Twitter's new CEO.
And finally….Saturday night’s Eurovision song contest drew the largest British television audience in the history of the event with a peak of 11m viewers, and an average of 9.9m, the BBC said in a statement. The show reaped an audience share of 63%.
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