Published: 27 September 2023
By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s news that up to 2.6m people – or one in 16 of those aged between 16 and 64 - are currently “economically inactive” due to long-term sickness, it has now been revealed that UK workers are taking more sick days than at any point in the last decade. Staff took on average 7.8 sick days in the past year, up from 5.8 before the pandemic, the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) found. The trade group said the rise was a "worry" and blamed stress, Covid and the cost-of-living crisis. The research analysed rates of absence in more than 900 organisations, representing 6.5m employees, and was conducted by the CIPD in partnership with Simplyhealth. The study found that minor illnesses were the main reason for short-term absences, followed by musculoskeletal injuries and mental ill health. The CIPD also noted that public sector sick days were almost double than that of the private sector, with the average state employee off sick for 10.6 days, equivalent to more than two working weeks.
The total value of the British tech sector has climbed to its highest ever level this year according to new data from HSBC Innovation Banking. British start-ups have reached a total value of $996.8bn (£819.44bn), the report says, up from $988bn (£812.21bn) last year, despite a turbulent 12 months for the industry globally.
House sales to first-time buyers have plummeted 22% in the past year, according to mortgage lender Halifax. 186,015 first-time buyers bought a home between January and August of this year, down from 239,690 during the same period in 2022. Would-be buyers are finding it more difficult to buy their first homes because of rising mortgage rates, the shrinking availability of mortgage deals and high inflation making it harder to save for a deposit, the bank said, noting that purchases by first-time buyers have not been this low since covid lockdowns brought the property market to a standstill in 2020. The substantial drop threatens to limit much of the competition in the market, the Halifax added. The average age of a first-time buyer is now 32, having risen by two years over the past decade as it takes longer to save for a deposit, and buying power has also fallen. The average first-time buyer deposit now stands at £54,116, down from more than £60,000 last year.
Some 7m UK households are grappling with rent or mortgage payments, with millions more at risk of falling into financial difficulty by the end of 2024 as they face higher rates when remortgaging, according to consumer group Which?. Nearly half of households (46%) which rent or have mortgages are finding it tough to meet their housing payments, a survey of 4,000 Brits found. The strain of housing payments is also taking a toll on emotional wellbeing, Which? found, reporting that over half of renters and those with mortgages report daily stress, compared to just three in 10 outright homeowners.
Barclays bank has announced plans to close thousands of bank accounts outside of the UK, giving the account holders six months’ notice in writing to move their money. The bank said global accounts can still be opened but they will face a £40 monthly charge if they have a balance below £100,000. Customers living abroad with a loan or mortgage with Barclays won’t be affected, however they will not be able to apply for a new loan or remortgage with the bank while registered outside of the UK. “Banks may set their own requirements on country of residence for account holders and must comply with local law and regulation when serving customers outside the UK," a spokesman for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) told The Telegraph. “Whether or not banks decide to extend services to customers outside of the UK is a commercial decision for them, but we expect them to treat their customers fairly, comply with equalities legislation, and provide adequate notice to the customer if they decide to close their account,” the FCA added.
EY agreed to terminate a contract with Santander’s UK business after its anti-financial crime work for the bank was deemed to be insufficient, according to a report. The ‘Big Four’ firm was hired by Santander to help address issues with the bank’s anti-money laundering and financial crime defence systems as part of a project known as “Project Morgan”, the Financial Times reported. The Financial Conduct Authority fined Santander £108m in December for shortcomings in its anti-money laundering systems between 2012 and 2017. However, sources told the paper that EY’s work was “so poor” the firm was forced to offer the bank a £15m refund earlier this year. EY declined to comment on the report.
Norwegian state energy company Equinor has been given the green light to drill in the Rosebank field, one of the largest undeveloped oil and gas fields in the North Sea, making an initial £3.1bn investment together with its British partner, Ithaca Energy. The company expects to produce 300 million barrels of oil from the field in its lifetime.
Shocking photographs of huge piles of rubbish labelled an “ongoing rat buffet” by residents in The London Borough of Tower Hamlets have been printed in various news outlets. The backlog has been caused by industrial action; more than 200 refuse collectors and street cleaners walked out on 18th September after rejecting a national pay offer of a flat rate increase of £1,925. The strike was originally set to last until 1st October, however a Unite spokesperson has confirmed a revised offer from the council has been received which will be put to a members’ ballot. The council said private waste contractors had been hired to clear the build-up from Saturday, after safety concerns were raised by the borough’s fire service, and that it was reallocating non-striking staff to cover missed collections.
Greenwich Council has ordered that two luxury riverside residential towers built by Cormer Homes Group be torn down because the development is unlawful, it says, being “so substantially different to the scheme that was originally permitted by the planning permission given in 2012.” Greenwich argues there are at least 26 main deviations to the original planning permission, including “visible design changes” to the external appearance of the towers. Cormer has been accused by the council of using different cladding, less glazing, smaller balconies, smaller windows and no wraparound balconies resulting in “a reduction of daylight and sunlight, and to a reduced outlook”. They have now issued an enforcement order to Cormer to get the two buildings torn down; the group has 28 days until midnight on 30 October 2023 to appeal the enforcement notice via a judicial review. Mast Quay Phase II, located in Woolwich, was completed in 2022 and residents have since moved into the build-to-rent development which features an onsite gym.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms has surrendered one of its two buildings at Regent’s Place in London, paying £149m at the end of September to break the lease, the FT says.
The Financial Times (FT) is said to be considering scrapping its print newspaper in some countries around the globe as its traditional readership continues to decline. Last year, the FT’s UK print readership fell 16% to 135,000, according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). Digital subscriptions, however, rose by 13%, topping 1m for the first time. Digital content revenues rose by £26m to £193m. The FT is owned by Japanese media giant Nikkei and employs 2,700 people worldwide.
Over-50s insurance specialist Saga is postponing the sale of its underwriting business despite having established terms for the disposal and being in discussions with a number of suitors, as “the Board believes there is potential to generate greater value once market conditions improve,” CEO Euan Sutherland in a statement this morning.
Specialist insurer Hiscox is selling DirectAsia, its business operations in Singapore and Thailand, to Ignite Thailand Holdings for an undisclosed sum. DirectAsia’s primary business is motor insurance, and in 2022 it had gross written premiums of $52.5m. Hiscox's decision to divest is part of the group's previously announced strategic review of the business to focus on key markets where it sees the greatest opportunities to maximise value for shareholders, the company said earlier. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of 2023.
Coindesk reports that Chase UK is to ban customers from making payments using cryptocurrencies from mid-October, saying “fraudsters are increasingly using crypto assets to steal large sums of money from people”. The retail banking arm of JP Morgan told customers in an email they would still be able to make payments through other banks, but warned “you may not be able to get your money back”. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of crypto scams targeting UK consumers, so we have taken the decision to prevent the purchase of crypto assets on a Chase debit card or by transferring money to a crypto site from a Chase account,” a spokesperson said.
Citigroup’s British CEO Jane Fraser has delivered an uncompromising message to staff as she overhauls the US bank - telling them: “We have incredibly high ambitions for this bank and, the train, it's going to move fast. So lean in, help us win with clients, help us deliver the changes, or get off the train.” Fraser, appointed in 2021, has been equally blunt on previous occasions, the Daily Mail says. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier in the year, she said staff working from home would be brought back to the office for “coaching” if they were not pulling their weight. The bank’s share price has fallen by a third during her tenure and earlier this month she announced sweeping changes that will strip out a layer of management and cut an as yet unspecified number of jobs.
A female staff member has died at the Center Parcs resort in Woburn Forest, Bedfordshire, in what the firm said was a 'tragic accident' that happened on Friday night. A spokesperson for Center Parcs said: “We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of one of our team at Woburn Forest, our thoughts are with her family, friends and her colleagues at this time. We are in contact with her family, and we are offering support to them and any of our colleagues at Woburn Forest who have been affected. Center Parcs is working closely with all the relevant authorities following this incident.”
The Crown Estate, the company which manages the monarchy's vast property interests, is looking for a new chairman, working with headhunters at Korn Ferry on plans to find a successor to Sir Robin Budenberg. The process is not yet formally underway but is expected to be shortly, according to City sources who have contacted Sky News. Sir Robin, who also chairs Lloyds Banking Group, has chaired The Crown Estate since August 2016. He was appointed to serve a second four-year term in 2020, meaning his tenure is due to end next summer.
TalkTalk CEO Tristia Harrison is stepping down in March next year, after six years in the role, by which time she is expects to have completed leadership of a new transition board to oversee the process of carving the firm into three separate consumer, business and wholesale divisions. She will then take a seat on the board of the wholesale unit. TalkTalk is expected to make around 50 redundancies as a result of the break-up, and plans to cut its sales and marketing spend by 40%. The company has also put its business-to-business division up for sale in a bid to shore up its balance sheet. TalkTalk’s new wholesale platform will be led by Tom O’Hagan, founder of Virtual1, which the company acquired last year. Adam Dunlop, formerly managing director of TalkTalk Direct, will take over as chief executive of the consumer division.
David Walliams is suing his former bosses at Britain's Got Talent - 10 months after he was axed as a judge. The 52-year old comedian, who is worth around £17million, according to the Daily Mail, is said to be seeking significant damages following his resignation from the ITV show, produced by Fremantle, in November last year, after a 10-year run. The move was prompted when a transcript of highly derogatory and sexualised remarks Walliams made off-air about contestants was leaked to The Sun newspaper. The show had netted him £1.5m per year.
US President Joe Biden’s competition tsar has accused Amazon of using “punitive and coercive tactics” to lock in businesses and squeeze money from Prime subscribers. Lina Khan, Democratic chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), yesterday sued Amazon to block its “unlawful” online marketplace monopoly, as did 17 US states, with the suit claiming the online giant used its dominance to keep prices high; that it forced sellers to use its own delivery services; had taken to providing biased recommendations and search results that favour its own products; and has gradually degraded the customer experience of its online store, littering the website with products that sellers have paid to boost even if they are of inferior quality. The lawsuit added that sellers were routinely “punished” if they offered products for less on rival websites, as Amazon would reduce their visibility on its store. Khan said Amazon had made its service worse for the “tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon”. The FTC said it is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction ordering Amazon.com to stop its unlawful conduct. Amazon has rejected the allegations. David Zapolsky, Amazon’s general counsel, said: “Today’s suit makes clear the FTC’s focus has radically departed from its mission of protecting consumers and competition. If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers, and reduced options for small businesses.”
JPMorgan Chase said yesterday it had reached settlements with the US Virgin Islands and former executive Jes Staley to resolve lawsuits over sex trafficking by the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. The bank said its $75m (£61.41m) settlement with the US Virgin Islands includes $30m (£24.56m) to support charitable organisations, $25m (£20.47m) to strengthen law enforcement to combat human trafficking, and $20m in lawyer fees. It did not admit liability in agreeing to settle. The terms of its settlement with Staley, a former Epstein friend who had been JPMorgan's private banking chief, are confidential. In June, JPMorgan agreed to pay $290m (£237.43m) to resolve claims by dozens of Epstein's accusers. Epstein had been a JPMorgan client from 1998 until 2013, when the bank terminated their relationship. "The firm deeply regrets any association with this man, and would never have continued doing business with him if it believed he was using the bank in any way to commit his heinous crimes," JPMorgan said in a statement.
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