Latest Articles By Simon Collyer

Chelmsford has been praised for its high economic activity after recent figures released by the Department of Work & Pensions reveals that the city has one of the lowest rates of people claiming out-of-work benefits in Essex. The number of people...

40,000 houses in London are owned by by shell companies and many houses are empty. Houses are bought for speculation. Ordinary Londoners are being driven out of London. Low interest rates are transfering wealth from the poor to the rich. The London h...

The Supreme Court has rule that Employment Tribunal fees are illegal. A case had been brought by the Trade Union Unison. The charges to bring a case to an Emplyment Tribunal ranged from £390 to £1,200. Prior to 2013 it was free. The Gover...

Mr Clegg of the ONS kindly responds.  Mr Collyer, Thanks for your e-mail. Your linked piece asks about the international definition of unemployment, which we use in our labour market statistics. These are specified by the International Labour Or...

HMRC have been busy.  The naming and shaming scheme was revised in October 2013 to make it simpler to name and shame employers that do not comply with minimum wage rules. The 197 cases named today (11 August 2016) were thoroughly investigated by...

There is a lot of talk going on about the Unemployment Statistics.  Real unemployment is being claimed as more than four times the official figures. Around 21.5% of all working-age people (defined as ages 16 to 64) are without jobs, or 8.83 mill...

The proportion of economically active people aged 16 and over who are out of work and seeking work is known as the unemployment rate. As shown at Figure 11 (which shows unemployment rates for people, men and women), the lowest unemployment rate for p...

Plaid Cymru has warned that up to 3,700 families in Wales have lost out on support after the Labour Welsh Government cut the Family Fund budget. The fund, which distributes grants to families with ill and disabled children, helped 1,686 families last...

Parents across Scotland have been warned that child benefit and child tax credits will stop if they don't tell the taxman of their child's educational status by the end of this month. HM Revenue and Customs says that parents must let them know by Aug...

Public sector workers have been complaining about low pay. The take-home pay of senior civil servants had fallen by 23% in real terms since 2010. The Senior Salaries Review Body that recommends pay increases for senior Whitehall roles has warned that...