Latest Articles By Simon Collyer

EMPLOYMENT - The new record high employment rate is at 76.3%, with the unemployment rate not lower since 1974. Wage growth has outpaced inflation for the 22nd consecutive month. The number in work has hit yet another record high and the unemploy...

HMRC -  Response from The People's Pension to the Which? report on tax return confusion (first issued under embargo yesterday) Gregg McClymont, the director of policy at The People’s Pension and a former shadow pensions minister, said: “The Whic...

PETITION RECORDED IN HANSARD - Universal Credit Bonus Payments.       David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP) Image:David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP). It is always a pleasure to see Elderslie’s most famous daughter in the Chair, Madam Deputy...

SCOTLAND - Today’s highlight is that Scotland’s unemployment fell slightly (-7,000) and at 3.8% is down 0.3 p.p. from the three months before (June to August). This is slightly up from the year before (+4,000) and up from the record low of 3.2%...

PRESS RELEASE - Simon Collyer, the founder of the Association of Pension & Benefits Claimants CIC - called the ABC for short, has been asked to speak at two schools in Portsmouth on the morning of the 24th Jan; the Portsmouth Academy and Springfi...

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS - NI - Minister announces introduction of Early Conciliation in Northern Ireland for employment-related tribunals. The Minister for the Economy, Diane Dodds, today announced that Early Conciliation in employment disputes wil...

UNIVERSAL CREDIT - The government has been urged to think again about its tax and benefit rules for low-paid workers after it emerged that some staff at the bakery chain Greggs could get to keep just a quarter of their £300 annual bonus as...

HOSPITALITY - The number of small pubs and bars in the UK has increased for the first time in more than 15 years.  The net closure of pubs in the UK has been well documented by several organisations, including the British Beer and Pubs Associati...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Homeless women ordered by a California judge last week to leave a vacant house they illegally occupied in Oakland for two months were evicted before dawn Tuesday by sheriff’s deputies in a case that highlighted the state’s s...

GOVERNMENT INTIATIVE - The government have launched a new intiiative called the mid-life MOT.  This is what the UK government has to say.  What is the mid-life MOT? The mid-life MOT is free online support to encourage more active planning i...