Category Archives: Low pay

Inflation update and the fall in real wages

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Paul Evans

The November inflation figures have just been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). CPI is now running at 10.7% with RPI also down slightly at 14%. All the forecasts have been suggesting that it will level off at … Continue reading →

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Living Wage Foundation brings its annual announcement forward

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Paul Evans

As reported here in the summer, The Living Wage Foundation has brought forward their announcement of the annual Living Wage/London Living Wage increase. The new figures are £10.90 (90p increase)/£11.95 (£1 increase) respectively – the largest ever annual increase (last … Continue reading →

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Inflation update – August 2022 figures

Posted on September 15, 2022 by Paul Evans

A pleasant surprise came with the August 2022 inflation figures. CPI was down the 9.9% with the annual RPI inflation rate staying level at 12.3%. CPIH is also slightly down at 8.6%. Most forecasters were expecting further increases. Last month, … Continue reading →

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July inflation figures. There’s no good news here…

Posted on August 17, 2022 by Paul Evans

By now you will probably have seen this morning’s announcements about July’s inflation rates. CPI has reached 10.1% (RPI = 12.3% and CPIH = 8.8%). The Bank of England is predicting that it could go as high as 13% thanks … Continue reading →

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Irish basic income for arts workers – update

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Paul Evans

I’ve already posted a couple of times about the plan to pilot a sectoral Basic Income for arts workers in Ireland. Today I attended a TUC seminar on this with Karan O Loughlin from SIPTU (the Irish union that covers … Continue reading →

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Living Wage Foundation response to the cost of living crisis

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Paul Evans

As the cost of living soars at rates not seen for more than thirty years, the Living Wage Foundation has announced plans to bring its annual announcement forward from November to late September. The previous figure was announced in mid-November … Continue reading →

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Ireland ‘Universal Basic Income for artists’ update

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Paul Evans

As mentioned here previously, the Irish government is toying with the idea of offering a Universal Basic Income for artists and arts sector workers [£] to help even out the bumpy income that comes with freelancing. More details are emerging … Continue reading →

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April inflation figures – again, worse than expected

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Paul Evans

Even by the standards of the past 18 months where all forecasts have been shown to be over-optimistic, the leap in CPI inflation between March and April from 7% up to 9% is a startling one. Here’s the ONS summary … Continue reading →

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Labour market enforcement – update

Posted on April 28, 2022 by Paul Evans

Reading my copy of PIRC’s quarterly Work newsletter, I see that there’s no mention of the budget / timetable for the proposed Single Enforcement Body (SEB) that we are hoping to see from the UK government. There is an ongoing … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment Contracts, Employment Law and Rights, Gig economy workers, Low pay, Minimum wage rates, Wages and Pay-rates | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to calculate inflation between two dates.

Posted on March 29, 2022 by Paul Evans

Imagine you wanted to work out what an inflation-rate increase between two dates is? Here’s an outline that I’ve drafted with extensive help from Nick Kardahji in the Prospect research team. Say you are preparing a pay claim for some … Continue reading →

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How inflation is affecting individual households

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Paul Evans

Further to the previous post on the cost of living, Bectu reps may wish to circulate this Office for National Statistics (ONS) page on how to calculate your personal cost-of-living changes.

Posted in Economics, Housing costs, Inflation, Low pay, Minimum wage rates, Pay & inflation, Wages and Pay-rates, Welfare and benefits | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Getting the current cost-of-living crisis in perspective

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Paul Evans

How can we understand the current cost of living crisis in perspective when talking to Bectu members about their wages? One way would be to look at it over a few years. In the past few days, coincidentally, I’ve had … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Freelance working, Inflation, Low pay, Pay & inflation, Wages and Pay-rates, Wealth inequality, Welfare and benefits | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Sunak’s spring statement 2022 – initial details

Posted on March 23, 2022 by Paul Evans

Firstly, with inflation up again at 6.2% from 5.5%, the growth forecasts are fairly conservative at the moment and “we don’t really know how the situation in Ukraine will affect all of this” runs like a subtext to all of … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Freelance working, Inflation, Low pay, National Insurance Contributions (NICs), Productivity, Tax | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Changes to Statutory Sick Pay and Employment and Support Allowance (CoViD)

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Paul Evans

On Monday, the Prime Minister announced an end to day-one access to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), effective from the 1st April 2022. After that point, workers suffering from CoViD-related illness will have to wait until their fourth day of illness … Continue reading →

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Food shopping costs soar

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Paul Evans

Behind a lot of the headlines on inflation (soaring energy and fuel costs in particular), there’s one other important factor to bear in mind – particularly for people on low incomes. While the CPIH inflation rate puts the impact of … Continue reading →

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What do employers need to do to retain talent?

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Paul Evans

It’s something of a recurring theme from the Pensions & Investment Research Consultants (PIRC), but all of the research (including their own work with Autonomy and Survation – [pdf]) point to a need to pay people better, treat them with … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Employment Law and Rights, Long hours, Low pay, Management, Mental Health, Productivity, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Knowing how much retirement income you need

Posted on December 3, 2021 by Paul Evans

Bectu is going to keep nagging freelance members to get a pension because freelancers in the UK generally have shockingly underfunded retirements. There are lots of other posts on this site about pensions if you want to read into this. … Continue reading →

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The Relph Report (2002) on low budget films

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Paul Evans

In 2022, our Copyright Committee will be looking at issues relating to ‘residuals’ – giving workers ‘points’ in films that they work on. Just going through the archives, I’ve found The Relph Report from 2002 [pdf] that talked about how … Continue reading →

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Cost of living price rises – it’s all bad news

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Paul Evans

There’s lots of bad news around for anyone who isn’t enjoying significant wage rises at the moment. ONS figures are reporting that the consumer prices index (CPI) measure of annual inflation rose to 4.2% in October, up from 3.1% in … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Inflation, Low pay, Minimum wage rates, Pay & inflation, Wages and Pay-rates | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Universal Credit and self-employed earnings

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

The minimum income floor was reintroduced from August 2021, having been suspended soon after the start of the lockdown in April 2020. Broadly, the Work Allowance and taper rate are the same as for employed people. However, a ‘Minimum Income … Continue reading →

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New ‘Living Wage’ published

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Paul Evans

The Living Wage Foundation has published their new ‘Living Wage’ rates – up from £9.50 to £9.90 across the UK (40p increase), and from £10.85 up to £11.05 in London (20p increase). The Living Wage rates are the only rates … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Housing costs, Inflation, Low pay, Minimum wage rates, Pay & inflation, Wages and Pay-rates | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Calculating freelance income for the purposes of Universal Credit

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Paul Evans

All of the basic info about this is fairly easy to find on the .gov website – this is a good place to start. The key thing to remember is that, when you are self-employed, the government tends to think … Continue reading →

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Surprising-yet-unsurprising news about people thinking of leaving their jobs

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Paul Evans

The most surprising-yet-unsurprising nugget here is that “…the majority of those considering quitting had been offered no incentives to stay by their employers.” 📰📰NEW STUDY: How to Solve the Labour Market Crisis by Raising Standards Labour shortages are a principal … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Inflation, Long hours, Low pay, Mental Health, Pay & inflation, The working environment, Wellbeing, Work-life balance | Tagged , | Leave a comment

National Living Wage will rise to £9.50 an hour

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Paul Evans

The 59p increase for workers over 23 – up 6.6% from £8.91 reflects the inflationary pressure outlined here a few weeks ago. The new rates will rise from 1 April 2022 as follows: National Living Wage for over-23s: From £8.91 … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Inflation, Low pay, Minimum wage rates, National Insurance Contributions (NICs), Pay & inflation, Tax, Trades Unions, Wages and Pay-rates, Wealth inequality | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

There’s a lot of job-switching going on

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Paul Evans

Following on from two posts here this morning about inflation/pay, and the tight labour market, here’s a third on the trinity of issues that are creating a fair wind for union-type demands at the moment. Sarah O’Connor in the FT … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Low pay, Pay & inflation, Productivity, Wages and Pay-rates | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Why unions matter – the economic argument

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Paul Evans

Here’s a web page that I return to fairly regularly when thinking about wage growth (or lack thereof). Firstly, there this:   And then there’s this: See the link?  

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Class based exclusion in the creative sector

Posted on September 10, 2021 by Paul Evans

In a huge wake-up call for the creative sector, the (NESTA) Creative Industries Policy and Research Centre have published a damning report on class-based exclusion. The UK’s #CreativeIndustries would need to employ 250,000 more working-class people to be as socio … Continue reading →

Posted in Equality, Low pay, Minimum wage rates, Skills & capacity, Wages and Pay-rates, Wealth inequality, Welfare and benefits | Tagged | Leave a comment

MPs call for Pension ‘sidecar’ to help workers with no/low cash reserves

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Paul Evans

This is not news (it’s dated April 2021), but something that Prospect’s pensions specialist Stewart Mott has pointed me at. Broadly, it’s a proposal for a new ‘sidecar’ savings mechanism within pension auto-enrolment to encourage employees to build up emergency … Continue reading →

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Employers minimum-wage shame list and how it affects freelancers

Posted on August 5, 2021 by Paul Evans

From an HMG press release earlier today: Today (Thursday 5 August) 191 businesses are being named for breaking the national minimum wage law. Following investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, a total of £2.1 million was found to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment Law and Rights, Freelancer rights, Low pay, Minimum wage rates, Pay & inflation, Wages and Pay-rates | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Lower pay in the performing arts

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Paul Evans

One of the biggest factors adversely affecting diversity in the cultural sector is low pay at the entry level – effectively excluding entrants on lower incomes. 🎭Those in the performing and creative arts face the lowest salaries after graduating. 📉They … Continue reading →

Posted in Diversity of representation, Economics, Employment, Low pay, Race equality, Wages and Pay-rates, Wealth inequality | Tagged | Leave a comment

Ofcom on industry’s diversity obligations

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Paul Evans

The broadcasters have an “existential” obligation to improve social class and geographical representation, according to Ofcom’s @dawes_melanie https://t.co/YVhtUXKi7K pic.twitter.com/M7egqNZJ84 — Broadcast (@Broadcastnow) July 19, 2021  

Posted in Diversity of representation, Equality, Film & TV industry policy, Low pay, Regulation, Wealth inequality | Tagged , | Leave a comment

TUC insecure work report

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Paul Evans

The TUC have published a special edition of their Jobs and Recovery monitor,and this time it’s focussed on Insecure Work [PDF]. From the exec summary… The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the reality of insecure work in the UK. Care workers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Employment Contracts, Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gig economy workers, Low pay, Welfare and benefits | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What the Wilson era can teach us.

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Paul Evans

Welcome to an era when a stronger welfare state was seen as a pre-condition for economic dynamism. When a robust social infrastructure helped workers take risk. New piece by me on why Harold Wilson’s forgotten agenda is relevant to the … Continue reading →

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Pandemic impact on women’s employment

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Paul Evans

We expected women to be hardest hit jobs wise by this crisis – but we were wrong… new deep dive into the gender impact of covid out today https://t.co/NDcTQX1Kqs pic.twitter.com/hEsWzNXefz — Torsten Bell (@TorstenBell) June 14, 2021

Posted in Equality, Gender representation, Gig economy workers, Low pay | Tagged | Leave a comment

Upward pressures on low-pay casual wages

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Paul Evans

This, from the US. It will be interesting to see how the same thing plays out in the UK, with the added spice of Brexit and migration. In the US, one in four workers thinking of leaving their jobs, according … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus, EU & Brexit, Gig economy workers, Low pay, Minimum wage rates, Pay & inflation, Wages and Pay-rates | Leave a comment