UK employers are warned...

UK employment minister Mark Hoban has issued a warning to employers who participate in the government’s welfare-to-work scheme will see promised government projects handed over their competition if they feel to provide sufficient employment opportunities for the country’s unemployed.

According to Hoban, a number of companies taking part in the government’s £5 billion funded work programme were succeeding in entering an insufficient number of people into sustained employment through the scheme. The employment minister responded by stating that should they would be checking the performances of companies invited to take part in the scheme and those deemed to be performing below standard as far as creating job opportunities would see projects that had been allocated to them would be transferred to other companies who have performed according to the standards and very clear targets set.

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Avoid the long term effects of skipping loan repayments

It would be an interesting to be a fly on the wall of most UK families when that end the month comes around when they have to calculate who gets paid and who doesn’t out of an ever declining income and ever increasing day-to-day expenses.

Unfortunately statistics show that hundreds of thousands of cash-strapped UK families are opting to skip loan repayments, simply because they can't afford to pay them as well as by food or energy for the family.

Alarming statistics show that around 20% of UK families are doing irreversible damage damaging to their credit ratings by skipping payments. In many cases “skipping payments” may occur once every few months, and are rapidly made up. However the number of families and individuals are becoming serial” payment skippers” forcing some kind of action from finance companies and banks to recover the debt,

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When the going gets tough the Brits stop going.

The British people have long been known for their fighting spirit which has seen them through major wars and internal strife. With the country now living through its long-running period of economic struggle since the depression years of the 1930s, that fighting spirit has manifested itself in an entirely different way, as UK families dig in to see the financial downturn through. Even though it has now been running for close to five years

Signs of the struggle to keep their heads above water are everywhere, with the latest being an interesting statistic that has cropped up recently showing that with an increasing number of UK families appear to be travelling less. This fact is evidenced by petrol companies reporting that their forecourt sales have fallen to their lowest level for more than twenty years even though the number of new cars on the UK roads has probably doubled since then.

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Drawing in the horns? – Take a good look at your Insurance!

When it comes to insurance there are three simple rules- what you need- what you want and what you can live without.

In times of financial pressure the average UK family would be well advised to take a strong look at their living expenses, and decide where is the best place to make cuts.

One of the most sensitive areas as well as being among the most obvious when it comes to cost-cutting is insurance. Insurance costs can make up a very large part of a family’s budget, but an area of domestic finance that in too many cases is not looked upon properly allowing costs to run away out of proportion.

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Its official - Britain has avoided falling into its third recession

UK citizens can now breathe their first sigh of relief for quite a long time thanks to the news that the economy did better than had been predicted for the first quarter of 2013, meaning that the much feared triple dip recession will not be happening.

The news has to be regarded a major boost to Prime Minister David Cameron's much maligned coalition government, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announcing that gross domestic product (GDP) for the January-March quarter actually grew by 0.3 percent instead of retracting as many have predicted, especially when the previous quarter the fourth of 2012, saw a 0.3 percent downturn. However the humiliation of moving into recession for the third time since the global economic meltdown of 2008 has been averted.Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced the hard to disguise his enthusiasm for the unexpected upturn stating that the last quarter figures represent an encouraging sign that the UK economy is making progress.

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Head of the Church of England has a word to say to the business world

It hasn’t happened too often in the history of the English Church, but the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby came to the job with a lot of knowledge of the business world having been a chief executive in an oil company before donning the “cloth.”

And now Archbishop Welby, after just a month in the job, has used his business acumen to speak out on the subject that obviously cares a lot about as he continues his role to increase levels of activism of the church in aspects of day-to-day life in the UK.

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BT looking to restore relations with O2

Following their surprise acquisition of almost £200 million of 4G super fast mobile coverage in the recent UK auction, British Telecom (BT) have reportedly set out in the search for a mobile phone company to partner them to renew their drive into the sector. Most market observers are predicting a reunion with O2, once a subsidiary of BT who they were forced, by government legislation, to part company with a few years ago.

Playing by the rules BT have already issued a tender requesting quotes from companies interested in providing mobile services to their customers, covering both the domestic and business markets. In recent years broadband supply to the domestic sector has not been among the list of priorities at BT. However with the dramatic increase in demand matching their ability as well as the necessity to sell some of the bandwidth that they have committed themselves to taking, the domestic market may suddenly appear to be a more attractive proposition for BT and in line with their desire to increase their market penetration.

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The number of UK citizens turning to food banks on the increase

Disturbing statistics issued recently by the Trussell Trust, the largest network of UK food banks, as shown that the number of people in Britain forced to take advantage of the emergency food rations service that they offer has increased by more than 100% in the last twelve months.

The reasons stated for this disturbing phenomena are being largely attributed to a combination of government spending cuts and incomes being gradually eroded due to the ravaging effects of inflation that has seen tens of thousands of UK families move below the poverty line,.

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Google under fire for dodging their UK tax obligations.

Most UK citizens, if given the opportunity, would have to admit that they are impressed with the search engine giant Google and the remarkable success and affect they have had in a world largely dominated these days by the Internet.

The question is would these people feel the same if they knew how little the Google organisation pays in the way of their tax obligations on the close to £3 billion they earned in 2012 in profits in the UK alone. Unlike a typical UK taxpayer or even a typical UK business, Google have the power as well as the influence to make sure that they pay tax on their profits at a ridiculously low level.

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The Winston is on its way to UK Wallets

It is that time of the year when the Bank of England begin to announce all of the new banknote designs even though they were only enter into circulation the autumn of 2016. This time around the Bank of England have been proud ounce that the British bulldog face of Sir Winston Churchill will feature on the reverse of the new £5 note, as well as one of his most celebrated quotations ““I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”Sir Winston will be replacing lesser-known social reformer Elizabeth Fry on the five pound note, with her only current distinction being that she is the only member of the fairer sex to currently feature on any UK banknote.

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