£550M RBS BONUS POT TO REIGNITE ROW
Royal Bank of Scotland is set to reignite the row over pay today when it will reportedly reveal a £550 million staff bonus pot despite slumping into the red with an expected £8 billion loss.
The taxpayer-backed lender has agreed the bonus windfall with UK Financial Investments, the body charged with managing government stakes in banks, according to Sky News.
This would be a drop on the £607 million haul for 2012, although this is partly expected given the significant headcount reduction in its investment banking team.
3-YEAR PLAN TO TACKLE CHILD POVERTY
Controversial proposals to rewrite the official definition of poverty have been put on hold, Iain Duncan Smith signalled, as he prepared to unveil a three-year strategy to reduce the rate of child sufferers.
The Work and Pensions Secretary and Liberal Democrat education minister David Laws are expected to restate the Government’s commitment to end child poverty by 2020, despite recent rises and independent forecasts that the number of children in relative poverty could swell to more than three million by the end of the decade.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the new child poverty strategy could feature radical plans to cut water, food and fuel bills for low-income families as well as measures to address the “worklessness” afflicting the poorest households.
RED CARPET WELCOME FOR MERKEL
Angela Merkel arrives in London today for a high-profile visit which David Cameron hopes will bolster his bid to negotiate a better deal for the UK in the European Union.
The German chancellor, whose support will be pivotal to the Prime Minister’s reform efforts, is being granted the full red carpet welcome - including addressing Parliament and meeting the Queen.
She has been tipped to indicate her support for Britain staying in the EU and offer Mr Cameron backing over issues such as protecting non-eurozone countries from being outvoted on single market issues.
PLAN FOR BINDING ’PRENUP’ AGREEMENT
A so-called “prenup” law that allows a couple to set the terms of a divorce before they get married has been put forward by the Government’s law reform advisers.
Under the current law, couples can make pre- and post-nuptial agreements but they are not binding and the parties cannot be certain they will be upheld.
A report from the Law Commission, Matrimonial Property Needs and Agreements, includes a draft Bill which, if implemented, would bring legally-recognised “qualifying nuptial agreements” into effect.
SCHOOLS ’FAILING ON CAREERS ADVICE’
Careers advice for many teenagers is a “tick box exercise squeezed into a lunchtime break”, according to Nick Clegg.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader is due to announce that schools are to face tougher requirements to provide decent careers guidance to pupils.
He will also suggest that local employers should be represented on every school governing body and that secondary schools should be made to publish more information about what their students go on to do after age 16.
DISABLED CLAIMANTS ’WAITING LONGER’
Disabled people are facing “distress and financial difficulties” as a result of the slow processing of claims under a new Government benefit scheme, a spending watchdog’s report has found.
The National Audit Office found that claimants for the new Personal Independence Payment, which will replace Disability Living Allowance, were waiting an average 107 days - and terminally ill patients 28 days - for a decision on their cases, rather than the predicted processing times of 74 days and 10 days respectively.
Within six months of the introduction of PIPs in some areas of the north of England in April 2013, a backlog of 92,000 cases had built up with private contractors Atos and Capita and the Department of Work and Pensions had made decisions in only 16% of the expected number of cases.
RIGBYS: NOW LEE CAN REST IN PEACE
The family of murdered soldier Lee Rigby has welcomed the lengthy jail terms for his killers, saying he will now be able to rest in peace.
Michael Adebolajo, 29, was given a whole life term for the barbaric killing and Michael Adebowale, 22, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 45 years.
The fusilier’s mother, Lyn Rigby, 47, of Middleton, Manchester, said she spoke to her son as she watched the two fanatics receive justice.
MIGRATION FIGURES DUE FOR RELEASE
Official migration figures are to be released today amid growing concerns that Government curbs are sending a message out that Britain is “closed for business”.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the year to September 2013 will also reveal if the Government is moving closer or further from its target of bringing net migration down to the tens of thousands.
In the last set of quarterly statistics, released in November last year, net flow of migrants saw its first annual increase for two years.
HIGH COURT RULES ON POLICE SHOOTING
The High Court rules today on a bid by a police marksman to challenge a public inquiry finding that he used excessive force when he killed robbery suspect Azelle Rodney.
Lawyers for the officer, known only as E7, say the finding is “irrational and unsustainable”.
The marksman is asking two judges for permission to seek judicial review of conclusions reached by the inquiry chairman, Sir Christopher Holland, that Mr Rodney was unlawfully killed - a finding E7’s lawyers describe as “tantamount to murder”.
10,000 AT RISK OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
At least 10,000 women and children are at risk of being murdered or seriously injured in cases of domestic violence by partners or former partners, police figures show.
Police assessments from 33 of the 44 forces in England, Wales and Scotland obtained by the Guardian revealed that 10,952 people, mainly women, were categorised as being at high risk of facing a violent death in the home or of suffering severe violence, in the year to November.
The newspaper said that as domestic violence is widely under-reported the true figure is likely to be higher, and claimed that numbers could be further skewed by police forces gathering and collating information in different ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment