Online electrical retailer AO World is offshoring up to 200 UK call centre roles to South Africa despite an increase in profits. The retailer said the move was “in response to ongoing inflationary cost pressures, and particularly rising employment costs”. It said it expected to save about £4m a year as a result of the
UK chief executives still tend to be over-50 and male, research has suggested, with British boardrooms continuing to fall short when it comes to promoting youth and diversity compared with their European counterparts. The Route to the Top Europe 2026 report, by executive search company Heidrick & Struggles, concluded just 8% of UK chief executive
Usage of HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (Cest) tool fell by a further 43% during the 2025-26 tax year, continuing a dramatic downward trend that has seen overall usage collapse by 71% in just two years. A freedom of information request by off-payroll compliance specialist IR35 Shield revealed that the latest figures show total
Over a quarter of workers think managers and unions are failing to prevent conflict, according to a new survey by Acas. The conciliation service polled a sample of businesses and employees ahead of expanded rights for trade unions at work through the Employment Rights Act 2025. Twenty-six per cent of employees thought that managers and
A disabled NHS worker has lost tribunal claims for harassment and discrimination after her manager joked she would have her own ‘chauffeur’ due to her disability travel grant. Lauren Phillips took Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to tribunal with claims of disability discrimination, harassment, failure to make reasonable adjustments, discrimination arising from disability and
Here’s a roundup of numbers from the last week — including how many hiring managers think artificial intelligence tools could hurt their company’s brand. Source: www.hrdive.com
The government will phase in mandatory real-time reporting of tax and national insurance contributions for certain benefits in kind (BIK) and taxable expenses. HMRC had previously planned to introduce mandatory payrolling for all BIK from April 2027, but will now introduce this in phases, having gathered feedback on the measures. Phase one will begin from 6
Reform UK’s plan for a ‘Women and Motherhood Protection Act’ has been described by trade unions as a “shameless and deceptive” attempt to distract from policies which slash women’s rights. Reform said the new Act would bring together “key protections currently scattered across different laws”, including equal pay, sex discrimination, employment rights, unfair dismissal and
The University of Dundee has announced plans to cut 190 jobs in a bid to address its financial deficit. The university has already cut around 675 jobs through voluntary redundancies, but still needs to make savings of around £20 million. In November 2024, it told staff that job losses were “inevitable” due to a £30
Employers could overcome skills shortages by creating more accessible routes into work for those not in employment, education or training (Neet), according to research from the Open University. The OU’s annual Business Barometer found that 57% of employers feel there is currently a skills shortage in their organisation, yet almost a fifth (19%) have cut
