The Chancellor's Budget speech on 22 April delivered little in the way of good news.

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Pay & Benefits Bulletin
   QUICK LINKS ANALYSIS  |  NEWS   |  PAY AWARDS   |  DATAFILE   |  MORE FROM IRS...
  THE EDITOR'S MESSAGE Issue 710 
  RECESSION TAKES ITS TOLL
Sheila Attwood, Editor

The Chancellor's Budget speech on 22 April delivered little in the way of good news. Eye-catching items included the downgraded growth forecasts for the UK economy, and an increase in the tax rate for high earners. Behind the main headlines were a number of measures of interest to HR professionals, including changes to statutory redundancy pay, save-as-you-earn and company car schemes. Our analysis of the Budget brings together all the key changes you will need to know about.

With the bleak economic outlook, it is clear that the Government is keeping to its pledge of exercising restraint in the pay awards for public servants this year, as our review of the pay review body awards shows.

While employers have little room to manoeuvre on wages, many are looking at how their benefits packages can help them stand out from the crowd. We look at how engineering and construction company Subsea 7 has used flexible benefits as a recruitment and retention tool.

Other top stories in this issue include:

Also in this issue we present detailed coverage of five new pay settlements: CNH UK, Greggs, Lafarge Cement, teachers in Scotland and Waitrose.

XpertHR Sheila Attwood
Editor,
Pay and Benefits Bulletin

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  ANALYSIS

Budget Report 2009: no silver lining

We sum up the Chancellor's verdict on the state of the economy and identify the proposals of most interest to pay and HR professionals.

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Public sector pay review bodies 2009: Government imposes pay restraint on senior staff

This feature looks at the pay awards received by police officers, the armed forces, the judiciary, senior civil servants and "very senior managers" in the NHS, along with parliamentary pay rises. Although the Government has accepted the recommendations for some of these groups, it has reduced the recommended pay awards for many senior public sector workers.

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Case study: Flexible benefits boost retention at Subsea 7

Subsea 7's flexible benefits scheme and its employee share purchase plan have helped boost employee engagement, recruitment and retention.

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RELATED ARTICLES ON XPERTHR

Pay Intelligence April 2009

Pre-Budget Report 2008: gambling on economic recovery?

Public sector pay 2008

Councils opt out of national pay agreement

Survey: Benefits and allowances 2008

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  NEWS

Finance sector gender pay gap is double that of whole economy

Men working full time in the finance sector are paid 55% more than their female full-time counterparts when the difference in average gross annual pay is examined, according to research published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

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Directors, managers and professionals: pay growth slows to five-year low

The recession is hitting UK managers' pay packets hard, with executive pay showing its slowest rate of increase for five years according to the latest research from CELRE - XpertHR's salary survey unit - and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

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UK employers target "high-calibre" recruits without raising salaries

Employers are using the recession as a strategic opportunity to strengthen the skills base of their workforce without increasing salary costs, according to research from recruitment specialists Angela Mortimer.

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Earnings inequality increases job satisfaction, Danish research finds

An employee's job satisfaction increases when there is evidence that their co-workers earn more than they do for similar work. This is the potentially controversial conclusion of research from academics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

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Company car providers are hit hard by recession

Company car providers are suffering from cost-cutting measures among their clients in response to the recession, according to the latest quarterly survey from fleet management company GE Capital Solutions, Fleet Services.

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PM seeks review of MPs' pensions

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has written to the Government Actuary informing him that he has asked the Senior Salaries Review Board to conduct a review of the parliamentary pension arrangements, reports Personnel Today.

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RELATED ARTICLES ON XPERTHR

Finance sector pay 2008

Conducting an equal pay audit

Benefits and allowances 2008: travel and subsistence benefits

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  PAY AWARDS

Pay reports recently added to the site:

CNH UK: 1.5% basic increase

Greggs: retail staff see 3% basic increase

Lafarge Cement UK: 4.32% basic increase

Teachers in Scotland receive basic increase of 2.5%

Waitrose: up to 3.5% increase for store staff on adult rates

Pay review update: 8 May 2009

The latest pay review update table contains pay settlements at Guardian News and Media, Komatsu UK, Orbit Housing Group Ltd, Robert McBride, Southern Water, Waitrose and many more.

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RELATED ARTICLES ON XPERTHR

Pay Intelligence April 2009

Latest on pay awards, wage and salary levels

Official figures

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  DATAFILE

Statistics and forecasts

The datafile contains the most recent inflation, earnings and labour market statistics, pay settlement data and inflation and earnings forecasts. Our panel of City and academic forecasters expects retail prices index (RPI) inflation to fall to -3.2% in the third quarter of 2009. Earnings growth is expected to average between 1.8% and 2.2% throughout 2009.

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Economic indicators

Statutory rates

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  MORE FROM IRS...

From the blog

Launched and run by the editorial team that produces XpertHR and the IRS e-journals, the Employment Intelligence blog is regularly updated with news, comment and links to the latest employment developments. Recent posts include:

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