News

Health service strikers set fire to their dismissal notices while they protested outside their bosses’ headquarters. The NHS workers committed the act on the fourth day of a five-day strike over proposed jobs losses and pay cuts in Wakefield. NHS chiefs in the region need to make cuts of £24 million by April, and in November the trust sent redundancy letters to 74 members of staff.

Raiders used an axe to smash and grab diamond rings and necklaces from a jewellery store. The two thieves ransacked the premises in Edinburgh on January 15. The raiders are both described as being 20 to 30 years old, and wearing jogging bottoms and hooded tops. Both perpetrators had their faces concealed in the £1 million raid. Officers went back to the scene in a bid to trace potential witnesses who may have been in the vicinity at the time.

A survey says starting salaries for university leavers will grow this year. Graduates will look likely to earn £26,500 on average in 2013, up from £26,000 last year, and £25,000 in the three years from 2009 to 2011, predicts the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR).

A masked duo stole a four-figure sum from a shop. The two men are described as between 5ft 2in and 5ft 6in and of heavy build. They threatened with a blunt weapon the two members of staff, an 18-year-old man and a woman aged 26 who had been left traumatised, in Inverclyde, Scotland. Police are anxious to trace a small, light-coloured vehicle which they believe the men involved in the attack made use of when leaving the robbery scene.

Youth unemployment has almost reached one million and the fitness industry is being used to combat the problems the 16 to 24 age group is experiencing in finding work. The industry’s skills body SkillsActive is at the centre of this effort by creating a programme called ActiveAmbition which engages with employers. SkillsActive pointed out that the take-up of personal trainers is increasing 15 per cent year on year. Many of these jobs go to the 16 to 24s.

Unemployment in the UK has gone down again during the last quarter. The number of unemployed adults fell below 2.5 million, according to the latest official figures released this week. Furthermore, the government-backed Workplace Employment Relations Survey revealed that three-quarters of employees were happy in their job. The WERS interviewed more than 20,000 staff and managers during 2011-12.

The government has just launched a scheme to help employers cut down sickness absence at work. The service will support workplaces with no access to occupational health. Sick leave and similar forms of absence cost employers and taxpayers an estimated £9 billion a year in sick pay and other associated costs.

The Bank of England says bonus rules for bankers should be tougher and be geared towards the long term. The Bank of England’s financial stability director Andy Haldane said City bonuses should be deferred for five to 10 years to avert short-term risk taking.

A set of toilets have been closed after vandals ran amok inside. The yobs’ handiwork caused flooding and damage to the block in a Durham village. A council employee had to shut the building in St John’s Chapel after reporting that in the male toilet the WC, hand basin and the urinal had all been blocked with fish and chip wrappers. Council officials only refurbished the facilities to the tune of £27,000 five years ago.

Police today (January 21, 2013) said they have made an arrest over a missing £230,000 car. The highly-prized Ferrari 458 Italia, thought to be the only one of its kind in the UK, was taken from a dealership in Surrey nearly a fortnight ago. CCTV footage taken at the site showed the distinctive black car being loaded on to a flatbed vehicle before being driven away. Police said the theft was “planned and well-organised”.

Equipment from summer Olympic venues will come to the aid of a school gutted by fire. The school’s insurers have arranged temporary accommodation from London 2012 sites to be transported over and they will be reassembled as classrooms. A second fire to strike in a dozen years at Lytchett Minster Upper School had destroyed the arts and theatre block last month. The blaze at the Dorset school is believed to have been started by a lightning strike.

An under-fire council has gone public on its financial strategy options, which include dropping wage rises for its top staff. Also up for discussion is dismissing the senior employees at Caerphilly council and offering to re-engage them on their previous terms and conditions.