Industry News

Recruitment at Christmas

Note to all job seekers!

There is a misconception that employers stop recruiting over Christmas period and leave it till the New Year- this is completely untrue. Many of our clients keep recruiting right through the holiday season.

You may well be winding down for the Christmas break, but this makes it a great opportunity for recruitment. You will perhaps have a little more available time in which to focus on the recruitment process, and less day-to-day pressure means it’s an ideal time to ease yourself into the business and be trained in readiness to hit the ground running in January.
 
Job seekers also maybe put off if they have no more annual leave left- but no need to worry, as office business tends to slow down during the festive period! Potential employers are more willing to interview out of hours if candidates are looking to start now or in the New Year.

So! If you are currently thinking about looking for that new opportunity, email a copy of your CV and one of our consultants would be more than happy to assist you find that right role, and help you start your New Year with fresh new start.

[email protected]

 

Digital law firm created to meet growing demand

A  solicitor has created what he claims is the UK’s first firm dedicated to digital law.

Peter Wright founded DigitalLawUK, based in south Yorkshire, after dealing with millions of online documents for a miners’ case he was involved with at a previous firm.

The increasing need for advice on online security inspired him to create the firm with his wife Heather Anson, a US attorney. The firm advises on data protection, copyright, social media policies and freedom of information.

‘A lot of companies know they have to be careful with data, but don’t really understand all the complexities of the law,’ said Wright. ‘You can have the IT department saying one thing, HR another, marketing something else and the legal team caught in the middle, and the risks are not taken seriously.

‘We can come in and look at it all as a whole and work out exactly what is going on and make sure everything is legally compliant. The alternative can be fines and damage to reputation.’

Wright said companies are having to find ways of staying compliant in the midst of rapid technological change. Other aspects, such as social media policies included in employment contracts, are prone to change and are still [...]

October 29th, 2014|Industry News|

Claims Team Leader

We are looking for an experienced Claims Team Leader to join a busy Wirral based firm of Solicitors.
September 8th, 2014|Industry News, Job Vacancy 2016|

Merseyside claimant levels fall 4.45%

Claimant levels across Merseyside fell 4.45% last month, from 35,188 people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) in July last year, to 33,619 last month.

All six Merseyside regions reported a drop in claimant levels, with Liverpool enjoying the biggest fall of 523, from 14,206 in July 2013.

Sefton enjoyed the second biggest drop of 369, from 5,220 claimants this time last year, followed by Wirral which was down by 298 from 5,510. Halton reported a 137 reduction, from 2,663, while Knowsley’s level fell by 125 from 3,760, and the St Helens level of 3,712 showed a drop of 117.

The fall in the number of claimants mirrored the national picture, revealed by the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today.

It said unemployment has continued to fall, while the number of people claiming JSA is on course to dip below a million for the first time in six years.

The UK jobless total was 2.08 million in the quarter to June, down by 132,000 on January to March and the lowest since the end of 2009, giving an unemployment rate of 6.4%.

The claimant count fell for the 21st month in a row in June, by 33,600 to 1.01 million, according to [...]

August 13th, 2014|Industry News, Latest News|

Sloppy cut-and-paste CVs costing graduates top jobs

Sloppy cut-and-paste CVs costing graduates top jobs: Employers struggling to fill vacancies due to glut of poor applications

Research found applicants pasting wholesale from previous attempts
Sometimes the graduates mixed up which company they were applying to
Findings come from employers including Procter & Gamble and Rolls-Royce

After years of study at elite universities, you could presume that our brightest students would emerge knowing how to apply for a job.

But top employers are struggling to fill graduate vacancies due to a glut of sloppy applications. A leading recruiter said students about to leave university take a ‘scattergun’ approach to sending out CVs rather than properly researching each position they apply for.

Some simply cut and paste paragraphs between cover letters, and even mistakenly refer to rival companies.

They do not always understand the basic requirements of the job they are applying for or even what the role involves.

This is despite the fact that many applications are from final year students at leading universities who are expected to achieve at least a 2:1 degree.

Research carried out by the Association of Graduate Recruiters – which represents leading firms including Procter & Gamble, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Rolls-Royce UK – has cast doubt on the calibre of today’s [...]

Workers in Wirral begin 48-hour walkout in bid to protect 300 jobs

Staff at Land Registry office in Birkenhead picketed outside building as they held a two-day strike.
May 15th, 2014|Industry News|

Unemployment in the UK: regional breakdown

Unemployment in the UK: regional breakdown

The UK unemployment rate drops to 7.1 per cent, the Office for National Statistics reveals.

The UK unemployment rate has dropped to 7.1 per cent.
The number of people out of work fell by 167,000 to 2.32 million in the three months to November, the Office for National Statistics said.

Region / Total unemployed / Change on quarter / Unemployment rate
North East / 134,000 / plus 1,000 / 10.3%
North West / 270,000 / minus 24,000 / 7.9%
Yorkshire/Humber / 235,000 / minus 8,000 / 8.4%
East Midlands / 149,000 / minus 28,000 / 6.4%
West Midlands / 222,000 / minus 32,000 / 8.1%
East of England / 178,000 / minus 7,000 / 5.7%
London / 354,000 / minus 18,000 / 8.1%
South East / 244,000 / minus 29,000 / 5.3%
South West / 187,000 / plus 15,000 / 6.8%
Wales / 108,000 / minus 12,000 / 7.2%
Scotland / 176,000 / minus 25,000 / 6.4%
Northern Ireland / 63,000 / plus 1,000 / 7.3%

January 22nd, 2014|Industry News|

Lawyers protesting outside courts over legal aid cuts

Thousands of criminal case lawyers are not attending courts in a number of cities in England and Wales, in protest at planned £220m cuts to legal aid.
January 6th, 2014|Industry News|

Remaining employees pose tribunal threat to businesses

Trend of employees bringing claims for stress against their employers
December 10th, 2013|Industry News|

SRA plans to waive £80 fee for LPC students

Students enrolling on a legal practice course (LPC) next September will no longer have to pay the Solicitors Regulation Authority an £80 registration fee – a move which could cost the SRA £680,000 per year.

The proposal to end the formal registration process, due for to be approved tomorrow, follows the SRA’s red-tape cutting initiative announced earlier this year. It appears in the SRA’s Training for Tomorrow: Regulations Review consultation, part of an immediate review into regulatory requirements for education and training.

The regulator says that only 3% of the 9,000 students it enrols each year require an assessment of suitability and that ‘a more targeted, proportionate and efficient way of identifying character and suitability issues’ should replace the current process.

If approved, formal registration will be replaced by a requirement for students to notify the regulator that the period of training has commenced and when it is expected to conclude.

Loss in income from registration fees would be offset by administrative savings, the SRA said.

The SRA is not at this stage changing the requirements to complete an academic course and an LPC. Proposals to overhaul this route will not come into force until 2017/2018 at the earliest, the regulator said in [...]

November 27th, 2013|Industry News|

Unemployment falls to three year low – but more people than ever are working part-time

Today’s figures show almost 30 million people are in employment, but a record number are working part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs.

The number of people in work has reached an all-time high of almost 30 million, but a record number are working part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs.

Today’s figures showed the employment total is the highest since records began in 1971, with a huge increase of 177,000 between the three months to June and the quarter to September.

At the same time, unemployment fell by 48,000 to 2.47 million, the lowest since the spring of 2011.

The number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance was cut for the 12th month in a row in October, down by 41,700 to 1.31 million, the lowest for almost five years.

The number of people classed as economically inactive, including those looking after a sick relative, or people who have given up looking for work, also fell – down by 69,000 to 8.92 million.

But other data from the Office for National Statistics showed 1.46 million people were working part-time because they could not find a full-time job, an increase of 24,000 over the quarter, and the highest figure since records began in 1992.

Almost a [...]

November 13th, 2013|Industry News|

HMRC pledges new crackdown on employers not paying minimum wage

Letters will warn suspected firms of being ‘named and shamed’ and fined £5,000 if they use long-term unpaid interns

The government will toughen enforcement against employers who do not pay the national minimum wage today when it writes to hundreds of companies warning them they could be targeted for on-the-spot checks by the taxman.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will warn 200 businesses who have advertised placements for unpaid intern-ships that they could be “publicly named and shamed” and may be liable for a £5,000 fine if they are found to be in breach of national minimum wage laws.

The move will coincide with the launch of a national campaign to educate students about their employment rights as they enter the job market.

HMRC said that from the tax year in April, it had issued penalties to 466 employers, a significant rifrom 2009/10 when just 381 employers were issued with an HMRC penalty for not paying the minimum wage, currently at £6.31 for those aged 21 and over.

Business, Innovation and Skills minister for employment, Jo Swinson said there was “increasing concern” around unpaid internships especially in the current economic climate.

“Those occasions when you have people working for months on end for free, [...]

November 12th, 2013|Industry News|

Stay in Liverpool, McVey urges young people.

As jobless figures rise on Merseyside, Minister says people can be part of Liverpool’s renaissance.

Stay in Liverpool and be part of the renaissance of a “maverick” city, new employment minister Esther McVey urged young people across Merseyside.

The Wirral West Conservative MP – one of the biggest winners in last week’s reshuffle – was confronted with unemployment figures showing the number of jobless aged 16-plus in the North West has jumped by 24,000, climbing to 294,000 for the three months to August.The overall unemployment rate has gone up from 7.8% to 8.6%.Ms McVey acknowledged the situation was “tough” but insisted that young people who are asking whether they should stay in the city could play a major role in its transformation.

Describing her own background running a business office providing space for start-up companies, she said: “I had a lot of graduates from Liverpool University come to work for me because they loved the city. So I would totally say, if you buy into that city and you love that city, because it is fantastic, do stay there and be a part of the renaissance.” The employment minister also acknowledged that these were not easy times for people who had been [...]

October 17th, 2013|Industry News|

Unemployment in the UK dropped to 7.7%

The rate of unemployment in the UK dropped to 7.7% between May and July from 7.8% in the previous three months.
The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has said that interest rates are unlikely to be raised before the rate falls to 7%.

The number of people unemployed fell 24,000 in the period to 2.487 million.

The official figures also showed the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell 32,600 to 1.402 million, its lowest level since February 2009.

However, the number of people in part-time work rose to 1.45 million, the highest since records began in 1992 and double the number of five years ago.

Almost a third of men working part-time were doing so because they could not find full-time employment. The corresponding figure for women was 13.5%.
Information taken from BBC.

September 14th, 2013|Industry News, Latest News|