Uber seeks talks with Khan to renew licence
Uber could make concessions to ensure its London operating licence is renewed, its chief in the capital says. Tom Elvidge said the ride-hailing app firm would “like to know what we can do,” but that would require talks with Transport for London (TfL) – “dialogue we sadly haven’t been able to have,” he says.
Uber has hired Thomas de la Mare QC, who has been successful in a previous legal battle with TfL, to fight the decision to revoke its licence in London. “The decision highlights the vulnerability of gig economy workers, because they are classed as ‘workers’ rather than employees, so there will be no right to a redundancy payment and no obligation to consult,” said Nick Elwell-Sutton, an employment partner at law firm Clyde & Co. The ride-hailing company has been accused of failing to undertake proper checks on drivers and adequately report crimes committed by them. It has also come under fire for offering poor working conditions, with unions saying TfL would have to insist Uber guaranteed basic employment rights to secure renewal of its licence.
Fall in net migration leaves recruiters struggling
The fall in UK net migration is making it harder for the finance and engineering sectors in particular to recruit skilled staff, according to the Association of Professional Staffing Companies. Finance and banking saw the most marked increase in vacancies, with 12% growth in the six months to the end of August. Elsewhere, economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch predict that immigration into the UK could fall by 100,000 as a stronger eurozone economy and a fall in the value of the pound encourages EU workers to stay put.
Gender pay gap widens for managers
Female managers in the UK earn close to £12,000 less on average than their male counterparts, new research has found. The gender pay gap for the UK’s 3.3 million managers now stands at 26.8%, according to analysis by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and XpertHR.
The figure is considerably higher than the average of 18.1% for all workers, or 9.4% for full-time staff. It is based on new reporting requirements and includes salaries and bonuses, as well as benefits such as car allowances and commissions.
CMI chief executive Ann Francke said: “Too many businesses are like ‘glass pyramids’ with women holding the majority of lower-paid junior roles and far fewer reaching the top.
“We now see those extra perks of senior management roles are creating a gender pay gap wider than previously understood.”
She said the figures underlined the need for the government’s new gender pay gap reporting regulations. They require UK companies with more than 250 employees to publish their gender pay gaps within the next year, starting with a snapshot at at 5 April. Just 77 of the 7,850 employers covered by the new rules have yet done so, the CMI said.