For many years, job references were regarded as a voluntary duty which most employers were happy to provide but which were subject to no enforceable rules. Recent cases, particularly the Guardian Assurance case of 1994 shows that providing a job reference can be a legal duty, and that any error in a reference which prejudices...Read More

New Deal 50 plus was launched nationally on 6 April 2000. It is intended to help workers aged over 50 to return to work. Elements of the package inclue: a guaranted minimum take-home pay of £170 a week; personal adviser, jobsearch help and training support worth £750; a tax-free employment credit of £60 a week...Read More

The government launched a new Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit in 2000 to help adults who lack basic skills, such as literacy and numeracy. It is estimated that seven million adults lack basic skills to look up a plumber in Yellow Pages. Some of the proposals will involve employers co-operating in helping workers obtain these...Read More

A significant extension has been anounced to Employment Services Direct, a dial-a-job service launched by the government in 1999. The service received two million calls in its first year. It has found 1,200 jobs every week. Women and rural dwellers have been among its biggest users. Under the scheme, unemployed people will receive calls each...Read More

Employment zones started on 4 April 2000 in eleven areas. A further four will start soon. [2000]Read More

In the first nine months of 1999/2000, 106,000 childcare places have been created, the government has announced. This exceeds the year’s target of 82,000 places, indicating that the final total may exceed the target by 50%. [2000]Read More

Tranches of Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 are brought info force on various dates: stakeholder pension scheme regulations from 1 October 2000; pension-splitting on divorce provisions on 1 December 2000; miscellaneous regulations about pension schemes on 25 April 2000; the requirement to provide a national insurance as a condition for claining child benefit on...Read More

Clothes retailer Austin Reed suffered a 5% sales drop during 1999 which it blamed on the increasingly less formal dress codes in the work place. [2000]Read More

BMW dominated the news over Easter 2000 with its proposed closure of the Longbridge car plant. The company intends to sell the Rover-making plant to venture capitalists Alchemy with massive job losses. The government has been involved in talks to minimise the consequences of the closure. These include a £5.5 million package to re-skill former...Read More

The proposed merger of two German banks in 2000 to create the world’s largest bank collapsed in acrimony. Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank were due to form a £20 billion merger. Talks collapsed over the future of London-based investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Bensen. [2000]Read More