Falling productivity cost food and drink producers an extra £400M in labour costs last year, a report has revealed, as manufacturers are urged to make strategic changes ahead of more challenging market conditions.
New police-style powers have been given to the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) to tackle modern slavery and labour exploitation in the agri-food supply chain.
The Chancellor Philip Hammond has been urged to avoid “ditching diesel” or lifting beer tax in his first budget to be delivered on Wednesday (March 8).
Britain’s lowest paid workers are the target of a new government advertising campaign, designed to make them aware of their rights, ahead of the rise in National Minimum and National Living Wage rates next month.
Employers “should face jail” for failing to pay staff the minimum wage, the Unite union has claimed, after the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) named and shamed 360 companies who owed workers nearly £1M in unpaid wages.
Samworth Brothers Ltd has defended its decision to sack an employee, after the Bakers’ Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) slammed the dismissal as “shameful”, claiming the employee was sacked for “naming and shaming” Samworth Brothers over contractual...
The rise in the National Living Wage for over 25s, from £7.20 per hour to £7.50 per hour, could cause “another headache for food and drink manufacturers,” warns law firm Gordons.
Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement drew a mixed reception from the food and drink manufacturing and logistics sectors, with praise for the doubling of export finance capacity to support trade but questions raised about the rise in the...
Up to 7,803 UK food and drink manufacturers are now in a state of financial distress following the introduction of the National Living Wage, revealed insolvency firm Begbies Traynor.
Food and drink manufacturers are preparing to manage the impact of the National Minimum Wage boost, which came into force on Saturday (October 1), said the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
A Shropshire-based fresh produce recruitment agency has been stripped of its licence for systematically ‘skimming’ workers’ pay, resulting in employees receiving less than the national minimum wage.
Samworth Brothers remains at the centre of a row about alleged cuts to pay and conditions, made in a bid to offset the impact of the National Living Wage, after Channel Four News claimed it had seen company documents confirming the cuts.
Food and drink manufacturers, alongside other businesses nationwide, are steeling themselves for the introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW) from today.
Chilled fish supplier Icelandic Seachill has rejected accusations, made by Unite the union, it was guilty of “sleight of hand” over its handling of the National Living Wage.
Up to 900,000 jobs could be lost from the British retail sector by 2025, partly due to rising costs linked to the National Living Wage and the new apprenticeship levy, warns the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Government proposals to reform the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), as it steps up the fight against labour exploitation in the UK, have been welcomed by the enforcement body.
Food and drink businesses have been named and shamed for owing employees almost £4,000 in wages in a report on 92 offending companies by the business minster.
The National Living Wage (NLW) – which comes into force in April – will place extra costs on many small food and farming businesses, already struggling to cope with other government changes being introduced at the same time, warned industry bosses at...
The food and drink industry should prepare now for next April’s introduction of the national living wage, which may force some businesses to locate outside the UK, warns a recruitment agency.
Discount retailer Lidl is to invest £9M in paying its 17,000-strong UK workforce the living wage – the nation’s first supermarket to achieve the landmark.
Food and drink manufacturers in the UK won't be able to afford the £7.20 an hour National Living Wage (NLW) when it comes into force next year, according to a recent survey.
Implementing the National Living Wage could wreak havoc across the UK’s food and drink industry, the credit rating agency Moody’s warned before several major UK manufacturers raised their concerns.
Food and drink manufacturers will find points to praise and areas of disappointment in the chancellor George Osborne’s summer Budget – which he lauded as “a new contract with the nation”, according to the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).
The Conservative party has pledged to double start-up loans for businesses and more than double the number of apprentices in its 2015 General Election manifesto.
Labour pledged to expand the role of the supermarket watchdog to protect food producers, create better paid jobs and apprenticeships across the rural economy, while creating a “world-leading food, farm and fisheries sector” in its manifesto released yesterday...
The minimum wage should rise to £10 an hour, according to the Bakery Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), which today launched a campaign to drive it up (February 19).
A gangmaster has lost her licence after what a judge described as “a serious dereliction of duty” in her treatment of workers picking peas and Brussels sprouts.
The food industry should brace itself for an increase in labour costs as the number of people in employment reaches record levels, warns the Association of Labour Providers (ALP).
Resources are scarce to police employee abuse in the food industry and the rise of zero-hour contracts has made workers more vulnerable, according to a senior employment lawyer.
Faccenda Foods has boosted workers’ pay to at least £7 an hour in what a spokesman for the company called “an important first step” towards paying staff a Living Wage.
A Scottish gangmaster who illegally supplied workers to Scottish vegetable farms, paying below minimum wage, has been ordered to perform 180 hours of unpaid community work.
Premier Foods and other food and drink manufacturers are teaming up with retailers to tackle Britain’s youth unemployment, as part of the grocery think-tank IGD’s Feeding Britain’s Future campaign.
The rise in national minimum wage for adults, announced by business secretary Vince Cable, could drive small- to medium-sized food manufacturers (SMEs) out of the UK, a bakery boss has warned.
Support for investment and help to boost exports and cut energy costs are three topics topping the food and drink industry’s wish list from chancellor George Osborne’s Budget, to be delivered later today (March 19).
The head of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) has branded the punishment of a gangmaster who illegally supplied up to 70 Filipino workers to dairy farmers “bitterly disappointing”.
Around 1,200 workers at the 2 Sisters Food Group’s sites in the West Midlands are being balloted for industrial action in a dispute over pay and conditions and a culture of alleged bullying.
Chilled food manufacturer Greencore has again denied claims that it had breached employment law, as members of the union Unite flew to Dublin today (August 30) to lobby ceo Patrick Coveney.
Diesel prices will rise 1ppl today in the second of three planned fuel duty rises during 2010/11, while the National Minimum wage also increases from £5.80 to £5.93/hour.
The recent move by Asda to pay under 18s the same hourly rate as older workers has opened a debate on whether there should be changes to the national...
