UK Confirms Double Dip Recession

The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirms that the UK entered a double dip recession, having also contracted by 0.3% in the last three months of 2011.

The UK economy contracted by even more than first estimated in the first three months of 2012, with revised GDP figures showing a decline of 0.3%.

UK coming out of recession?

UK unemployment falls 45,000, mortgage lending goes up - are we finally shaking off recession? @BBCBusiness

May 16, 2012 1:19 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@PaulMacKenzie_C

P MacKenzie-Cummins

The total number of jobless fell to 2.63 million, according to the Office for National Statistics, its lowest level since last summer. That brought the unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2012 down to 8.2%, from 8.4% in the last three months of 2011.

Allied Irish Banks PLC to cut 2500 jobs in Ireland and UK

Allied Irish Banks PLC said it will seek to lay off 2,500 staff, or about one-in-six of its total payroll across Ireland and the U.K., in what it says is the single largest announcement of Irish finance job losses since the country was overwhelmed by its banking crisis in 2008.

RBS cuts 215 jobs in UK

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Britain’s largest government-controlled lender, said it was cutting 215 U.K. jobs and moving the posts overseas.

The cuts will fall on support staff at the bank’s finance division, mainly in Edinburgh and London, a spokesman said. The reductions are in addition to the 6,800 job losses announced since August. About 250 posts will be created overseas, the lender said.

Salford City Council cuts 400 jobs

Salford City Council has planned to cut 400 jobs and £24m cut from next year’s budget.

Joe Murphy, who is responsible for the council’s workforce, said: “We have tried our best to avoid compulsory redundancy.

“The people employed by the town hall have had their wages frozen and are facing extra costs and uncertainty.

Lloyds Banking Group to cut 990 jobs

Lloyds Banking Group announced 990 job cuts, which, part of last year’s broader plans to slash 15,000 jobs across the company.

Around 990 positions would go as the result of site closures in Lloyds TSB Scunthorpe, Lloyds TSB Dudley and its wholly-owned HBOS susidiary units at Romford and Newcastle.

BBC to cut 2,000 jobs

The British Broadcasting Corp (BBC), the world’s biggest public broadcaster, plans to cut 2,000 jobs and move offices and production outside of London as part of an effort to reduce costs after its funding was frozen.

Cigna threatens 500 Delaware layoffs

Health insurance giant Cigna Corp. is using the threat of 500 Delaware layoffs to press a demand that federal policymakers exempt their Claymont-based international insurance business from new rules in last year’s federal health care law.

BBC cost-reduction plan may cut 3,000 employees

The British Broadcasting Corp. could cut 3,000 staff over the next five years to cut costs amid a freeze in the U.K. licence fee, the Sunday Times reports without citing any sources.

The report said the BBC will submit a 20% budget reduction plan to the BBC Trust in the autumn that will see a sharp cut in its 17,000-strong permanent workforce.