A quarter of private sector employers expect to be employing more people in one year’s time, but in the public sector no increase is expected during the same period. This is a key finding from the quarterly survey of HR trends and indicators by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development which covers over 1,300 employers, employing nearly 1.3 million people in the UK. Although there are employers in the public sector who expect to employ more staff, these increases are entirely offset by those expecting to employ fewer. This trend reflects the implementation of the Gershon efficiency review which recommended cuts in the civil service and other back-office jobs across the public sector.The survey also found that ongoing labour market pressures are still showing no sign of fuelling inflationary pay increases. One in four employers expect pay to remain stable or rise by less than 2%, and fewer than 5% of employers expect increases to exceed 4%. The vast majority (68%) expect pay increases to average between 2% and 4%.

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Business taxes raised from new developments should be ploughed back into local communities according to the Local Government Association. The Association is calling for councils to be able to raise funds locally to help foot the bill for major regeneration schemes.The LGA is putting forward a range of radical options for plugging what it sees as the gap in infrastructure funding for new development. The proposals include allowing business taxes from new developments to be put back into local communities rather than going to the Treasury. That, says the LGA, will mean local authorities can deliver essential services such as roads and schools to new communities when they need them rather than doing so years into the future.

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A new report says that for most of the growing number of women who go out to work, organising childcare is a highly complicated process in which the slightest disruption can cause a crisis. The report from the Economic and Social Research Council says that for people living in cities pre-school arrangements, even for the well-off, typically involve three or four different types of regular care and it says current policies are out of touch with modern realities.The report follows a study led at University College, London, by Professor Linda McDowell. It says childcare involves careful scheduling in time and travel. For many families jobs have become increasingly insecure, temporary or casual, and the hours demanded have either increased or become less regular in terms of day and night shifts and the working week. At the same time the growing dominance of low-paid service sector work has made it increasingly difficult for people relying on a single wage to have reasonable living standards. That has forced many working class couples to have two or more jobs in order to survive.

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