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The Government has responded to reports that bonuses of up to £20,000 will be awarded to more than 1,000 civil servants. The Cabinet Office said payments covering the 2010/11 financial year will be confirmed over the next few weeks.

Michael Leahy, leader of the Community trade union, said the announcement of a steel plant reopening was "fantastic". The site in Redcar, in the north-east, had been lying unused for 12 months after a major contract had fallen through, causing the loss of 1,600 jobs.

“First it was bad weather. Now it is the Royal Wedding…” was part of criticism handed out yesterday (Tuesday, July 26) of the UK Government’s running of the economy.

A fire authority has had to get rid of 100 jobs in order to meet budget cuts. Previous cost-cutting measures at Merseyside Fire Service have included imposing a three-year pay freeze.

"The RMT won’t agree to anything that compromises the job security of members," said the boss of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union over the current row on signal box workers.

Jon Andrews, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the cost to UK business of workers taking sick leave was up to £32 billion per year. The company asked more than one thousand people, of whom 34 per cent admitted having taken time off under false pretences.

The UK’s biggest care home operator is set to shut down because landlords owning all 752 of its care homes said they wanted to depart the group.

Council workers in Southampton were aggrieved that they had to agree to new wage-slashing contracts and demonstrated against the city council. The authority’s leader Royston Smith said: "I acknowledge and understand people’s right to demonstrate.

New BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten wants the senior management wage bill reduced at the organisation. He added that "of course the organisation isn’t perfect" and faced financial challenges.

All but three UK stores at a struggling upmarket furniture business are being put into administration in a deal to sell it. Habitat is continuing to make a loss, with the company blaming trading conditions which “have remained challenging for retailers of big ticket items such as furniture”.

Predicted as part of a city’s new anti-poverty strategy, a report claims more than 6,000 jobs may be lost in Portsmouth within three years. The city council’s cabinet is discussing the findings, which say the losses are mainly down to government cuts on public spending.

Three teachers’ unions were among those taking industrial action across the UK today (Thursday, June 30). The government said about 40 per cent of state schools in England and Wales have been closed or partially shut.