Glasgow's council threatens to sack and rehire 23,000 staff to bring in equal-pay grades that cut wages for about one in nine

The rest of the day

12 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Coventry women reopen equal pay claims

   The GMB union has reopened equal pay claims against Coventry City Council, and just under 300 people have now joined its legal challenge. [9] The claims say men collecting bins could go home when their round was finished, while women in jobs rated at a similar level had to work their full shift. [9] The council has set aside 9m pounds this year and the same for each of the next two years. [9] The final bill could pass 30m pounds, and the council says talks have not broken down. [9]

   Why it matters — Coventry is the same problem Glasgow has, at an earlier stage: a perk attached to a job mostly done by men. [9][7] The money set aside comes out of the council's own yearly budget. [9]

2. 03

   Hacked accounts used to rob friends

   Money stolen through hacked email and social media accounts in the UK rose from 1.2m pounds in 2024-25 to 6.3m pounds in 2025-26. [11] The figures come from Report Fraud, the reporting service run by the City of London police. [11] Criminals take over an account and use it to sell fake tickets, such as for sold-out concerts, to the owner's friends and family. [11] One music fan's hacked Instagram account was used to take 1,400 pounds from her friends. [11]

   2024-251.2 m pounds

   2025-266.3 m pounds

   Why it matters — The money is taken from the people who trust the account owner, not from the owner. [11] Many victims never report it, so the real total is likely higher. [11]

3. 04

   UK student tower blocks go bust

   Several owners of private student tower blocks in the UK have gone bust as fewer students come from abroad and borrowing and building costs rise. [12] In Dundee, nearly 70 students had to find new homes after the owner of the 116-room Marketgait Apartments failed to repay a 5.7m pound loan. [13][12] Outside London these blocks charge about 191 pounds a week on average, including bills. [12] Unite Group, the biggest owner, plans to shrink from 72,000 beds in 29 cities to 55,000-60,000 in 20. [12]

   Coventry69.9%

   Glasgow71.3%

   Bristol89.7%

   Exeter95.3%

   Why it matters — The blocks were built for students who could pay more, often from abroad, and fewer of them are coming. [12] Students who stay face moves at short notice, while 95% of new beds are being built in cities with Russell Group universities, a group of 24 leading UK universities. [12]

4. 05

   Unite cuts rents where rooms sit empty

   Unite Group said 95% of its beds were booked for 2026-27, the same as a year earlier. [14] It now expects rents to stay flat, after earlier guidance of a 1% to 2% rise. [14] An analyst at Panmure Liberum said Unite was keeping rooms full by cutting prices. [14] Earlier this year it cut rents and shortened tenancies in Nottingham, Leicester and Sheffield, and its Coventry rooms start at 99 pounds a week. [12]

   Why it matters — An analyst said bookings alone say little about demand, because Unite is filling rooms partly by cutting prices. [14] Students in weaker cities pay less this year while landlords there earn less.

5. 06

   Tories would cut student loans for foreigners

   The Conservatives, Britain's main opposition party, said they would stop student loans for people from outside the EU who are not UK nationals. [15] They would also close the EU Settlement Scheme, which lets EU citizens stay in the UK, to new claims. [15] The party says about 20% of student loans now go to non-UK nationals, up from about 10% in 2015, and puts the saving at about 900m pounds a year. [15] Reform UK says the Tories copied its own policy. [15]

   Why it matters — The party says loans that are never repaid count as government spending, and that non-UK borrowers repay less often. [15] The cut would land on students from abroad who live in the UK and rely on a loan to study.

6. 07

   Badenoch keeps the pension triple lock

   Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said in an interview shown on Sunday that her party would keep the triple lock, the rule that sets how fast the state pension rises each year. [15] The Times had reported that Katie Lam, a senior Conservative, told activists in June that an entirely new pension system would be needed. [15] The BBC presenter Laura Kuenssberg said the state spends 177bn pounds a year on pensions, and 55% of welfare spending now goes on them. [15]

   Why it matters — Badenoch said the problem is people who can work but do not, not pensioners. [15] Keeping the lock means the state pension, and its cost, keep rising each year by the highest of the three measures.

7. 08

   Tories say homes could cost 50,000 pounds less

   Andrew Griffith, the Conservatives' shadow chancellor, is due to set out his economic plans at the party's conference in Birmingham on Monday. [16] The party wants to scrap energy-saving building rules, including the future homes standard. [16] It says that could cut the cost of building a new home by up to 50,000 pounds, and expects buyers to save. [16] It would also scrap a scheme that makes firms pay for collecting and recycling their packaging, saying that would lower the weekly shop. [16]

   Why it matters — Buyers gain only if builders lower what they charge for each home. [16] Homes built without the energy-saving rules may need more heating, and the people living in them would pay for it.

8. 09

   MP presses regulator over app store fees

   Chi Onwurah, the Labour MP who chairs Parliament's science and technology committee, has called on the CMA, the UK competition regulator, to use its powers over Apple and Google. [17] The two charge app makers up to 30% on purchases made inside apps. [17] The CMA has found the two control at least 90% of UK phones. [17] Its consultation on letting app makers point users to cheaper ways to pay has closed, and a decision is due soon. [17] Research for an app makers' group puts the cost to UK consumers at about 700m pounds a year. [17]

   Why it matters — The fee is built into the price of subscriptions and in-app purchases, so phone owners pay it without seeing it on a receipt. [17] A binding rule would let app makers tell users about cheaper ways to pay outside the app.

9. 10

   India's central bank expected to raise rates

   The Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, ends its rate meeting on Wednesday 7 October. [19][18] Most economists polled expect it to raise its main rate, the repo rate, from 5.25% to 5.50%. [19][20] That would be its first rise since February 2023. [20] Thirty-five of 61 economists polled by Reuters expect the rise. [21] Prices rose 4.82% in the year to August, and the rupee has passed 96 to the US dollar. [19]

   Repo rate now5.25%

   Expected Wednesday5.5%

   Why it matters — It would follow rate rises in the US, Japan and Europe since the war on Iran began in February. [21] Indian households with loans would pay more, and savers would be offered more.

10. 11

    UK employers may still ask past salary

    UK employers are allowed to ask job applicants how much they earn now, but applicants do not have to answer, Acas, the official workplace advice service, told the BBC. [10] The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women's equality, says the question keeps old pay gaps going. [10] The European Union is bringing in rules that ban employers from asking. [10] The UK government's plans instead focus on making employers publish pay in job adverts. [10]

    Why it matters — A salary offer built on a person's last pay carries any old unfairness into the new job. [10] Glasgow's and Coventry's cases show how long such gaps take to undo once they are in a pay system. [7][9]

11. 12

    Uruguay tops a retirement-abroad ranking

    Uruguay has replaced Portugal at the top of Global Citizen Solutions' 2026 ranking of 46 visa schemes for people who retire abroad. [22] Mauritius came second, and six of the top ten are in Europe. [22] Portugal fell to fifth after it raised the wait for citizenship from five to ten years for most applicants from outside the EU in May. [22] Its scheme still asks for an income of only 920 euros a month. [22]

    Why it matters — Spain ranks third overall but last of 46 on tax, because it taxes residents on their income from anywhere in the world. [22] For a retiree, the tax rule can matter as much as the cost of living.

12. 13

    A German power tariff for heavy users

    SWK Energie, a German energy supplier, has launched an electricity plan marketed to gamers. [23] It is aimed at households using more than 2,500 kilowatt-hours a year, from gaming computers, electric cars or many devices. [23] The plan has a higher fixed base price, which the company says only pays off above that level of use. [23]

    Why it matters — A higher fixed charge with a lower price per unit rewards the biggest users and costs light users more. [23] The gamer marketing does not change the electricity, only the way it is priced.