The strength of the UK jobs market and rates of pay has been overstated, according to new research, just as the government prepares to cut back its wage support scheme for furloughed workers this week. There is a risk of “dangerous complacency”, the Resolution Foundation warned, as people are still working fewer hours than they were before the pandemic and headline pay growth is overstated. – Guardian
With days to go until the phased ending of the stamp duty holiday, thousands of homebuyers will be desperately hoping they can complete their purchase before Wednesday night, because if they don’t they face having to find as much as £15,000. A significant proportion of home purchases – some agreed as far back as the spring – are thought to be hanging by a thread as conveyancing solicitors struggle to complete purchases before the 30 June deadline. – Guardian
The City watchdog has banned one of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchanges from operating in Britain amid mounting fears over the rise of cryptocurrency crime. The Financial Conduct Authority ordered Binance Markets Limited to remove all advertising and financial promotions by Wednesday and told the firm it must not carry out any regulated activities in Britain without prior consent. – Telegraph
Ministers are under fire for allowing scores of unaccredited “backyard” Covid testing labs to operate, which could be providing unreliable results. Tony Cooke, chief executive of Cambridge Clinical Laboratories, has warned of dozens of “pop-up labs” that have come into existence to cater to growing numbers of people hoping to access private testing to go on holiday and do other activities. – Telegraph
Suggest to the boss of Britain’s biggest nightclub operator that the drinking in his venues inevitably leads to snogging and he’ll give you an earful. “How outdated!” he snorts. “Nightclubs haven’t done slow dances for 25 years. Get real!” Peter Marks’s outburst is hardly surprising given that his company’s 47 sites have not been able to operate as fully fledged nightclubs since March 2020 because they are regarded by the government as hotbeds of physical contact and, by implication, propagators of coronavirus. – The Times
The British biotechnology company making the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is awarding US-based non-executive directors up to £50,000 more a year and overseas executives significantly higher share bonuses under a new pay policy which governance experts have warned creates a “two tiered” system. Oxford Biomedica, the FTSE 250 company, has introduced a maximum long-term share incentive for overseas executive directors of 500 per cent of salary, compared with an increase from 100 per cent to 175 per cent for domestic executive directors and from 125 per cent to 200 per cent for John Dawson, its chief executive. – The Times
