Alex Collinson

Analysis and Research Officer at @The_TUC. (All views my own)

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

@Ankaman616 takes a lot of money to convince someone to wrangle a gilet onto a polar bear

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

Mostly now doing the usual combo of labour market charts & inane posts on the other site under alexcollinson

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

The tories were in power for 14 years but left office with real pay only slightly higher than when they entered it.

They not only failed to address the post-financial crisis pay squeeze, but actively worsened it with policies like public sector pay freezes.

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

New ASHE data published today. Collected each April, it's the UK's most comprehensive pay data set.

This year's reiterates how awful the tory government's record on pay growth was.

Between 2010-2024, annual real wage growth averaged just 0.3%.

Pre-2010, it averaged 1.5%.

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

Difficult to underplay just how bad the previous tory government's pay record is.

Annual real wage growth averaged just 0.3% across their 14 years in power.

According to historical estimates, this makes them the worst government for pay growth since the 1920s.

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

@hkatewilliams congrats!

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

@hollium An anthem for our economy

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

They’re security tagging the olive oil.

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

I need Wallace to let people know where he's getting these off-white knitted shirts from.

[Netflix @netflix]

Wallace is in trouble. Who could possibly be behind all this?!

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl premieres January 3.

[Tom Pollard @PollardTom]

The most striking aspect of these findings, beyond the sheer hardship people are enduring, is that inadequate benefits, rather than 'incentivising' people, fundamentally constrain their ability to overcome challenges & improve their circumstances https://t.co/UyBsCdd34v

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

@BruceReuters yeh i imagine company justifies it on basis of it not being busy, but it's not busy because it's completely unreliable

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

@BruceReuters Rely on a northern train to visit my mum and now just take it as granted that two-in-three of the once-an-hour trains on a Sunday will be cancelled due to last minute timetable changes.

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

From the DWP research into Universal Credit and childcare:

Childcare is the biggest barrier to work that parents on Universal Credit face.

61% say childcare makes it difficult to get into work or increase their earnings, rising to 74% of parents of pre-school age children

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

A lot in these. Looking at the one on benefits and debt: DWP's own research shows that people on Universal Credit are, on average, in four different types of debt. And the majority (60%) are behind, or have recently been behind, on housing costs. Same percentage for council tax.

[Tom Pollard @PollardTom]

A quick heads-up to DWP wonks that a huge tranche of almost 30 research reports has been published today (presumably held back under the previous government?) covering Universal Credit, childcare, disability & pensions - lots of interesting stuff in there https://t.co/tKWv6MkofV

[Trades Union Congress @The_TUC]

Our sick pay system is broken...

And we need decent sick pay for all in the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill.

The UK’s statutory sick pay the worst in the OECD - only 18% of the average weekly wage.

❌ Only 54% get full pay
❌ 28% get SSP
❌ 10% get nothing

We call for:

✅ SSP available for all
✅ Remove 3 day wait for payment
✅ Increase SSP

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

As ever, it's worth noting that there's a big class divide when it comes to sick pay.

If you're in well-paid work, you very likely get paid as usual when ill. If you're in low-paid or insecure work, you're much more likely to be reliant on statutory sick pay or nothing at all.

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

Get the vibe that the snowman has been reading a lot of the menswear guy’s tweets.

[Frances Ryan @DrFrancesRyan]

“The Gaza war is a mass disabling event, where the casualties are not only those who die but those who survive.”

One year on, I wrote about a hidden horror: the plight of disabled Palestinians - and the tens of thousands of civilians maimed by Israel. https://t.co/EVOEOvTC7O

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

Live in London but all my family in the north west. Used to be kinda affordable to visit for the weekend. Now it's expensive even when booking way in advance and using a day's annual leave to avoid travelling at weekend/during rush hour. Train itself often delayed or cancelled.

[Alex Collinson @Alex__Collinson]

Pitchfork best hundred songs of the decade so far has missed off the actual best song (remembering the 2007 Groove Armada single Song 4 Mutya exists and listening to that instead of anything new).