(Sharecast News) – Maintaining the triple lock on state pensions could add as much as £45bn to the welfare bill by 2050, putting “insurmountable pressure” on the government to increase the minimum retirement age, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In a report published ahead of the release next week of official data for earnings growth, which will be used to set the annual increase in pensions, the IFS estimates spending on retirees could rise by a further £2bn from April 2024. – Guardian
Five million single-use vapes are being thrown away in the UK every week, a fourfold increase on 2022, research has found. This amounts to eight vapes a second being discarded, with the lithium in the products enough to create 5,000 electric car batteries a year. – Guardian
Hiring is falling at the fastest pace in more than three years in a sign that soaring interest rates are starting to cool down the jobs market. Employers are feeling increasingly cautious about taking on new staff and many have hiring freezes in place, recruiters reported, according to a closely watched survey by accountancy giant KPMG and industry body the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC). – Telegraph
Deloitte has cemented its position as the biggest of the Big Four accounting firms by winning business advising on climate change and cybersecurity risks even as its financial advisory services suffered amid a dearth of takeovers. The group’s global revenue in its latest financial year, which ran until the end of May, rose 14.9 per cent to $64.9 billion, a fresh record and higher than its rivals EY, KPMG and PwC. – The Times
The self-styled “voice of British business” and the manufacturers’ group Make UK have confirmed they are in talks about areas of potential collaboration that could be the prelude to a full-blown merger. “Make UK and the CBI are in early-stage discussions to explore how the two parties might work closer together,” Make UK, which speaks for 20,000 companies and three million people in the manufacturing and engineering sectors, told Sky News. “These discussions are positive and constructive but remain at an early stage.” – The Times
