Public sector

The UK's tax-collecting service is praised by MPs for recovering billions of pounds in lost revenue - but it could have been considerably more if it had not shed so many jobs.

Tens of thousands of civil servants are striking on Thursday in a dispute over the government's public sector pensions reforms.

Almost 80,000 retired public sector workers are receiving pensions of £25,900 a year or above - more than the average yearly salary - according to new research.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt pledges to give the Leveson inquiry all private texts and emails he sent to his special adviser, as pressure grows for an inquiry into his handling of the BSkyB bid.

Too many children are being excluded for minor issues such as chewing gum or not wearing uniform, the children's commissioner for England says.

Union leaders are threatening industrial action, after local authorities said 1.6 million council workers are to be hit by a pay freeze for the third year in a row.

The government's latest reforms to public sector pensions will not benefit the taxpayer in the long run, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank.