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Retirement age to rise by as much as six months per year. He said: “If someone works an extra year they can add 10 per cent to their pension for life.

Retirement age to rise by as much as six months per year

What we are doing is catching up with decades of longer living. “We are living longer but the labour market and people’s retirement age has not been keeping up. I have fought against a vague target of trying to get people to work longer to have something more specific.” The target is contained in a document released by the Department for Work and Pensions which makes clear that an increase of six months would be a “meaningful change”. “An increase in the average age of withdrawal of more than around 0.5 years would demonstrate an improvement,” the document states. Mr Webb has said that the growing numbers of people living into their eighties and nineties would leave taxpayers with a rising bill and meant “the sums” would never add up if people continued to retire in their fifties.

Mr Webb added: “It’s an ambitious target but I would think we wouldn’t be a million miles away from it already. Economy tracker: Unemployment. 19 March 2014Last updated at 06:42 ET Continue reading the main story Latest news: The number of people out of work fell by 63,000 to 2.33 million in the three months to January, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Economy tracker: Unemployment

The unemployment rate of the economically active population is 7.2%, and the number of people in work is 30.19 million. The claimant count - the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance - fell by 34,000 to 1.17 million in February. Understanding unemployment: A person is classed as unemployed if not only out of work, but also actively looking for work and available to start work within a fortnight Unemployment figures are based on a survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics. Unemployment is referred to as a lagging indicator, because businesses will often delay laying people off as long as they can in difficult times.

UK house price growth rate slowing, Halifax says. The annual house price growth rate has peaked at 10% and will now continue to grow at a considerably slower pace, Halifax said after reporting a modest 0.6% rise in prices for September.

UK house price growth rate slowing, Halifax says

The price of the average property rose to £187,188 last month, up just over £1,000 from August, said the country’s biggest mortgage lender. House prices in the three months to September were 2.7% higher than in the preceding three months, but this was the second successive decline in the quarterly rate. Annually, prices were 9.6% higher in the three months to September than in the same three months last year; similar to last month (9.7%) and below July’s 10.2%, said the Halifax. The latest findings from the country’s biggest mortgage lender show that annual house price inflation “may have peaked at 10%”, said its chief economist Martin Ellis. “A moderation in growth looks likely during the remainder of 2014 and into next year as supply and demand become increasingly better balanced.” Ebola outbreak: Britain sending 750 soldiers and medics to Western Africa - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent. Military personnel including medics and soldiers will be sent to Sierra Leone, one of the three countries that have borne the brunt of the outbreak.

Ebola outbreak: Britain sending 750 soldiers and medics to Western Africa - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent

The announcement came amid a growing appreciation that the West had so far failed to grasp the scale of the crisis. The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, made an impassioned appeal for wealthy nations to do more to combat the outbreak. “We need people to step up now,” he said. “Now is the time for action, not words. Milk: NFU urges more supermarkets to help dairy farmers. The cost of milk has fallen by 20% since the Spring because of a world wide global dairy glut Rob Newbery, the chief diary adviser to the National Farmers Union has called for more supermarkets to support dairy farmers by covering the cost of production.

Milk: NFU urges more supermarkets to help dairy farmers

Teresa Wickham, former adviser to Safeway and retail and agricultural analyst said that farmers outside of supermarket groups were "having... problems now". The BBC's Steph McGovern spoke to to them both at a dairy farm in Bromsgrove.