DWP reveals new figures about unemployment across Glasgow
There has been particular success in the 50 Plus age group, where the claimant count has fallen by 2% compared to this time last year.
Read more: UK facing youth unemployment crisis as young people not prepared for work
A jobcentre manager said: "We know that by targeting personal support to every jobseeker, people gain the confidence to develop their abilities and skills.
"That's why Work Coaches are working hard, ensuring jobseekers know how they can benefit from the huge amount of support available.
"Specialist support also continues to be available for those aged 50-plus, or with a health condition, so they remain connected with opportunities."
The jobcentre is working alongside employers to increase the supply of new workers in the summer season, particularly in the hospitality sector.
Scotland has witnessed a rise in employment figures with 2.686 million people currently employed, an increase of 53,000 on the quarter and an additional 95,000 on the year.
As a result, the overall employment rate has risen to 75%, an improvement of 0.9 percentage points on the quarter and 2.1 percentage points on the year.
However, there are still 117,000 people unemployed, an increase of 14,000 on the quarter, as well as 403,000 people in non-working households.
The unemployment rate stands at 4.2%, which is 0.4 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.
Read more: 'Get job ready': Work coaches available to support Glasgow's jobseekers
Alison McGovern, Government Minister for Employment, said: "Supporting more people into work and putting more money in the pockets of working people is at the heart of our Plan for Change.
'That's why we are transforming the way we help people into secure, well-paid jobs.
"Six months after we launched Get Britain Working, we are already seeing the benefits with economic activity at a record high, with 500,000 more people in employment since we entered office and real wages growing more since July than in the decade after 2010.
"People all over the country are benefitting from increased training opportunities and the newly launched Jobs and Careers Service will allow us to test new and innovative approaches to personalised employment support."
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Additional-rate taxpayers pay 39.35 per cent on anything they make over this threshold (compared with 33.75 per cent for higher-rate taxpayers and 8.75 per cent for basic-rate taxpayers). A similar clampdown has happened on capital gains tax (CGT), which is charged on profits made from the sale of most assets. You used to be able to make up to £12,300 a year tax-free, but this was cut to £6,000 in April 2023 and halved again in April 2024. Higher and additional-rate taxpayers pay 24 per cent CGT on gains made above £3,000 a year, while basic-rate taxpayers pay 18 per cent. The final blow comes when earnings hit £200,000. At that point, workers begin to lose their £60,000 annual pension allowance, the maximum they can contribute to a pension each year while still receiving tax relief. The Treasury said: 'We are protecting payslips for working people by keeping our promise to not raise the basic, higher or additional rates of income tax, employee national insurance or VAT. That's the Plan for Change — protecting people's incomes and putting money into people's pockets.' • 'My reward for being a good saver? A £1,000 tax bill' Many high earners mitigate the tax burden by keeping their taxable income below key thresholds. This is usually done by saving more of your income into a pension, because all the thresholds above are based on your 'adjusted net income', which is your annual earnings (including bonuses) minus pension contributions and donations made to charities through Gift Aid. Jason Hollands from the wealth manager Evelyn Partners said additional-rate taxpayers often sacrificed bonuses or pay rises in exchange for increased employer pension contributions. 'Pension contributions are exempt from income tax and national insurance,' he said. 'This can help keep earnings below £125,140.' In many cases, it's worth going further. The most punitive cliff-edge comes at £100,000, where multiple benefits are lost and the personal allowance begins to reduce. As a result, some additional-rate taxpayers keep their income below this level through large pension contributions. 'It all depends on your living costs and personal circumstances,' said Chris Etherington from the accountancy firm RSM UK. 'If you're on £130,000 a year and have young children, it may make sense to cut your taxable income to below £100,000 to keep free childcare hours and your tax-free allowance. But it could make day-to-day cash flow tighter.' Calculations from RSM UK show that someone earning £130,000 would pay £44,703 in income tax. If that person paid enough into their pension to keep their income below the £100,000 threshold, they would pay £11,271 less in income tax. If they had a young family they could actually end up with more disposable income as a result because they would keep their childcare benefits. The 30 free childcare hours for two children under three would be worth £15,566 a year on average if they were in full-time, and tax-free childcare would be worth £4,000. Combined with the tax saved, that's £30,837, more than making up for the £30,000 saved into their pension, which has the potential to be boosted by tax relief and employer contributions. If income from savings, investments or property are pushing you over the £125,140 threshold and you are married or in a civil partnership, it could be worth transferring ownership of the assets to your partner if they are in a lower tax bracket. Transferring assets between spouses is tax-free, and so it could reduce the household's overall tax bill. Sean McCann from the wealth manager NFU Mutual said: 'One other area not to overlook is gifts made to charity via Gift Aid. These reduce your income and, in some circumstances, can help restore some or all the tax-free allowance and lower your tax bill.' Other tax-efficient investment options include venture capital trusts (VCTs) and enterprise investment schemes (EIS). These are government-backed schemes designed to encourage investment into small, early-stage companies. If you hold a VCT for five years and an EIS for three, you can claim 30 per cent income tax relief for each year. However, these are high-risk, niche products, so it's worth seeking financial advice before you make any moves. Hollands added: 'A six-figure salary has less wow factor than it did in the past, and a great many additional-rate taxpayers won't feel especially wealthy because the cost of living, higher mortgage costs and growing tax burden mean that the disposable income that can be used on the nice things in life won't be what it was in the past.' Suman Paul earns more than £126,000 a year, which should make him an additional-rate taxpayer. But Paul, an NHS consultant from Warrington in Cheshire, avoids the 45 per cent top rate of tax by making sure his income stays below the £100,000 cliff-edge. This means he keeps his tax-free personal allowance and still gets tax-free childcare for his daughter. 'Once you cross the £100,000 mark you start getting into marginal tax rates of 60 per cent, so that is one very inefficient tax trap that I want to avoid,' said Paul, 39. 'My daughter is also three and a half so we have to pay for nursery. We use the government's tax-free childcare scheme that gives you £2 for every £8 you spend. If we lose that, it would cost us more than £1,000 a year.' To manage his income, Paul pays for a car through his employer via salary sacrifice. It costs him £6,000 a year, which gets deducted from his salary pre-tax and reduces his taxable income. He also pays about £1,000 a month into his NHS pension and puts extra into his self-invested personal pension to bring his adjusted net income down further. Despite having an income that pushes him above the additional-rate threshold, Suman doesn't feel as if he lives a life of luxury. He said: 'It's a middle-class life. I can afford my mortgage, but my take-home pay does not feel like a lot. 'After paying all the fixed costs — mortgage, childcare, pension, car costs, bills — our disposable income is about £1,000 a month. And my wife is also a working professional. If I was a single earner, it would be much harder.'
