Making allowances for London - Severe recruitment and retention problems in the capital led most public sector emplovers to increase their London weighting payments over the past 12 months. But while our research reveals a sharp rise in the proportion of public sector groups awarded art increase in their location payments during 2000, the overall picture remains generally static, with over half (54%) of the employee groups in receipt of a London allowance seeing their payments frozen last year. In the private sector the picture is even more subdued, with just tinder a third of staff groups (29%) enjoying an increase in their location allowances over the past year. The latest IRS annual survey of location allowances details current provision in 85 employee groups drawn from a range of industries in the private and public sectors.