15/07/2024
The industry has also called for renewed focus on long-standing skills, work and employment issues from revamping the Apprenticeship Levy structure to self-employed worker rights.
Neil Carberry, CEO of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), said: “With a decisive mandate in hand, this new government has goodwill from businesses and support for its core goal – getting growth and prosperity flowing across the UK. Only business can deliver this, so a strong partnership is necessary.
“A credible industrial strategy, as promised in the Labour Party manifesto, is essential but can only work if it is based on people. There is no doubt that Labour cares about the workforce, but what matters now is how they deliver. The labour market has changed over the past few decades – of course workers need to be treated well, but that includes choice and opportunity on how and when they work.
“Workers and businesses across the country understand the goals of Labour’s plan but its implementation must support a growing economy and accept that there is no one best way of working. That is not what people want. By working in partnership with businesses and unions, and committing to the value of our flexible labour market, this new government can learn the lessons of past Labour successes such as the National Minimum Wage and pensions automatic enrolment. We can deliver big change when we tread carefully and take the practical experience of firms into account.
“Nowhere is the value of the flexible workforce more apparent than in the health, social care and education sectors. Attacks on flexible work during the campaign – when agency workers are keeping these services afloat – mis-represented the true picture of public sector workforce planning that has been in chaos. This new Labour government has the chance to change all that by getting public sector employers, unions and agencies together to address procurement issues and deliver better, more efficient services for voters.”
At the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), Tania Bowers, global public policy director, commented: “The professional staffing sector and a forward-thinking flexible labour market are critical to its (Labour’s) plans for growth.
“The UK staffing sector faces significant challenges, including an ongoing professional skills crisis. APSCo will engage closely with the new government on the policy solutions needed to tackle the shortage in skills and training across the labour market.
“APSCo welcomes the Labour Party’s commitment to reform the Apprenticeship Levy to deliver a Growth and Skills Levy, and will work closely with the new government on the detailed implementation of this policy. The new government has ambitious plans for skills policy, including the establishment of Skills England, but the proof will be in the actions delivered over the next year. Skills, migration and industrial strategy must be in alignment and employers need genuine flexibility around using the Levy to fulfil its potential to help solve the skills crisis. We continue to call for the funding of upskilling and reskilling of all workers, including agency workers and the self-employed.
“An Employment Rights Bill will be introduced in Parliament in the next 100 days. APSCo will work hard to ensure that the needs of the professional staffing market is taken into account as this legislation progresses. APSCo members are clear that there is work to do to differentiate the highly skilled contract workforce in labour market regulation.”
Tom Cornell, senior I/O psychologist at human potential intelligence provider HireVue, said: “It’s great to see that Labour’s pledged to strengthen workers’ rights, boost training initiatives, and raise minimum wages will be welcomed by workers but could potentially increase costs for businesses and dampen hiring appetites, particularly for smaller firms. That said, their plans for major investment in the ‘industries of the future’ and public services will likely drive significant job creation in those areas, creating new talent demands.”
Nichola Hay MBE, director of apprenticeships at strategy at apprenticeship provider BPP, commented: “The Labour Party’s win yesterday is an opportunity for the education and skills system. Growth will likely be the number one focus for the new government, and skills policy is central to that goal.
“The proposed Skills England body is an opportunity to get the sector aligned with an industrial strategy and pointing in the same direction. That said, Skills England must not become another quango, overlapping with other arm's length bodies, but should come with a clearly defined role.
“Key to Labour’s plans for skills is its proposed Growth and Skills Levy. Labour must ensure it consults with employers and providers before implementing any changes to the levy to make sure it works across the workforce regardless of age or skill level.”
IPSE – the self-employed association – urged the new prime minister to make the most of plans to overhaul worker rights by updating rules on self-employment.
IPSE’s policy director Andy Chamberlain said that Labour’s campaign had recognised “the urgent need to drag our labour laws into the 21st century. This work doesn’t just matter to workers and bosses, but also the millions of people who are their own boss – the self-employed.”
Chamberlain went on to say: “Our outdated employment laws mean that whilst bogus self-employment impacts vulnerable workers, other genuinely self-employed people face an uphill struggle to prove that they’re ‘in business’.
“Like him, we’re eager for this work to start within the first 100 days of his government, and we look forward to working with the new government to help get this legislation right. By overhauling our employment rules, the prime minister could make or break the fortunes of the self-employed sector.”
Original Article: Recruiter
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