In your corner: REC Campaigns and Policy news - 4 November 2021

As we say goodbye to British Summertime and the countdown to Christmas begins, the REC will continue to advocate for a 'Skills Revolution' and ensure the views of our industry are heard at the highest levels of government. We've followed up with a letter to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee, following our evidence session on 19 October on supply chain issues. This week, we met with the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to discuss labour and skills shortages and have been busy organising events and responding to consultations on your behalf. Speaking of which, if you missed it, you can watch the last Talking Recruitment Webinar here.

Budget 2021
We were pleased to see one of our main campaign asks for the drivers' sector addressed in the budget; an investment in roadside facilities. On skills, an increase in spending (£3.8 billion) is a welcome step in the right direction but the announcements don’t amount to the revolution we’d been hoping to see in terms of how we deliver training and more opportunities for funded training at entry levels. Once again, this government is focused on apprenticeships – while they work for some, for many others, the levy is costly and unworkable – government must embrace alternatives that work for everyone. Same goes for Health and Social Care - while the £5.9 billion to reduce NHS waiting lists is a welcome and much-needed investment, first and foremost, we need the staff to deliver those services. Attracting and retaining staff will remain a challenge without a long term view of how to manage workforce planning around service delivery needs. Read our full take on the budget budget here.

The REC healthcare members’ view delivered to DHSC
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has been running a consultation on compulsory Covid-19 and flu vaccines for all health and social care workers in England. Ahead of the closing date, the REC delivered our members’ view on the topic based on a poll we carried out during the health and social care sector webinar on 12 October. To summarise, a majority of the respondents agree with DHSC and think vaccines should be required for NHS staff. However, our members also think such measures will have a negative impact on the medical workforce in the form of labour shortages and confusion around how employers should verify vaccination status and medical exemption. You can view the letter to the Department of Health and Social Care  and the recording of the healthcare webinar. 

While mandatory Covid-19 vaccines for all care workers has been legislated to come into effect from 11 November, the REC understands that DHSC is set to announce the same measures for 1.45m NHS staff in England. However, the new requirement will not come into force until April 2022, incorporating business’ concern on further staff shortages.

The REC meets with Shadow Secretary of State for DWP
On 2 November, the campaigns team met with Jonathan Reynolds MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The meeting was positive and we had the opportunity to discuss labour shortages issues, various employment schemes (such as Kickstart and Restart), the apprenticeship levy and lack of training opportunities for entry-level skills. Jonathan was particularly interested in a range of data and reports that the REC produces and our views and experiences around engagement with DWP’s main employment schemes. It was Jonathan’s first time meeting the REC and we look forward to continuing our engagement to further expand our influence in Parliament.

BEIS Flexible Working Consultation
The BEIS consultation on making flexible working a day one right is open until the 1^st December. This would increase the burden on employers to consider and respond to flexible working requests from their employees from day one. You can read more about the proposals and submit a response directly to BEIS here. Alternatively to feed into the REC’s response on this, please send your thoughts to Patrick.milnes@rec.uk.com

IR35 Call for Evidence
The Finance Bill Sub-Committee has launched a call for evidence on the implementation of the off-payroll rules in the private sector, and how these rules are working in practice. This is a follow-up inquiry to the off-payroll working: treating people fairly report which looked into the government’s proposals to move responsibility for assessing compliance with IR35 from contractors to those who engage them. The REC is currently drafting its response and the deadline for submission is 15 November. If you would like to feed into the submission, please get in touch with policy@rec.uk.com.

Research Corner
Although confidence is still at a historically high level the REC’s latest JobsOutlook showed that in the three months to September, business confidence in hiring fell to net: +21, having reached a record high of net: +33 in April-June. This represents a third straight month of weakening and comes in the face of some winter uncertainties – rising inflation, labour shortages and the increasing spread of COVID-19..

The REC is also publishing the latest Report on Jobs on Friday, so keep an eye out for the latest insight into labour market activity, demand, and worker availability.  

REC Media Watch
On the media front, the REC’s commentary around last week’s Budget was featured in a number of pieces:

• This Financial Times article on labour shortages and the recovery
• Recruiter magazine’s roundup of reactions to the Budget announcements
• A People Management article covering the skills announcements, and whether these are enough to meet business need.

The REC’s Kate Shoesmith also spoke to People Management about research showing how important environmental issues are to young people when applying for jobs, and why this gives HR teams a reason to push climate action further up the agenda with their leadership teams.

Upcoming Events
Construction (16/11) webinar

Education (09/11) Webinar

HMRC have organised a free webinar 10th November to give an overview of the risks for agencies and other businesses who use the services of umbrella companies in their supply chains. This is a great opportunity for companies that use umbrellas to ask questions and find out more about the use of umbrella companies. You can sign up here to attend the webinar.