REC responds to four-year project on labour market

REC responds to four-year project on labour market

Responding to the final report of a four-year project on labour market enforcement by Resolution Foundation, Kate Shoesmith, REC Deputy Chief Executive, said:

“The long-promised Single Enforcement Body is not a magic bullet, but it gives us a fair shot at improving clarity for workers and employers and should mean non-compliance issues are addressed quickly and thoroughly. It will need proper resourcing and political backing to hit its target, and we urge government to go further by making the regulations around work and pay, such as holiday pay, much simpler for everyone to understand and comply with.

“We must avoid the risk of knee-jerk assumptions that it is only the standard 9-5 ways of working that are safe and manageable. We need more flexibility in thinking about how people are employed, not less, if we are to encourage people with caring responsibilities, the over 50s or long-term unemployed, back into work. The UK economy stands to lose up to £39 billion in GDP every year from 2024 unless business and governments act on labour shortages.

“Let’s not unintentionally prevent people from working in a way that suits both them and their employers because government cannot make oversight and enforcement work.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

Overcoming shortages - How to create a sustainable labour market – July 2022. In this report, we show exactly how much damage could be done if we don’t step up. With a 10% surge in demand for staff across the economy, and the labour market restricted by shortages, we could see a 1.2% fall in expected GDP and productivity by 2027 – costing the economy anywhere between £30 billion and £39 billion every year. This figure is just short of the entire current defence budget, or two whole Elizabeth Lines.

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