What Will the Next Parliamentary Session Bring for Recruiters?

The last Queen’s Speech before next year’s general election was just as expected today.  Small businesses, pensions and plastic carrier bags were all on the agenda but what exactly does this mean for recruiters and UK businesses?

Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill
SMEs remain high on the political agenda with the government promising less bureaucracy, more access to finance for start-ups and additional powers to help small businesses recover late payments more quickly, something the REC has warmly welcomed. 

Furthermore, the bill is likely to give additional powers to increase the fines on employers who breach National Minimum Wage (to £20,000 per worker).  We hope that cracking down on rogue traders will help level the playing field. However to ensure this really works in practice, there will need to be sufficient resources put into the enforcement regime.

It will be under this bill that government will seek to stop abuses of zero hours contracts, particularly by banning exclusivity clauses, which will provide much needed clarity.  As we noted in our response to government’s consultation last year, their current definition of zero hours contracts is broad enough to include a range of agency workers. We will aim to work with government to ensure that any potential impact for agencies, businesses, individuals and the flexible labour market is understood.

 
The Modern Slavery Bill
This will take forward proposals to simplify and strengthen the criminal system to secure more convictions, establish an independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and quoted companies will need to report on activities across their whole supply chain.  At our evidence session to the Joint Committee for the draft bill, we particularly supported this last point as we feel top down management of the entire supply chain is one of the best ways to bring about real change. 

As we gear up to the 2015 general election, we can expect all political parties to take a renewed interest in the Gangmaster Licensing Authority. But as we and others flagged to the committee, any change in its remit would require significant additional resource and its most important function, as an intelligence gathering body, must not be diluted.

National Insurance Contributions Bill
This will simplify the collection of class 2 NICs, and will mean a particular focus on the self-employed. As more details become available, we will highlight key areas of interest to those members supporting the broad range of high quality freelancers, interim managers and contractors in the workforce.

Other bills announced and that are worth noting include:

• The Infrastructure Bill – media attention has focused on fracking and new government powers to speed up development projects

• The Pension Tax Bill and the Private Pensions Bill – as promised in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, the government plans to make it easier for individuals to access their pension pots.

• The Childcare Payments Bill – will mean new subsidies on annual childcare costs for eligible working families (up to £2k) which is an important step forward in not only supporting more women returners back into work but means there will be additional pressure on upping the availability of suitable childcare facilities.

 
Given there were few surprises, we can look forward to the next Parliamentary session with some certainty on the year ahead. But this is also the year when each political party will be setting out what they will do should they be elected next May. We’ll keep you updated on proposals and ensure that we continue to promote the recruitment industry and the vital roles it plays in supporting a dynamic labour market so our contribution is understood by all political parties.