Government and campaigns
We might only be (just over) a week into 2024, but the REC campaigns team has already hit the ground running. We've already facilitated a member roundtable in Birmingham with the Employment Minister, shared members' views on the recent immigration changes and as a result of our engagement with the Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, fed into Sir David Bell's childcare review. And we're starting as we mean to go on - more on that below!
The new year marks the beginning of the sprint (or jog) towards the 2024 General Election, and as such, we're getting ready to unveil our Manifesto, which we'll be launching on 22 January 2024. Our manifesto will serve as a crucial tool, highlighting the vital role diverse work models play in fuelling economic growth and solidifying the reputation of our members and our industry as labour market experts. We are armed with the data, insights, and practical policy recommendations that will help to achieve growth.
Throughout the year, we'll continue meeting with MPs, ministers, journalists and industry colleagues to ensure the views of our members are represented. Our priorities for the election year are crystal clear. We're advocating for comprehensive workforce planning as part of any future Industrial Strategy, encouraging more support for different ways of working and better investment in key infrastructure. This includes transport and childcare provision, and proper regulation and enforcement for the industry.
You might have missed Jeremy Hunt’s announcement that the first budget of 2024 will take place on 6 March, given that he snuck it out during the gap between Christmas and New Year. The REC will be compiling a submission to the Treasury based on our new Manifesto and the requests that the Treasury did not address in the Autumn Statement from our submission last year. If you are interested in feeding into our submission for Spring, please contact Patrick.milnes@rec.uk.com
One of the REC’s big projects for the year is our Labour Laws Fit for the Future campaign, which will focus on reviewing and modernising outdated legislation. Many pieces of employment legislation were not drafted with current temporary working models in mind and have been updated in recent years only to make things more complicated. The government has started to make changes with recent adjustments to the Working Time Regulations, but other laws, such as those managing Health and Safety at work, statutory sick pay and other key worker rights, need reforming for a modern labour market. REC will be working with key stakeholders in government and the civil service to push for the necessary changes. More to come on this in the next few months.
Last year, education members reported their candidates’ experiencing delays of over 45 days waiting for their DBS checks to be completed by local offices. To reduce waiting times and ensure that businesses can run efficiently and schools can receive the staff they desperately need, this needs to change. As such, we intend to gather data to present to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to push them to reduce response times. The REC will continue to encourage the Department for Education to prioritise members' needs and provide them with access to the old list. Please look out for and respond to the upcoming survey or get in contact with natasha.mpofu@rec.uk.com
Next week, the REC will be submitting evidence to consultations on the Repeal of Regulation 7 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations and Acas’ Draft Code of Practice for handling a stable working request. Thanks to members who shared views on both last year. Our full responses to these will be available on the website next week.
The year has begun with REC publishing its latest monthly Report on Jobs. The report shows that the slowdown in our labour market is easing a bit. Given that December is a time when employers generally postpone activity into the new year, this is a positive sign that the labour market is weathering the current economic storm. The national media, such as The Times and Bloomberg, were keen to report on our findings as a way for them to set the economic scene for the year ahead. Just a reminder that, as you may have seen in various trade media publications, we published our annual Recruitment Industry Status report (RISR) just before Christmas which found that a staggering 25.7 million temporary and contract placements were made in 2022 (compared to 22.4 million in 2021) and separately 702,950 permanent placements made in 2022. This week, Friday (15 January), the REC will publish the first Labour Market Tracker of 2024, covering data from the final month of 2023.
Share this article