Campaigns Roundup

There has been plenty the REC Campaigns Team have been focused on including our most recent discussion with and submission to the Treasury on NHS procurement frameworks, the Department for Education's consultation on agency social workers, and CBI's campaign around immigration and the labour market. There are also opportunities for your business to get involved, with a new template letter on our manifesto for you to use and the chance to sign up for the Education Sector meeting.  

Latest on NHS Frameworks  

The REC campaigns team continue to campaign on challenges related to NHS price caps and the anti-agency narrative in procurement. In meetings with Treasury, we've emphasised concerns and provided real-life case studies to illustrate the impact of current framework rules. Our proposals on addressing this can be found in our new manifesto, "Dynamic Labour Markets for Growth," and our Spring Budget submission, including plans for a comprehensive review of the existing system and its component parts. We're engaging with Ministers, the Shadow Cabinet, and MPs from both parties and encouraging members to incorporate our messaging in their discussions with stakeholders. In media outreach, REC data has been cited in outlets like the Nursing Times to combat anti-agency narratives. Additionally, our legal team is exploring the feasibility of challenging the legality of the price caps, seeking advice from a law firm. We will keep members up to date with the latest developments on this issue as they develop. 

Consultation on draft guidance for agency social care rules 

The REC is responding to the Department for Education (DfE) consultation on the Child and family social workers: agency rules statutory guidance. We met with the DfE to discuss the impact of the guidance as drafted and asked for more clarity and detail. As it stands the guidance is not sufficient to ensure the smooth implementation of these rules later this year. More is needed on the proposed rules around notice periods, cooling off periods and regional price caps.We will feed this into our response, please email comments to patrick.milnes@rec.uk.com  

CBI Immigration Campaign 

In light of the government's recent 5-point plan to curb immigration (including changes to the Skilled Worker Visa Threshold and reform of the Shortage Occupation List/SOL into the Immigration Salary List/ISL), the CBI is looking for case studies about the impacts of the proposed changes on businesses.  They are looking for further information from members covering the following points:   

• What roles in your business or client organisations are no longer eligible for the skilled worker visa or the SOL due to higher salary requirements? 

• What are the knock-on implications of these changes? For example, what are the consequences without the people you or your clients' companies need to operate? (e.g. delays to key projects, price rises etc) 

• The government often argues that businesses should look to hire locally and invest in skills rather than recruit from abroad. Do you have examples of measures you or clients have put in place to drive hiring domestically – what was the outcome?  

If you'd like to feed in, please email our Immigration Policy Lead, Usman Ali, at Usman.Ali@rec.uk.com.  

Share the REC Manifesto with your MP 

Following the recent publication of our manifesto, we have now produced a template letter designed for you to share the manifesto  with your local MP. This template can be downloaded here and customised to suit the details of your business. By using this letter, we can reiterate the REC’s messaging for the benefit of our industry, and you can position your organization as a key local business with your MP. Ahead of the general election it’s important we maximise the voice and reach of our industry. 

Education Sector Group Meeting 

Join us for the first Education Sector Group meeting of the year on the 27 February. With a packed agenda including the latest legal and campaign updates from the REC, including updates to Working Time Regulations, annual leave accrual during SSP, and statutory leave, there's plenty to discuss. The DBS will also attend to talk about the reasons behind delays in checks coming back, with helpful information on the different services available. The duration of the meeting has also been extended by popular demand to allow you to network with your peers in the sector.   

You can register for the Education Sector Group Meeting by clicking here. 

Research Update 

Our recent Report on Jobs found that the labour market remains tight overall, though we are seeing the number of job seekers increasing as demand softens. There was a further drop in hiring activity at the start of 2024, particularly for permanent workers. Of the five broad employment sectors to see firmer demand for short-term workers, Hotel & Catering and Blue Collar saw the steepest rates of vacancy growth overall.    

Also, keep an eye out for our Labour Market Tracker coming out this Friday (16 February).  

Media Corner  

Our Chief Executive Neil Carberry was on BBC News TV and our Deputy Chief Executive Kate Shoesmith on BBC Radio within a few minutes of each other to give reaction to this week’s ONS labour market statistics. Our key message was the labour market slowed in the middle of last year, but the pace of that decline has also been much slower. It's also important to recognise that we are still in the warm-up phase of 2024 when it comes to wages and a lot of wage settlements take place in April and May.  

Separately, the national and trade media were keen to report on our survey findings that seven in 10 employers across the UK are still witnessing a shortage of all types of candidates for their roles – and more than four-in-five small employers (with less than 50 staff) involved in the survey reported shortages of candidates. Kate’s call for a robust debate of why retaining a flexible labour market is as much pro-worker as pro-business was reported on by various titles including The Times.