Campaigns Roundup

We’ve entered a new Carolean era with King Charles III officially crowned with 18 million people in the UK watching the once-in-a-generation coronation ceremony. It was a weekend full of celebrations and joys for many - with politicians across parties even putting their differences aside to welcome our new head of state. Penny Mordaunt MP, the Lord President of the Council, also did a unique job of uniting people and MPs across the political spectrum with praise by carrying the Great Sword of State without a flinch!   

Parliament returned from the coronation recess this week, and it is certainly starting to get busy again with the likes of the Retained UK Law Bill and Illegal Migration Bill high up on the government’s agenda. The scale of the coronation ceremony and associated events also makes the local elections seem like a distant memory. But the 4 May polling day saw 230 councils electing representatives, with the Conservatives losing over 1,000 seats and making Labour the biggest party at the local level – providing a clear direction of travel ahead of the next General Election.  

There are also plenty of things that have been keeping our Campaigns Team busy, from consultations to representing members at conferences. So, find out what has been going on behind the scenes and read the latest from our team.  

Amendment to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 

The government has tabled an amendment to the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill which replaces the current 2023 deadline for all EU laws with a definitive list of laws that will be removed at the end of the year. They have also announced their Smarter Regulation to Grow the Economy which sets out plans for regulatory reform, including reform on areas of employment law including working time and rolled up holiday pay, TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)) and non-compete clauses. The REC has written to Kemi Badenoch, Secretary of State for Business and Trade to offer our views and insight on how best the government should implement these plans.  

Our view on the DfE’s consultation on agency social workers in children’s social care   

Today (11 May) is the last day where members can respond to the Department for Education’s (DfE) consultation on agency social worker resources. If you haven’t already, the REC encourages members and their workers to get involved. The consultation closes at 11:45pm. The REC has submitted our response, highlighting the risk of further staff shortages and need to tackle the crux of the workforce challenges. Don’t forget, DfE is also seeking further data from agencies through a separate survey which also closes today.  

Register as an approved Flexi-job apprenticeship agency  

The Department for Education (DfE) is inviting any business that are or intends to supply apprentices to multiple clients, to consider if they should register as a government-approved ‘Flexi-job apprenticeship agency’. The deadline for registrations is 31 May 2023 if you want to offer apprentices to clients in this way. This may be a way of using levy funds for some. If you’d like to discuss in more detail, reach out to policy@rec.uk.com and we can share further information from the DfE. 

SOL review and call to members in the blue-collar sector  

The REC Campaigns Team hosted a roundtable with members supplying blue collar workers a few weeks ago, which provided us with useful information and fresh data. We are working hard behind the scenes to incorporate them into our response to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) review. We are still seeking further data, information and case studies from members working in retail, hospitality, logistics and construction. If you’d like to help us shape the immigration system in light of staff shortages, please get in touch with policy@rec.uk.com  

All Wales Pledge and a letter to ADSS 

Children’s social care has certainly been a hot topic across the UK. And the REC is aware of the All Wales Pledge that the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) Cymru announced at the end of April. The Pledge, that involves all 22 local authorities in Wales, brings forward a range of measures to limit the activities of agencies and workers in children’s social care such as capped rates and restrictions on moving from a permanent role to an agency role. In light of this, the REC has written to the president of the organisation. You can view the full letter here.  

REC out and about representing members and the sector  

Colleagues at the REC are frequently invited to a range of events, roundtables and conferences to represent our members and share the story of our industry. The last few weeks were particularly busy, with different members of the team on a panel at a wide range of conferences. This includes Resolution Foundation’s event on labour market enforcement, Westminster Forum Projects’ conference on children’s social care and the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce’s event on growth through people. You can find out more about the REC’s external engagement on our social media channels.  

Research Corner 

The REC’s latest Report on Jobs continues to show employers’ cautious optimism with greater reliance on temporary staff in April 2023. While firms are hedging their bets on temporary workers, the growing number of vacancies suggests that the demand remains solid. Having said that, both permanent and temporary vacancies continued to increase across the private and public sectors. Also, starting salaries for permanent staff and temps pay continued to rise at a historically sharp pace. Efforts to attract and secure suitably skilled staff and higher living costs were cited as key drivers of pay growth.  

Media Corner  

The REC produced a special report on education in its Labour Market Tracker to allow the media to explore original data around teacher shortages in the UK and better understand the context and our views about it, as well as enabling the REC to contribute to public debate on this important issue. This contributed to many mentions of the REC in the mainstream media across the political spectrum, such as the Daily Mail and The Independent, as well as coverage on various broadcast media. Separately, we commented on the final report of a four-year project on labour market enforcement by Resolution Foundation think-tank. We explained to the media that 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, we said.