Week Starting 25th April

New Release of Key Stats on Older Workers

The Department of Work & Pensions has just released an updated version of its Older Workers : Statistical Information booklet. It covers the Autumn 2004 period. Among the key facts and figures it highlights :-

• There are nearly 8.8 million people aged between 50 and State Pension Age (SPA) and they account for 24.9% of working age people.
  
• The employment rate for those aged 50-SPA was 70.7%, versus an employment rate of 81.5% for those aged 25-49.
  
• 1.4 million people aged 50-SPA were claiming sickness and disability benefits in Autumn 2004, compared with 185,00 people who were classified as ILO unemployed.
  
• 1 in 4 workers aged 50-SPA were working part time, compared with just over 1 in 5 25-49 year olds.
  
• 22.6% of workers aged 50-SPA have no formal qualifications. Nearly half (48%) of those without qualifications are not in work.
  
• The employment rate of older workers varies widely across the UK. The Eastern region has the highest employment rate (75.7%) whilst the North East continues to have the lowest (58.6%).
  
• Just under 18% of 50-SPAs who are working are self-employed, versus 12.2% of those aged 25-49.
  
• Only 1400 people aged 60+ gained jobs through the New Deal 50+ programme in the period between April 2003 and December 2004.
  
• Over a third (34%) of the unemployed 50-SPA age group have been unemployed for over 12 months.

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Call For More Cash To Retrain MG Rover Workers

The Work Foundation is urging the Government to increase the amount of money it is making available to retrain MG Rover’s redundant workers. It says that the money currently earmarked for retraining (circa £5000 per worker) is not enough.

They are right. Skills (re)training can be expensive. For instance, a young person’s apprenticeship in engineering (or some other sectors) can attract up to £15,000 in funding from the public purse.

Click here to read our recent press release on this issue.

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Mental Health Issues Now Most Common Reason For Long-Term Sickness

Anxiety and depression have overtaken musculoskeletal conditions such as back pain as the most common reasons for people starting to claim long-term sickness benefits.

Researchers from Kings College London are calling for more to be done to help people with depression get back to work. Writing in the British Medical Journal they say, "Both employers and patients require a speedier response than is currently delivered, as the longer an individual remains off work, the more difficult a return becomes.”

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Week Starting 18th April

Tories ‘Minded’ To Set 70 As Default Retirement Age

David Willetts, the Conservative’s Work & Pensions spokesperson has said that if his party wins the General Election, employers will have to allow employees to continue working until they are 70.

Willetts, who spoke at TAEN’s Annual Conference last year, told BBC News that his party wanted to encourage more people to save for retirement and that working longer is the key to affordable retirement in future.

He said that workers should be encouraged to work for as long as they were able to and that he would like to consider gradually extending mandatory retirement ages to 70.

Of course being ‘minded’ to do something is not a firm commitment or pledge. And there has always been a question as to how far the rest of his party share his often radical views around his work and pensions brief.

Last December the Government announced that as part of next year’s age discrimination legislation it would introduce a national default retirement age of 65. Any employee wanting to work on beyond that will have the right to request staying on but employers will have the right to refuse such requests.

TAEN wants to see the end of fixed (compulsory/default/mandatory) retirement ages altogether. Firstly because they entrench age discrimination into society by pretending that some arbitrary age should the trigger for decisions around employability. Secondly because of the shadow they cast over employment and training opportunities available to people in their 50s and 60s.

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Six Out of Ten Support Flexible Hours Extension

Sixty percent of adults questioned for a new Equal Opportunities Commission survey are in favour of extending the right to request flexible working to all staff.

The survey found that overall just under half (48%) of those questioned said they were more likely to vote for a party that supports family-friendly/flexible working policies but amongst floating voters the figure rises to 58%.

At present the right is only available to parents of young children, although Government ministers have said they are considering extending it to ‘carers’ if they win the election.

The decision this week in the sex discrimination, flexible working case of Starmer vs British Airways around relying on a spurious Health & Safety argument to justify discrimination is an important precedent. Next year’s age regulations are likely to establish Health and Safety as a justifiable reason for age discrimination.

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Employee Development Key To Recruitment & Retention

Conventional wisdom states the best way for employers to recruit and retain staff is to offer generous salaries – even more so at a time of labour shortages. However, a new survey challenges that view. It shows that employees are almost 4 times more likely to leave their organisation because of lack of personal and career development opportunities, than because they want more pay.

Some 6,000 job-changers and 300 HR professionals from across the UK have been interviewed by Reed Consulting and just under half (48%), cited lack of such opportunities as the main reason why they had left their previous employer. Only 14% of employees said they’d left because their new employer was offering a better salary and benefits package.

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Week Starting 11th April

Employer Conference in Manchester

TAEN has joined forces with a number of its members and partner organisations to hold a conference on age diversity for employers and policy makers from Manchester and the wider North West. The Age Works Conference will take place in Manchester Town Hall on May 10th.

The Conference will be looking at the business case for age diversity, how employers can attract a more age-diverse workforce, how to redefine work and retirement, how adopting age-diverse recruitment and retention policies can help businesses improve their corporate image and what employers should be doing to prepare for next year’s age discrimination regulations.

Click here for further details.

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Game Over for MG Rover…..

The immediate employment prospects for workers at Longbridge and its suppliers look pretty bleak following Shanghai Automotive’s restated decision not to acquire either the whole or any other parts of what remains of MG Rover.

Following news of the decision, the administrators, PwC, told the Government is will not be applying for any further government loan to stave off redundancies at the company.

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Patricia Hewitt commented,

"This is devastating news for the workers, their families and the wider community. Over the last week the unions and Government have done everything possible to try and secure Longbridge's future as a going concern.

"The challenge is now for all of us to work together to support the workforce and their families and to take the steps that are needed to secure jobs and economic strength in the West Midlands economy.”

Hopes remain that other interested parties might still be found to take over and continue MG Sports Cars and other parts of the business as ‘standalone’ operations.

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Union Membership Falls Further

A new report from the Office of National Statistics shows that union membership in the UK fell last year – albeit by just 0.5% (36,000 members). In autumn 2004 an estimated 6.8 million working people were members of a trade union. This means that across the UK, just under 29% of employees are in a trade union. However there is a wide disparity between public and private sector employees.

Less than 1 in 5 (17.2%) of private sector employees are union members, this compares with almost 3 out of 5 (58.8%) in the public sector.

Over the year to Autumn 2004 the number of men in trade unions fell by 54,000, however the number of women members rose by 42,000.

The hourly earnings of union members averaged £11.38 – some 17% higher than the average hourly earnings of non-union employees.

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Employment And Unemployment Up

The latest employment figures show more people in work and an increase in the employment rate. However, the unemployment rate is also up and there have been increases in both the number of unemployed people and the claimant count. The number of job vacancies is down slightly.

Some of the details :

• The number of people in (paid) work in the three months to February was 28.64 million. This was up 148,000 on the previous 3 months and 231,000 up on the same period last year.
  
• The employment rate hit 75% - the highest level since 1990.
  
• The number of jobs in Manufacturing fell by 85,000 (to 3.23 million in total) in the 3 months to February when compared to the same period last year.
  
• The unemployment level was 1.43 million, up 29,000 on the previous 3 months but down 2,000 on the same period last year.
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.8% in the three months to February.
  
• The claimant count in March was 828,700. This was 11,000 higher than in February but down by 51,200 over the year.
  
• Some 7.8 million people of working age were economically inactive in the 3 months to February, down 0.2% on the previous 3 months and 0.1% over the year.
  
• The number of vacancies over the past 3 months averaged nearly 632,000 , down by 16,000 from the previous 3 months but up 15,400 over the year.
  
• Redundancies : 136,000 people were made redundant in the 3 months to February, down 6,000 over the previous 3 months but up 6,000 on the previous year.

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• 39% of Americans thought employers should be allowed to discriminate on the basis of appearance.
• One third thought that those who are more physically attractive are more likely to get promoted.
• 16% of respondents felt they had been discriminated against because of the way they look.
• One third wanted to see new discrimination laws brought in to protect those who are overweight, the ‘wrong’ height, unattractive or unconventional in appearance.

Damian Kelly, a partner at employment law firm Eversheds, commented:

"While this is a US survey, its findings are very relevant to UK businesses. 'Lookism' is not a trend which only affects those over the Atlantic – there have been examples in the UK of appearance discrimination. Two years ago, Fitness First received widespread criticism after a leaked e-mail claimed that larger employees did not fit the firm's image. Also, a report last year by the University of Helsinki showed that overweight women earned up to 30 per cent less than their more slender colleagues."

In the US, discrimination legislation is starting to crop up on the grounds of appearance and if the UK continues to mirror US legislation, it may not be too long before we see similar laws here. In California, for example, it has become unlawful to discriminate against individuals seeking employment or housing based on their weight or height.

Kelly added, "We can learn something from our American counterparts and encourage employers to have a specific policy detailing the penalties incurred for making decisions based on employee appearance. The study showed that 45 per cent of employers in the US have a policy in place, perhaps the safest option is to follow the lead from across the Atlantic."

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Week Starting 4th April 2005

Rover : Danger to Jobs & New PPF

The situation at MG Rover – the last UK-owned volume car maker – not only threatens the jobs of over 15,000 people in the West Midlands and elsewhere, it also builds up the liabilities facing the newly launched Pension Protection Fund.

We wait to see what parts of the car manufacturer the Administrator (Pricewaterhouse Coopers) can salvage. Can they find someone (Shanghai Automotive perhaps) who can keep it going in something like its present shape – or will it be broken up still further with only a small part surviving as a going concern ? Whatever the final outcome, the next few weeks are going to be a time of high anxiety for all the workers whose jobs are under threat (many of whom are over 50) their families and communities, not to mention the firms that supplied MG Rover..

Its not just what happens with their jobs, its what might happen to their pensions because of the black hole which exists in their pension scheme. Some comfort will come from the thought that unlike many others, their pension entitlements will have some protection from the new Pension Protection Fund (PPPF) which started up this week. But the liabilities from other failed companies’ pension schemes on the PPF are already building up – leading to concern about whether contribution levels to the Fund will have to rise to keep it solvent.

The actions of the Directors of Phoenix Venture Capital – who took over MG Rover when BMW pulled out - are coming under close scrutiny and the disclosures are likely to increase the frustration and anger of its workforce.

The West Midlands is now used to dealing with the fall-out from the decline of motor manufacturing in the area and a well co-ordinated response will swing into action. Hopefully something substantial can be salvaged as a going concern.

Click here to read TAEN’s press release

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Information & Consultation Regulations Kick In

This week the new Information and Consultation Regulations come into effect.

From the 6th April, firms employing more than 150 workers will have to consult them, or their representatives, directly on matters which affect their employment. Such matters include mergers or new strategies but do not include pay and conditions.

Some 14,000 UK employers are potentially involved - including charities, universities and the NHS, as well as businesses. But they are only obliged to establish procedures for staff consultation if 10% or more of the workforce request it.

From April 2007 the regulations will be extended to employers with at least 100 employers - and to those with 50 or more from April 2008.

Concern has been expressed that many employers may not be aware of these new regulations. Companies face a fine of up to £75,000 if they fail to comply within 6 months.

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Despite Off-Shoring, Call Centre Sector Still Recruiting

Last year nearly two thirds (63%) of Call Centre organisations increased staffing levels. This was despite all the concerns about Call Centres being closed and their operations being moved off-shore to countries such as India.

Not only are staffing levels up, but so are salaries as well. Staff turnover rates approaching 50% and an already tight labour market are driving up salaries – especially for those on lower grades.

According to a new IRS Employment Review survey, salaries in public sector call centres are between 4.2% and 9.6% higher than in their private sector counterparts.

Interestingly, nearly half (47%) of the organisations surveyed recognise trade unions for collective bargaining purposes. In larger call centres with 300+ employees, the figure recognising a trade union was closer to three quarters (72%).

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Seven Out of Ten Favour Pension Compulsion

Seven out of ten people surveyed for a Which ? Choice report believe workers should be compelled to contribute to their own occupational pension. And nearly three quarters (73%) thought employers should be forced to pay pensions contributions.

According to the Pensions Commission over 12 million people are not saving enough for their retirement. The Commission is now consulting and deliberating on the issue of compulsion and is expected to deliver its recommendations to the (next) Government by late autumn.

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