Week Starting 28th March

BoND Delayed by 6 Months

The proposed start of 11 Building On New Deal (BoND) pilots appears to have been delayed by 6 months. They were originally planned to begin in October this year but the Ministers at the DWP have agreed a proposal from Jobcentre Plus that the start up should be delayed by 6 months until April 2006.

BoND would potentially spell the end of the various different New Deal programmes for different age groups and others. Under the BoND programme JC+ personal advisers will have more flexibility to design a customised programme of support for individuals by ‘mixing and matching’ from a menu of services and activities.

Its not clear whether budgetary and/or other considerations led to the decision to delay the start-up to the following financial year.

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Extra £38 million Found For Young Persons’ Apprenticeships

Faced with the embarrassing prospect of having to turn away employers seeking apprentices and young people seeking apprenticeships, the Learning & Skills Council has found an additional £38 million.

The money will be used to help the LSC meet its Public Service Agreement target to increase the number of young people (aged 16-21) starting an Apprenticeship to 175,000 in the current year.

The funding shortfall was caused partly by the success of the LSC’s Apprenticeships marketing campaign, but also by the improvement in retention and completion rates amongst young apprentices. This has gone up from 28% in 2003/2004 to 33% in the current year. Neither the success of the marketing campaign or the improvement in completion rates seems to have been fully factored into the original budgets approved for this year.

(click here for survey question)

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UK Skills Shortages Hit 12 year High

According to Lloyds TSB’s Business in Britain survey, skills shortages in the UK are the highest they’ve been for 12 years.

Over half (52%) of companies have experienced ongoing difficulties in recruiting skilled staff over the past year and over a quarter (28%) also reported problems finding unskilled staff.

These findings were reinforced by a survey from KPMG and the CBI showing that 56% of businesses questioned for the London Business survey felt that skill shortages were a major barrier to their growth.

When asked what kind of skills were particularly lacking, the businesses cited :-

• Specific skills relevant to the job
• Key skills, including communication, business awareness and team skills.
• Technical skills
• Financial and management skills.

All of this again begs the question as to whether the real issue is a genuine absence of the necessary skills or whether employers and recruiters continue to ignore or positively discriminate against candidates who don’t fit their traditional ‘favoured’ candidate profile - e.g. being ‘too’ old.

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‘Opportunity Age’

The Department of Work & Pensions has published its plans to meet the challenges of Britain’s changing demographics. ‘Opportunity Age – Meeting the challenges of ageing in the 21st Century’ is claimed to represent “the first ever cross-government strategy that looks specifically at the issues facing British society as people live longer, healthier lives.”

The paper addresses issues such as enabling people to extend their working life, supporting active ageing in our communities and giving people more choice and independence in how they use the services at their disposal.

Announcing the publication of 'Opportunity Age', Malcolm Wicks, the Pensions Minister said:

"With statistics showing that by 2007 there will be more people over state pension age than aged under 16, the importance of this strategy is clear. Right across Whitehall Government departments are showing today their commitment to meeting the challenge of Britain's changing society.

"This paper is about shedding the stereotypes that surround our older people and instead ensuring that government can help people to live the lives that they want and deserve. This is not just about traditional issues such as pensions or care homes.

"It is about allowing people to work longer if they want to and ending the nonsense of good, able workers being thrown on the scrapheap just because of their age. To ensure people have access to education courses or sports clubs and giving people the independence and choice they want in choosing the services that they need."

On age and employment, the Minister said, “Our aspiration is for a million more older people in work. We will achieve this not by forcing people to work longer, but by helping older people who want to stay in or get back to work. This will mean: legislating against age discrimination in the work-place; reforming Incapacity Benefit to support people back to work; and, giving the option of a lump sum, which could be worth up to £30,000 where people choose to take their state pension five years later”.

The vision and rhetoric are clearly there - but will the policies, the legislation introduced, budgets assigned, actions and implementation back them up ? Watch this space….

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Select Committee Recommends Ending Working Time Opt Out

The Trade and Industry Select Committee has recommended the Government should drop its opposition to the removal of our opt-out from the EU’s Working
Time Directive. The committee says the Directive has enough flexibility to accommodate the needs of UK business.

The Select Committee is also calling for an extension of the right to flexible working.
In its report on UK Employment Regulation, it says that contrary to claims from employers’ bodies such as the CBI, employment regulation in the UK is not excessively burdensome on employers or a threat to UK competitiveness.

With the numbers of working mothers rising and an ageing population, employers will find that accommodating the caring obligations of their employees is a necessity, not a luxury, the report says.

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Labour Pledges To Sort Out Public Holiday Entitlement

Tony Blair has pledged that if Labour is re-elected it will sort out public holiday leave entitlement once and for all. Currently around two million mostly low-paid workers are forced to take Bank Holidays as part of their annual leave.

Writing is the Daily Mirror, the Prime Minister said, “A third term Labour Government will help those missing out by ensuring Bank Holidays come on top of the right to four weeks’ paid holiday.”

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Week Starting 21st March

The New Adult Skills White Paper

Less than 2 years after we had the last Skills Strategy White Paper, the Government has published its next one.

Unlike its predecessor, this new White Paper ‘Skills: Getting on in Business, getting on at work’ recognises the impact of the UK’s changing demographics on the labour market. It focuses on the need of individuals to initially gain skills, and the need for subsequent up-skilling and reskilling in order to ensure ‘employability for life’. And to give employers the access to the workforce and skills they need to improve productivity, competitiveness and profitability in an increasingly global economy.

Much of the White Paper’s contents have been announced previously but it does contain some new elements. Its main proposals include :-

• A new National Employer Training Programme, which will deliver free, flexible training for vocational qualifications to the equivalent of 5 GCSEs A-C grade. (a.k.a an NVQ level 2) . The programme will be rolled out across the country by 2007/08, based on the successful Employer Training Pilots which have supported nearly 18,000 employers and over 130,000 employees;
• New pilots in two regions to support vocational training at technician, craft and associate professional level skills (NVQ level 3 : equivalent to two A-levels), the higher-end technical qualifications that the economy needs. The Government is providing new money - £40m over two years - to support these pilots, and the funding will be matched by contributions from employers.
• 12 Skills Academies to be set up over the next 3 years which will focus on the needs of each major sector of the economy and help raise the status and value of vocational education and training. The intention is that they will form world-class centres of excellence, sector by sector.

• Help adults gain basic skills of literacy, language and numeracy through free tuition via its Skills for Life programme.
• Help adults to gain a wider platform of employability skills, through an entitlement to free tuition up to NVQ Level 2. The programme currently being piloted in the North East and South East regions will be rolled out nationally by 2007/08.
• Support progression to NVQ Level 3 and beyond, which includes increasing the number of Foundation Degree places to 50,000 by next year;
• Help adults navigate their way through the system by creating a new one-stop telephone and on-line advice service helping adults make decisions about their careers and training needs.
• Tackle the obstacles people face in gaining fair access to training and jobs including:

  
  
  • National screening and access to free training in basic skills for Jobcentre Plus clients;
  • A new Skills Coaching service for adults out of work to help them gain the skills and training they need;
  • A new Learning Option giving financial support for training to help those Jobcentre Plus clients for whom skills gaps represent a primary barrier to employment.

Launching the White Paper, Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Ruth Kelly said:

"Too many adults in Britain still lack basic skills in literacy and numeracy and employers are concerned that they cannot recruit workers with the skills they need to be competitive. We need to tackle this and go even further to support more adults in achieving the higher end technician, craft and professional qualifications our economy needs to compete with the best.

"Improving our national skills base must be a joint endeavour between Government, employers, trade unions, universities, colleges and other training providers. If we tackle the challenges that face us we have a real opportunity to make a fundamental change."

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Adult Apprenticeships

Nearly two years after the lifting of the age cap on apprenticeships was originally announced, the first Adult Apprenticeship pilots are just getting underway.

Some 1300 adults - aged 22+ - are being recruited to take part in the programme which will run in 3 sectors (engineering, construction and health & social care) and involve 9 Local Learning and Skills Councils.

The learners will either be:-

• Existing employees in job roles that require apprentice-trained employees but who lack formal qualifications, or
• Employees whose current job role has disappeared, or
• The unemployed on benefits, who have potential to move into roles that require apprentice training but who lack the skills and qualifications.

The programme the new Adult Apprentices will be following should lead to an NVQ level 3 qualification and will be based on the current apprenticeship framework used for 16-25 year olds.

The target completion date, and the time when the funding runs out, is March 2006.
However, its thought likely that most of the learners on the scheme will not complete their apprenticeships and gain their qualifications until 2007.

The 1300 Adult Apprenticeship ‘starts’ compares with the Learning & Skills Council’s target of 175,000 Young Apprenticeship ‘starts’ this year.

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80% of New Public Sector Jobs in Health & Education

According to the Office of National Statistics nearly 80% of the nearly 600,000 new jobs created in the public sector between 1998 and the first quarter of 2004 were in health and education.

However the ONS estimates that in the period between 1991 and 1998 there had been a fall of 815,000 jobs in public sector.

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Week Starting 14th March

Over 60s in the Workforce Predicted To Double

A new report by City & Guilds, “Working in the Third Age”, identifies that by 2020 the number of people aged 60 and over in the UK workforce is set to double.

According to the report - conducted with nearly 1250 adult employees in both craft and professional occupations - today’s workforce fully anticipates working for longer, with 33% expecting to postpone their retirement.

And as rising house prices prevent many people from getting on the property ladder until later on in life, a further 15% of people expect to still be paying off their mortgage when they hit retirement age.

However, many people want to carry on working for positive reasons - one in five people anticipating a delayed retirement simply feel too young to quit working.

Despite many employers valuing the experience and knowledge of their ‘silver staffers’ and recognising a skills shortage among younger people, City & Guilds believes that employers can do a lot more to allay the fears of older workers. The organisation wants to see more employers investing in on-going training and development, and encouraging the transfer of skills and experience by introducing mentor or trainer roles for more mature staff.

All employees – particularly older workers certainly feel vulnerable – nearly a quarter of those questioned (23%) are worried about being unemployable. A further 69% believe employers are ageist and a fifth feel that older people do not have access to the right training.

Chris Humphries, Director-General of City & Guilds said: “Employers are realising the benefits of an older workforce but there is a lot more that can be done, both to support older workers and make the most of their skills and experience. Introducing changes such as flexible working and mentor roles for older people can benefit businesses and staff.

‘At the same time, employees can also help themselves to stay employable by future proofing their skills, updating their skill set and realising that one is never too old to seek career advice.”

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Budget Fails to Excite But Woos the Grey Vote – and Others

Gordon Brown’s Budget was not the pre-election give-away many people may have been expecting – or hoping for.

However, the decisions to extend free bus travel to all pensioners, the £200 reduction in their Council Tax bills, the five year extension on tax breaks on ISAs, plans for the Pension Credit to rise by 13% by 2008 and the increase on the Inheritance Tax threshold were all clearly aimed at wooing the grey vote in the run-up to the general election. He also had modest proposals aimed at wooing the rest of us.

There were few new announcements or measures on the skills and employment front aimed at improving the prospects for older workers. This was something of a surprise given the imminent publication of a new White Paper on Adult Skills and the Chancellor’s fondness for stealing the thunder from his Cabinet colleagues. The publication earlier in the day of another set of ‘good’ employment figures may explain the lack of additional activity.

Nevertheless, the additional £65 million announced to provide continued funding of the 18 Employer Training Pilots already up and running for the 05/06 academic year was welcome, as was the Chancellor’s acceptance of the recommendations in the National Employment Panel’s new report on measures to promote employment and small business support for ethnic and faith minorities. And a £2000 return-to-work bonus available to loan parents is aimed at upping their employment rate.

The Government’s long-term aspiration of achieving an overall employment rate of 80% has again been underlined in the Budget’s supporting documents.

Earlier in the week Alan Johnson, the Work & Pensions Secretary, announced he will be publishing a Green Paper during the summer on his Incapacity Benefit reform proposals, which include the extension of the Pathways to Work pilots. Those pilots have already helped over 10,000 new IB claimants back into jobs.

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Latest Employment Figures

Timed to coincide with the Chancellor’s Budget statement, the latest employment figures show more people in work, a small increase in the employment rate, the number of job vacancies up but at the same time an increase in the number of unemployed, in the unemployment rate and in the number of people being made redundant. However, the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance has fallen.

More of the detail:-

The employment rate for the 3 months ending January 2005 was 74.9%, with 28.57 million people in work – the highest number since comparable figures began in 1971.

Manufacturing jobs fell over the past year by 92,000 (2.8%) to 3.24 million in the 3 months to January. This is the lowest number since comparable records began in 1978. The biggest losses being felt in the Textiles, Leather and Clothing sub-sector.

The unemployment rate was 4.7% for the 3 months to January 2005 with 1.41 million people unemployed on the ILO measure. The number of JSA claimants in February was down by 700 at 813,300 compared with the figure in January but down by 73,100 versus February last year.

The economic inactivity rate was down by 0.2% over the previous 3 months at 21.3% but was unchanged over the year. The number fell by 69,000 to 7.83 million.

In the 3 months to January, 139,000 people were made redundant, up 2,000 from the previous 3 months.

There were 645,000 job vacancies on average over the 3 months ending February 2005, up 2,600 from the previous 3 months and 33,700 compared with the previous year.

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Figures At Last on New Deal 50+

After nearly a two year break, the Government has at last published details of the number of people helped back into work by its New Deal 50+ programme. In the 21 months from April 2003 to December 2004 some 33,900 people gained a job through ND50+. Of these 73% were male, 79% were white and 52% were aged between 50 and 54.

As suspected the figures show a considerable reduction in the number of people being helped. The fall-off happened after the major back-to-work incentive in the programme was fundamentally changed in April 2003. Jobcentre Plus advisers freely admit that once the individual Employment Credit was replaced by a Working Tax Credit based on overall household income, the numbers signing up to this largely voluntary programme plunged dramatically.

Both the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee have called for a proper economic evaluation of the programme – something which has not been done up till now.

TAEN has campaigned for full disclosure of information on ND50+, ever since the DWP stopped publishing details in the wake of the April 2003 changes. At a recent meeting, Alan Johnson, the Work & Pensions Secretary told us that he agreed it should be made available, so full marks to him for following through to make sure its happened.

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Week Starting 7th March