Week Starting 29th September

Government Wins Appeal Against Employment Rights For The Over 65s

The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) has unfortunately won its appeal against last year’s landmark tribunal decision that would have extended unfair dismissal and redundancy payment rights to those over state pension age.

In August 2002, two pensioners - John Rutherford (72) and Samuel Bentley (75) – successfully challenged laws which currently prevent workers over 65 claiming full employment rights. An industrial tribunal agreed that they had suffered indirect sexual discrimination on the grounds that more men than women over 65 continue working. As the former employers of both men had ceased trading, the case was brought against the Trade and Industry Secretary.

In May this year, lawyers for the DTI lodged an appeal against the tribunal’s ruling claiming that the original hearing had ignored relevant statistics. The DTI did so despite the Government ‘s Age Positive campaign and declared intention to give people the opportunity to go on working longer. They did so despite the fact they are responsible for drawing up and introducing the age discrimination legislation due to come into effect in October 2006. They did so knowing that from October 2006 it will be illegal to determine employment rights on the basis of age and they did so knowing it would send all the wrong signals.

In the meantime Messrs Rutherford and Bentley are now deciding whether to appeal.

Click here to read TAEN’s press release on the subject.

National Minimum Wage Rises This Week

On 1st October the National Minimum Wage goes up to £4.50 an hour for workers aged over 22 and to £3.80 an hour for 18-21 year olds. An estimated 1.5 million low-paid workers will benefit from the increase.

The Government has already announced that it will rise to £4.85 an hour for adults and £4.10 an hour for 18-21 year olds next October (2004). Next year’s increase will benefit about 2.5 million workers.

Trade Unions are still pushing the Government for a larger increase next year but its unlikely to happen. As the minimum wage rises it draws in more and more low paid workers and the Government is fearful that a larger increase could lead to job losses.

Ever since the Labour Party committed to its introduction, employers’ organisations have continually warned that the minimum wage would lead to widespread job losses. So far they have not materialised mainly because the majority of very low paid jobs are in sectors of the economy such as hospitality, catering and retail where technology has not been able to replace people and the jobs cannot be exported.

Many older workers – especially women – are in jobs where they earn under £5 an hour. How are they expected to live anywhere near comfortably or be able to save for retirement on that level of wages ?

Week Starting 22nd September.

Public Sector Employment Increases By Over 350,000 in 4 Years

The number of jobs in the public sector grew by 7% (354,000 new jobs) in the 4 years to June 2002 according to the Office of National Statistics. The growth means that there are now 5.3 million jobs in the public sector (19% of the total) compared with 23.6 million (81%) in the private sector.

The two fastest growing areas of employment in the public sector are in Health and Education – the areas which have seen the biggest increases in public spending. Together they now account for just over 50% of total jobs in the sector. Of 86,000 new jobs in the public sector in the 12 months to June 2002*, 61,000 were in the Health service.

However attracting the right quality and diversity of candidates remains a concern for public sector employers. The NHS is spending £6 million to ‘beef up’ its internet recruitment activities and is launching a new e-recruitment service next year.

Meanwhile, a survey by recruitment company Monster, reveals that the image of the public sector may have improved as 50% of people questioned said they would now consider working in it.

• the latest month for which there is comprehensive information.

Pension Expectations Unreal

Two months ago the DWP published its report on public attitudes to pensions, now a new report from financial services company JPMorgan Fleming has again underlined the gulf between people’s pension expectations and the likely reality.

The report says that only a quarter of people (26.5%) can reasonably expect to retire on a pension half as big as their final salary - the figure has fallen from 43% six years ago. The problem is that 59% of employees expect to have a pension worth half of their final salary, even though 43% of them do not have any form of private/occupational pension.

A spokesperson for JPMorgan Fleming said, “The research paints a grim picture of pension provision in the Uk with the number of workers who can expect a comfortable retirement rapidly declining. But perhaps even more worrying is the mismatch between the financial reality and people’s expectations.”

The survey found that on average respondents were expecting to have a pension worth nearly £19,000 a year in today’s money, however for just over 50% of them it looks like they will be receiving about half that - £9,900 a year.

There is a regional dimension to this as well. In the South East 26% of workers can now reasonably expect to retire on at least half their final salary (down from 35% in 1996) , whilst in the South West only 19% of workers can expect to do so.

Mature Adult Modern Apprenticeships – Not Just Around The Corner

We have been lobbying for an extension of Modern Apprenticeships to mature adults as one way to fill the skills gaps which employers continue to complain of . In the Skills Strategy published in July, the Government announced it would be immediately lifting the age cap on Modern Apprenticeships. In reality all they’ve done so far is to change the rules to allow any young person to start a Modern Apprenticeship at any point prior to their 25th birthday and complete it without the employer losing the funding that’s provided.

Last week the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Ivan Lewis confirmed that the decision on whether to extend Modern Apprenticeships to mature adults is being left to the new Sector Skills Councils (SSCs). The SSCs will be invited to design and implement a Modern Apprenticeship programme for adults in their sector. In answering a written parliamentary question he said, “ It will be for individual SSCs, the Sector Skill Development Agency and key partners including employers to assess the implications of this change for particular sectors. They will do so taking account of the need to maintain high standards; current budget limitations; and forthcoming European Age Legislation.”

One problem is that so far just 7 out of the 20 plus SSCs eventually envisaged have been licensed by the Government. The seven are Cogent (which covers the energy sector), e-skills UK (covering IT, telecommunications and contact centres), Lantra (environmental and land-based industries), SEMTA (Science, Engineering and Manufacturing), Skillfast-UK (apparel, footwear and textiles), Skillset (audio visual industries) and Skillsmart (retail). The others are supposed to be licensed over the coming months but there is a lot of doubt about the pace at which this is going to happen.

So bearing in mind the intense focus Government is putting on getting 16 to 25 year olds into Modern Apprenticeships, and noting that no extra money is going to be made available, adult mature apprenticeships in most sectors are unlikely to be just around the corner - more’s the pity. However we will continue to lobby….

Week Starting 15th September.

IOD Calls For Help For Long Term Sick

The Institute of Directors (IOD) is calling for the Government to set up an effective NHS rehabilitation scheme to help people on long term sickness/incapacity benefits get back into work.

Currently there are around 2.7 million people of working age claiming incapacity benefit (IB)– around 50% are over 50. The IOD’s new report says that all the stakeholders (employees, employers, insurers, central and local government, the NHS) have a role to play in ensuring that everyone who has the inclination and capacity to do so is actively encouraged to remain in – or return to – working life. A claimant who has been receiving IB for a year is likely to be on it for a further 7 years on average.

The survey of IOD members showed that 50% still provided an occupational health service for their employees. But their members felt more could be done by other bodies (especially the NHS) to assist in rehabilitating staff on sick leave.

The IOD’s report comes just six weeks before the Government’s ‘Pathways To Work’ pilot schemes are due to start in 3 areas - Bridgend (Wales), Renfrewshire (Scotland) and Derbyshire. They will offer comprehensive back-to-work support for new entrants onto incapacity benefit, including :-

• Early support from skilled personal advisers, including work-focused interviews and action plans.
• Specialist programmes, including rehabilitation services provided jointly by Jobcentre Plus and the NHS.
• Greater financial incentives to work - including a 'Return to Work Credit' of £40 a week for 52 weeks for those finding a job that pays less than £15,000 per year and access to a discretionary fund of up to £300 to help find a job.

According to the Government nearly 40% (1 million) of the 2.7 million people in total on IB want to work. A second tranche of pilots will start in four other areas in April 2004.

Many organisations either ended or downgraded their occupational health programmes for employees during the 1990s as a cost cutting measure. Others switched to providing private health insurance cover.

Good Jobs Getting Better, Bad Jobs Getting Worse

A new study from the London School of Economics says that whilst good jobs are getting better, bad jobs are getting worse, including the wages they are paying.

The researchers say that whilst the number of skilled jobs is increasing (particularly in professional and managerial occupations), the number of ‘lousy’ jobs – mainly in low-paying service industries – has also grown. They claim the UK’s labour market has become more polarised because the number of ‘middling’ jobs (e.g. clerical and skilled manual work) has been declining at the same time.

The OECD has just published its employment outlook for 2003 which confirms that job creation in the past 10 years in the UK has been characterised by a relatively strong growth in low-paying jobs. This has run contrary to the global trend of a more rapid increase in industries and occupations that paid relatively well.

A UK Labour Market Trends report from the Office of National Statistics published in April showed that 26% of women and 10% of men aged 55-59 are in jobs paying under £5 an hour. 22% of women and 7% of men aged 50-54 are also in jobs paying under £5 an hour.

New Scheme To Encourage Business Start-ups By Women

Starting a business/becoming self-employed is one of the ways older workers overcome age prejudice in the labour market. Approximately 16% of workers aged 50 to state pension age are self-employed and 12% of people on New Deal 50+ choose the self-employment option. However more men start-up businesses or become self-employed than women and the Government would like to see the gap closed. So, this week they have announced a new scheme to do just that.

The scheme is part of the Comprehensive Strategy For Business Start-ups and its aim is to encourage more women to start-up businesses. If the female start-up rates in the UK matched those by women in the U.S. then an additional 100,000 businesses would be created each year.

Announcing the scheme the Small Firms Minister, Nigel Griffiths said, “I want to encourage more women to start-up in business by ensuring that everyone with the ambition to start-up or grow a business is supported.”

A recent survey by handbag.com found that lack of finance was a key barrier faced by women wanting to start a business. According to the Small Firms Minister, “Our new improved Small Firms Loan Guarantee, where the Government provides a guarantee on behalf of the business, now covers more sectors such as retail and hairdressing….Last year the average loan guaranteed was around £60,000.”

Any women interested should contact their local Business Link or the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies. In addition, women (or men) over 50 should contact PRIME (a TAEN member) for information and advice. Their website address is: www.primeinitiative.org.uk

Week Starting 8th September

Baghdad Bounce Gives Recruitment A Boost

Recruitment in August reached a two and a half year high and one of the reasons given is an increase in levels of business confidence since the end of the war with Iraq. The latest Report On Jobs from the R.E.C/Deloitte Touche shows there was an increase in both permanent and temporary job placements in both the public and private sectors. The increase in private sector recruitment was the first since May 2001.

The nursing and medical sectors showed the strongest growth in both permanent and temporary jobs. Other areas taking on staff were engineering, blue collar jobs, hotels and I.T.

Older Men Losing Out In The Job Stakes

According to the Employers Forum on Age (EFA) and Kelly Services, older men may be having more difficulty in finding work than older women. Their new Ageism In Business Survey 2003 revealed that 72% of employers surveyed feel that men over 50 find it harder to get a new job than they did 10 or 20 years ago. This compared to 51% who felt the situation is now worse for older women.

9 out of 10 of the employers believe that with the UK’s population ageing there will be more part-time opportunities for older people in future. But this may add to the disadvantages facing older male job-seekers because part-time work has traditionally been regarded as more popular and socially acceptable for women. Older men will need to adapt, say the EFA and Kelly Services, if the job market is to become increasingly flexible for older workers.

The survey was conducted with 104 line managers from a broad range of organisations. It also found that positive messages about older workers are starting to get through – a clear majority of those surveyed felt that older workers are reliable, conscientious and bring experience and loyalty to a job.

However, there appeared to be a dangerous level of complacency about how prepared their organisations are for the 2006 age discrimination legislation. Nearly four out of five (78%) said the legislation will not change their recruitment practices.
This could be a dangerous – and ultimately expensive – misconception on their parts.

Week Starting 1st September

Jobcentre Plus Hits Job Entry Targets

Jobcentre Plus has published its latest performance figures showing it has met its points targets for job entries, in fact it exceeded them by 8%. It has also met its targets for customer service level and the outcomes for employers placing vacancies with them. However, it missed two out of its five targets – it did not achieve the reduction in losses through fraud and error it was meant to and it missed its own business process delivery target.

For readers who don’t know, Jobcentre Advisers and offices are targeted on, and awarded points for, getting people off welfare and into work. The points available are weighted so that certain categories of job-seekers carry higher job entry scores than others. This is obviously designed to ensure that Jobcentres focus their efforts on certain ‘priority’ groups.

Job-seekers in Priority Client Group 1 (which includes those on the New Deals for Lone Parents and Disabled People, as well as those on other Income Support, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disability Allowance) are worth 12 points for a job entry.

Those in Priority Client Group 2 (which includes those on New Deal 50+, New Deal 25+, New Deal for Young People and those on JSA for over 6 months) are worth 8 points.

Priority Client Group 3 covers those on JSA (Jobseeker’s Allowance) for under 6 months and they carry 4 points for a job entry.

Priority Client Group 4 covers unemployed non-benefit claimants who are worth 2 points for a job entry.

Priority Client Group 5 covers employed people. Jobcentre Advisers only gain 1 point for getting an employed person into another job.

Having achieved their 02/03 target, Jobcentre Plus’s job entry points target has been raised by 15% for this year.

Job Interviews Dreaded By Employees

Over 7 out of 10 employees ranked a final job interview as the most dreaded experience of their adult lives. This compared with 16% who chose meeting their partner’s parents or 13% who chose have a wisdom tooth extracted as their most dreaded experiences.

The survey of 1500 office workers was conducted by the recruitment company Office Angels. It found that nearly 1 in 4 thought they had missed out on a dream job because they committed a basic interview blunder which they could have easily avoided.

The top 5 blunders were:- arriving late due to getting lost on the way, being caught out on CV lies, calling the interviewer by the wrong name, getting the dress code completely wrong and implying that it’s not your ideal job.

Encouraging Signs For Manufacturing Sector

The UK manufacturing sector enjoyed its best month in August for the past 15 months. Output, orders and exports all rose - following on from July’s rise in overall activity.

Whilst its encouraging news, its too early to predict whether the improvement will be sustained and whether it will slow down or halt the ongoing job losses the sector has been experiencing for the past several years.