Budget headlines for HR professionals

April 9, 2003

Budget headlines for HR professionals

With the Treasury website under strain, the national print press is in the process of reporting the main issues likely to affect HR professionals in the Budget this year.

The Guardian reports:

Young offenders who behave well in custody to be offered job on release

Help for lone parents working part-time

An extra £20 a week for lone parents’ job search

£170m new help for training costs of people in work

The Independent reports:

The Government is to introduce tighter benefit rules for the long-term unemployed.

The guaranteed minimum income for 35 hours work will rise by £19 to £194.

The Employer Training Pilots scheme would be expanded to six more areas of the country at a cost of £170 million.

The case for 16– and 17–year–olds having a minimum wage will be considered.

Pay review bodies for public sector workers will have a stronger local and regional dimension.

The Telegraph reports:

The Chancellor set a goal of full employment by 2008.

More than 20,000 public sector jobs could be transferred out of London “to the benefit of the whole country”.

An extension of regional science and industry councils is currently under consideration along with a new on-line service, to give small businesses advice on training.

The Highly Skilled Migrant Programme will be expanded.

The Government is planning to publish a Skills Strategy in June 2003. The Strategy will set out a framework for action by government, individuals and employers to tackle deficiencies in the skills base.

The Sun reports:

The creation of 253,000 extra jobs in Britain in the next year

By 2008, there should be 88,000 more nurses and 25,000 more doctors, funded by an increase in NI

The lowest unemployment in the UK for a generation

The Data Protection Act to be simplified.

For more general budget news, visit our sister site AccountingWEB.