National Science and Engineering Week: Plugging the specialist skills gap
It is unsurprising that the ongoing spectre of a double-dip recession and sovereign debt crisis continue to spook world markets. As such, one could be forgiven for thinking that Europe is something of a black hole when it comes to employment opportunities these days. To make matters worse, the European Union’s controversial Agency Worker […]
Cable reveals coalition horse-trading over scrapping 50p tax rate
Business secretary Vince Cable has confirmed that negotiations to replace the 50p income tax rate with some form of wealth tax, or “mansion tax”, are ongoing within the coalition ahead of the Budget. Cable added that the Liberal Democrats were not "ideologically wedded to the 50p tax rate" as the Chancellor comes under increasing pressure […]
Remploy factory closures risk jobs of 1,500 disabled workers
Remploy is to consult with unions over the proposed closure of 36 of its 54 factories due to government funding cuts, which could lead to compulsory redundancies among more than 1,500 disabled workers. Remploy factories were established 66 years ago as part of the creation of the welfare state in order to employ disabled […]
Video Interview: Sharron Davies on what it takes to be a winner
Sharron Davies, Olympic silver medalist and winner of two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, talks to HRzone about what she believes it takes to be a winner and what set her off on her prestigious career path in the first place. Davies also shares her opinions on what constitutes effective leadership and what impact […]
OTS pushes for simplification of employee share schemes
The Office of Tax Simplification has recommended merging approved shares schemes to simplify what is on offer to employees and reduce restrictions on UK businesses. The final report, Review of Tax Advantaged Employee Share Schemes, calls for bringing the current Enterprise Management Incentive and Company Share Option Plan into one scheme while maintaining separate limits for […]
Scheme unveiled to cut unemployment among ex-prisoners
In a bid to tackle high unemployment levels among people with criminal records, former prisoners will now have to join the coalition government’s Work Programme immediately on their release or lose benefits. At the moment, ex-offenders are not forced to join the scheme until they have been out of jail and claiming JobSeeker’s Allowance for […]
Workers making official Olympics sportswear are abused, claims charity
Workers in Bangladeshi sweatshops are being exploited and abused while making clothes for Olympic sponsors, Adidas, Nike and Puma, an anti-poverty charity has claimed. War on Want in its report entitled ‘Race to the Bottom’ attests that the lowest-paid staff in factories that supply Adidas, the Games’ official sportswear partner, are given just 9p an […]
50p tax rate harming job creation, claim businessmen
The current 50p income tax rate for high earners is “damaging the economy” and delaying the UK’s recovery from recession, according to a letter signed by more than 500 business leaders. The letter, which was printed today by the Daily Telegraph, accused Chancellor George Osborne of putting “populist politics before sound economics” and called on […]
Boots pulls out of 2nd controversial unemployment scheme
Even as ministers found themselves compelled to drop sanctions from a work experience scheme aimed at young jobseekers, Boots has pulled out of a work programme for the long-term unemployed due to similar elements of compulsion. The pharmacy and retail chain said in a statement that some of its stores had already provided work experience […]
Changes to skilled migrant rights will “cause big problems for employers”
Skilled migrant workers from outside of the European Union who earn less than £35,000 are to lose the right to work in the UK for any more than five years in a move that will “cause big problems for employers”, a think tank has warned. The move, which will be introduced from April 2016, is […]
Blog: Will your staff be called up during the Olympics?
You may have heard the news that Reservists will be used for security purposes during the Olympic Games such as in this BBC article. While the use of Reserve Forces has been common place by other countries during the last few Games, it may come as a surprise to some employers who may not have […]
Analysis: Are women being hit hardest by public sector cuts?
Although research indicates that women have been disproportionately hit by cuts in public sector temp budgets, females are not being hit harder than males in the UK jobs market overall, the CIPD attests. An analysis of employment across 74 local authorities and other public authorities undertaken by consultancy, Comensura, revealed an 11.8% drop in the […]
Neet employer funding: ‘Why fill in forms for a social experiment?’
The government’s new £126m training scheme for young people has drawn a mixed response, with one entrepreneur claiming that it will only help training providers rather than businesses or the unemployed. Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg announced today that the funding would be made available to pay charities and private sector organisations to provide 55,000 […]
Tesco changes work experience terms in bid to end protests
Tesco is to offer work experience candidates paid placements and a guaranteed job at the end, after claims that it was using benefit claimants as unpaid labour generated an angry consumer backlash. The UK’s biggest supermarket chain said that participants in the government’s ‘Workfare’ scheme would now be offered the choice of remaining on Jobseeker […]
Minister: UK employers should favour UK unemployed
Little seems to have been learned from Gordon Brown’s ‘British jobs for British people’ populist sloganeering – Employment Minister Chris Grayling has taken a similar tack this weekend. On Sky News this weekend Grayling said that that young British people out of work should be given priority over immigrant applicants, including those from Eastern Europe. […]
UK unemployment continues ‘steady crawl’ to 9% by year end
Although the latest official unemployment figures were better than expected, the UK is continuing its steady crawl towards jobless levels of 9% by the end of the year, experts warn. According to the Office for National Statistics, worklessness rose by 48,000 in the three months to December, bringing the number of people without employment to […]
Blog: Why is coaching still an elitist sport?
Nearly every respondent to a recent survey of 250 UK companies said coaching in the workplace has helped individuals and their organizations. As I wrote in my previous blog post on coaching culture, they cited improved personal skills, better communication, higher confidence levels and greater motivation. With so many benefits, one might expect all […]
Training budgets first to be cut due to unclear business value
Learning and development budgets are among the first to be cut when times are hard because it is unclear what value training brings to the organisation and what return on investment it generates. According to a survey among 104 learning and development managers undertaken by managed learning company, KnowledgePool, three out of five said that […]
UK unemployment is double official figures at 6.3m, reveals study
The true state of UK unemployment is more than double official figures at 6.3 million if US rather than domestic metrics are used, research has revealed. If the US U6 measure, which includes unemployed, economically inactive (discouraged), marginally attached and under-employed workers, is applied to measure ‘total’ worklessness in the UK, the figure is higher […]
Redundancies expected to hit highest levels since spring 2009
The proportion of private sector employers planning to make redundancies this quarter is at its highest level since spring 2009, with those cutting jobs expecting to axe about 4% of their total workforce. According to a survey among more than 1,000 employers undertaken by YouGov on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, […]
