TAEN Site news.

TUC Warns Women Would be Hit Hardest by Public Spending Cuts

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:23:00 +0000

Deep public spending cuts would lead to heavy job losses for women and substantially reduce their income in retirement, according to a report published by the TUC.

The report ‘Women and the Recession: One Year On’ warns that early public spending cuts would hit female employment hardest because around four in ten women work in public sector occupations, compared to less than two in ten men.

The report identifies Wales (46.6 per cent), the North East (45.9 per cent) and Scotland (43.1 per cent) as the areas where the highest proportion of women work in the public sector. Women working…

'Jobs Light' Recovery Most Likely

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:21:00 +0000

Two regular surveys which track recruitment intentions of employers, are continuing to warn that a ‘jobs light’ or even a ‘jobless recovery’ is the most likely prospect in store for the UK’s economy.

Both the latest CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey and the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey have found that employers are not rushing to expand their workforces, even though the economy appears to be creeping out of recession at last.

The CIPD/KPMG survey found that just under two thirds (63 per cent) of the nearly 750 employers they surveyed expected to recruit in the three months to April. However,…

£10 million for Additional 50+ Back-to-Work Measures

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:18:00 +0000

The Government is allocating £10 million to support the new back-to-work support measures for older workers announced in December.

Announcing the sum being allocated, Yvette Cooper, the Work and Pensions Secretary, told the audience at a conference* in London organised by the Social Market Foundation and TAEN, the money was needed to help ensure that this recession did not create a ‘lost generation’ of older workers as had happened in the 1980s and 90s.

The extra support was justified for three main reasons, she explained :

Vacancies increased at the sharpest rate for over two and a half years.
Almost a third (32 per cent) of the total sample, report feeling confident in their understanding of employment law and their role as an employer; however

Many Over 55s Have Significant Financial Concerns

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:41:00 +0000

According to the Aviva Real Retirement Report issued this month, those approaching retirement (55-64) have finances in worse shape than those either aged 65-74 or over 75.

The report, which reviews the finances of three ages of retirement: pre-retirees (55-64); retiring (65-74) and long-term retired (over 75), revealed that:

Two-fifths (45 per cent) of 55-64s are saving nothing per month
One-fifth of 55-64s still owe more than £75,000 on their mortgage
There is a growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots

Pre-retirees (55-64) have the lowest savings (£8,593), lowest incidences of home ownership (76 per cent) and largest…

Little Change in Employment Figures

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:56:00 +0000

According to the labour market figures released by the Office for National Statistics today, the working age employment and unemployment rates remain unchanged at 72.4 per cent and 7.8 per cent respectively. There were 28.91 million people employed in the last quarter of 2009 and 2.46 million unemployed.

The overall number of people aged 50 to state pension age in work fell by 16,000 (0.2%) in the three months to December 2009 over the previous quarter. Although there were 17,000 fewer men in the age group working, the number of women in work rose by 1,000. The overall…

Online Resources on Vocational Qualification Changes Launched

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:34:00 +0000

New online resources to help employers and learners explore important changes to vocational qualifications and shape the content of future vocational qualifications have been launched.

Business Link's website now gives employers access to information on vocational qualifications and how to influence the changes as they take place. It provides links to help employers develop new courses and link up with other businesses in the sector to create business-focused training programmes.

For learners, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills website has a new resource that provides the information and links needed to find out more about the changes.

Skills and Further Education…

British Workforce Polarising into the Elite and the Excluded

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:32:00 +0000

A Friends Provident research report conducted with the Future Foundation warns that Britain's workforce has reached a pivotal point and is polarising into two distinct groups: the elite and the excluded, which by 2020 will be the norm.

The elite - workers in technical, professional and managerial roles - will command more power in the workplace than ever before, according to the Visions of Britain 2020 report, requiring employers to rethink how they attract and retain their specialist skills. Meanwhile, nearly one million excluded workers, typically younger, unskilled males, face poor prospects and limited expectations. The research shows that the attitudes…

Job Ad for Cool and Good-Looking Staff Provokes Criticism

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:01:00 +0000

US-based clothes retailer Abercrombie and Fitch is once again in the media spotlight after putting up posters outside a UK store it is opening which invite "cool and good-looking people” to come to represent its brands.

Audrey Williams, employment law partner at Eversheds, told Personnel Today: “The advertisement carries risk and opens up the organisation to legal complaints. ‘Cool’ is a very subjective measure, but it can stereotypically describe someone who’s younger. ‘Good-looking’ could become an issue if someone with facial disfigurement applied for the job and was subsequently rejected.”

Abercrombie and Fitch was recently ordered by an…

DWP Publishes 50+ Back to Work Evidence Review

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:17:00 +0000

A report presenting findings from a literature review commissioned to provide greater insight into how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) back to work (BTW) provision supports the over-50s return to work has been published. DWP evaluation reports published between January 2000 and December 2008 were included in the exercise.

The main findings are:

Advisory support - older customers valued regular meetings and support with job searches, IT skills and preparing CVs. Older people with professional or managerial backgrounds were less likely to find adviser services helpful. In programmes that involved a mandatory interview with an…

CBI Continues to Argue for a Default Retirement Age

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:25:00 +0000

Katja Hall, Director of Employment Policy at the CBI, has called for the retention of a default retirement age (DRA), saying that businesses are exercised by misinformed calls to scrap a retirement age completely.

In an interview with Personnel Today, she said, in her experience of meeting businesses throughout the UK, that employers valued the skills and experiences of older members of the workforce but that people still wanted and needed to retire, whatever the retirement age. Businesses still needed framework for retirement whenever it happened. That meant a conversation between employer and employees, and a hook to hang that discussion…

Minister Calls for an End to Ageism in the Media

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Angela Eagle, Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing Society, has called for an end to ageism in the media, saying older people are not happy with the way they are portrayed.

Around 60 per cent of those who responded to the Government consultation on “Building a society for all ages” mentioned ageism in the media.

Some of the responses to the consultation included:

The need for the advertising, media and publicity industries to use models and presenters of all ages
The need to have more intergenerational programmes…

Private Sector Demand for Staff Grows

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:48:00 +0000

According to the Report on Jobs published by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC)and KPMG, permanent staff placement increased for the sixth month running during January, although weaker thean December's peak.

Temporary/contract billings continued to rise at a marked pace.

Kevin Green, REC Chief Executive, commented: "The growth in people getting permanent jobs eased in January but still remained positive over all. The number of vacancies reported by recruitment businesses also accelerated at the sharpest rate since July 2007, suggesting that we are now on the long road to recovery. The labour market is out of intensive care but it…

Flexible Working Key in Employer Recovery Plans

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:37:00 +0000

In a recent survey The state of HR – from recession to recovery, employers reported they were more open to looking at flexible working as a way to cope with the recession.

The survey of over 350 HR professionals conducted by the law firm Speechly Bircham in collaboration with King’s College London HRM Learning Board, focusing on the period November 2008 to October 2009, found employers are seeking to maintain the integrity of their workforce and avoid the cutbacks made in previous decades.

Survey results showed a drastic increase in the use of flexible working to retain skills and…

Business Minister Lauds Older Workers

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:12:00 +0000

Business Minister Pat McFadden got off his sick bed to laud older workers at a conference called by the Department of Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) on the economic contribution older workers can make.

“Older people bring skills and experience to the workplace which can be an asset to business,” he said in his message to industry and charities. BIS had brought together experts from both sectors to discuss the economic challenges and opportunities of an ageing population.

The seminar Is business ready for an ageing nation – economic opportunities for an ageing population was held at the Deloitte…

BBC Sued for Age Discrimination by Female Presenter

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:41:00 +0000

Award-winning presenter, Miriam O'Reilly, 52, is suing the BBC for age discrimination after she was dropped, along with three other women, all in their 40s and 50s, from Countryfile, the rural affairs programme.

She lodged her claim at London Central employment tribunal last week, saying the BBC had discriminated against her on grounds of sex and age.

She commented: " I think ageism is endemic at the BBC and women have been reluctant to speak out because they have their careers to think about and it is a big risk."

She was told that the BBC wanted to "refresh" Countryfile.

…

Equality Commission Wants More Work Opportunities for People Aged over 50

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:22:00 +0000

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has launched a set of proposals aimed at opening up more work opportunities for people aged over 50 and at addressing the challenges of an ageing workforce.

The EHRC’s proposals include abolishing the default retirement age, the extension of the right to request flexible working to all, overhauling employer recruitment practices to prevent discrimination and improved training and development.

The initiative coincides with the release of a new survey carried out for the Commission into older workers’ aspirations, barriers they face and potential solutions to these. The results show that the majority of…

Difference of Treatment Does Not Constitute Discrimination

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:18:00 +0000

The Court of Justice of the European Union has said that some employers can stop people as young as 30 from applying for some jobs because they are too old.

The Court said that Germany could keep in place a law which prevents people over 30 from applying to join its fire service. The German authorities had argued that its fire service recruits needed to be younger than 30 so that they could do 15 or 20 years of active service before being moved off front line duties and that there was a plentiful supply of younger workers to replace…

Equality Bill to Ban Pre-Employment Health Questionnaires

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:16:00 +0000

The Government has introduced an amendment into the Equality Bill which will ban employers from asking job applicants about their medical history prior to inviting them to interview.

The amendment would stop employers from asking job candidates about their health until after a job offer has been made.

Lord Hunt of Wirral, a Conservative peer, said: “Employers should not be permitted to make use of pre-employment health-related questions which are not directly relevant to the candidate’s ability, in particular for the job for which they have applied.”

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, employees can choose to disclose a condition or…

Train to Gain Expenditure Must Be Brought under Control Say MPs

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:13:00 +0000

Acknowledging the substantial expansion in training delivered by the Government’s flagship Train to Gain skills programme, the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons says the main priority now is to bring expenditure under control while minimising damage to training providers and the demand for training.

In its report on Train to Gain published this week, the Committee reviews the history of the programme and the way it was set up. First established in 2006-2007, by July 2009 the programme had supported more than 1.4 million learners working for around 200,000 employers. The report concludes that most learners have…

UK Unemployment Falls Slightly

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:11:00 +0000

To the surprise of many, the latest labour market statistics show that the number of unemployed people in the UK fell by 7,000 in the three months to November 2009.

It was the first quarterly fall since the three months to May 2008. Most commentators had been expecting the figure to rise to over 2.5 million but it has fallen to 2.46 million, however the unemployment rate itself remained unchanged at 7.8 per cent.

For the second month in a row there was a drop in the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance. During December it fell by 15,200 to…

Constant Tinkering with Employment Law Must Stop Says BCC

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:08:00 +0000

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) have requested a three-year moratorium on the introduction of new employment regulations and called for the 2011 National Insurance contributions (NICs) increase to be scrapped.

The BCC urged political parties to refrain from “tinkering with employment law” and leave business to get on with creating jobs.

In a joint letter to Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, the BCC and the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development called on the Government to avoid any further statutory increases in the cost of employing staff during what looks like…

Increase in Number of Female IB Claimants Driven by Men Taking Women's Work

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:12:00 +0000

The struggle for jobs in former industrial areas has seen men apply for roles traditionally considered ‘women’s work’ and as a consequence, the number of women claiming incapacity benefits has risen substantially in those areas.

According to the new Women on Incapacity Benefits report by academics at Sheffield Hallam and Dundee Universities, one of the main long-term consequences of job loss among men has been to push more women out of the labour market.

Britain has 2.6 million incapacity benefit claimants of working age - more than the headline total of unemployed. Nearly 1.1 million claimants are women,…

Free Mobile Calls for Benefit Claimants Starting 18 January

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:52:00 +0000

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have announced a new scheme negotiated with mobile phone companies to allow free calls for most people from their mobiles to claim benefits and pensions.

From 18 January, six of the biggest mobile phone network companies will no longer charge their customers for calls to the Department’s 0800 Benefit Claim lines. The agreement reached with 02, Orange, Tesco Mobile, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone brings mobile phone users into line with BT land line and mobile users. Initial agreements will last for two years.

The 0800 numbers…

New Right to Request Time Off for Training

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:04:00 +0000

Guidance published on the new right to request time off for training has been backed by industry. From 6 April 2010, the right to request ‘time to train’ will apply to employees in businesses with 250 employees or more. This right will be extended to cover employees in all businesses from 6 April 2011.

The new right means employees will be able to request training on an accredited programme leading to a qualification, or unaccredited training to help them develop skills relevant to their job, workplace or business.

There is no limit for the length of time that the study…

Harman Stirs the Pot over the Default Retirement Age

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:08:00 +0000

Harriet Harman, the Government’s Equalities Minister has said the time has come to scrap the default retirement age (DRA). Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said the promised review which had originally been planned for 2011 was being fast-tracked but that workers over 65 should also be given the legal right to ask to work part-time or from home, or make a range of other variations to their hours.

The changes in the law would cover staff ho have already signed contracts that say they will retire at 65, but it will not alter the point at which the state…

Saga Calling for Abolition of the Default Retirement Age in Party Election Manifestos

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:55:00 +0000

With the General Election now only months away, Saga is calling on all the political parties to commit to abolition of the default retirement age in their election manifestos.

Having recently polled nearly 14,200 people aged 50+, Saga has just issued its own manifesto containing six demands for a fairer society for the over-50s.

The six demands are:

Fairer Finances – including the abolition of Employers’ National Insurance contributions when people are recruited age 60 or above , to help combat ageism in employment. As well as the introduction of a flat rate state pension for all UK…

BBC Hiring Older Female Broadcasters

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:52:00 +0000

Stung by repeated accusations in recent years of ageism towards its older female broadcasters in particular, the BBC has announced it is hiring five women presenters aged 50+.

They include Moira Stewart, the former BBC newsreader who was dropped two years ago from her role as news anchor on Andrew Marr’s Sunday morning show and who is now aged 60. She is joining the line-up for Radio 2’s new breakfast show presented by Chris Evans and will be announcing regular news bulletins during the programme.

Whilst welcoming the move, critics of the BBC’s policy in recent years will need convincing…

NEST Name of New Personal Pension Accounts Scheme

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:49:00 +0000

The new national workplace pension scheme that will begin operating early next year has been rebranded as the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST).

Known up till now as personal accounts, NEST will be run by a not-for-profit trustee organisation known as the NEST Corporation and will eventually be one of the schemes available for employers to use to meet their auto-enrolment duties which phase in from 2012.

The Government announced in the Pre-Budget Report in December that new companies and small and micro businesses would be given more "breathing space" between setting up a pension scheme and enrolling workers, and…

Job Market Growing at Fastest Rate for Two and a Half Years

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:33:00 +0000

The job market in the UK grew last month at its fastest rate for two and a half years according to the latest Report on Jobs from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG.

The REC’s monthly survey of over 400 employment agencies found increased levels of recruitment activity in December for the fifth month in a row. Permanent placements grew at their sharpest rate since July 2007, and the level of temporary/contract staff billings rose at the fastest pace for two-and-a-half years.

The agencies reported a further rise in vacancy levels in December. Demand for permanent…

Disabled Workers Badly Hit by Redundancies

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:29:00 +0000

One in 20 disabled people has lost their jobs in the last 12 months and a leading charity fears that employers are deliberately targeting them for redundancy and unfairly turning them down for new jobs.

The Disability and the Downturn report from the Leonard Cheshire Disability charity warns that the employment gap between able-bodied and disabled employees is growing as more people compete for fewer jobs as a result of the recession.

The report, based on a survey of over 1,250 disabled people across the UK, found that more than half of respondents (52 per cent) had…

Some Vocational Qualifications Can Boost Earnings

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:25:00 +0000

A new report commissioned by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) shows that gaining some Vocational Qualifications can lead to large pay increases, but the benefits are not universal.

Research conducted by the University of Sheffield finds that vocational qualifications, often viewed as the poor relation in the qualifications framework, frequently have value in the labour market. However, the differences in the pay increases generated between types and levels of vocational qualifications are considerable, and are strongly influenced by the type of qualification and the way in which it is acquired.

The research shows that:

Apprenticeships provide…

42-Year-Old Banker Wins Age Discrimination Case

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:58:00 +0000

A 42-year-old London-based banker has won an age discrimination case against one of Canada's largest banks after being declared redundant during the credit crisis.

Mr Achim Beck was hired by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in February 2007 as head of derivatives marketing but was then dismissed, along with other members of the marketing team, as part of a wider redundancy programme in May 2008. He was told that his role was disappearing; However, it emerged during the tribunal hearing that the bank was actually working on a plan to rebuild the business with younger staff and was…

Increase in Businesses Planning to Freeze Pay in 2010

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:55:00 +0000

The British Chambers of Commerce’s latest Monthly Business Survey reveals that millions of people face a second year of pay freezes or cuts in 2010 as businesses continue to struggle with the impact of the recession.

The BCC’s survey found that just under two thirds of companies in the private sector plan to freeze (58 per cent) or cut pay (5 per cent) next year. This compares to around 40 per cent which the Bank of England estimates froze pay over the past year. In addition, nearly one in five (18 per cent are considering removing benefits, such as bonuses…