The Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats published their manifestos last week. Here is how the industry is reacting to the manifestos announced by them.

‘Save the NHS’

Tania Bowers, Global Public Policy Director at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo)

The additional budget pledged to help fix the NHS and address the social care crisis is promising, but it doesn’t solve the core crux of the issue; namely the lack of skilled workers in the country.

The Liberal Democrats have committed to recruit more GPs, but the devil is in the detail, and from what we’ve heard so far, it’s not entirely clear where these individuals will come from.

We expect more details to be published imminently which we will be scrutinizing closely. However, based on our experience supporting members recruiting into clinical healthcare, APSCo is familiar with the workforce and hiring challenges in the NHS and the social care sector. Addressing the immediate challenges will require more than a financial investment or an uptick in training, the results of which will take time to see.

As APSCo highlighted in its own Manifesto earlier this year, there are ways to create a more sustainable workforce in the national healthcare service, including cultivating a better partnership between NHS employers, recruitment companies and framework organizations to deliver the NHS long-term workforce plan.

Crucially, this partnership must recognize that contract and temporary workers play a core role in managing peaks and troughs in demand and in delivering projects and change implementation. In order to effectively cultivate this, a reform of hiring practices for temporary staff, including reducing so-called “off framework” placements across primary care and within Trusts, is required.

We have long argued that there is a need in the NHS to enhance compliance, reduce red tape and raise safeguarding standards through tactics such as standardizing compliance requirements across providers to achieve one set of rules and one set of audit standards, which could potentially be extended into social care.

‘Absence of a Focus on Skills Is Concerning’

Craig Sweeney, EVP at WilsonHCG

The details that have been published on the political manifestos lack the information around the skills agenda that the UK needs.

There may be talk from each of the major parties to increase recruitment in core sectors, but the country is facing a growing shortage of talent, particularly in STEM remits. And while unemployment levels have hit a two-year high according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, this is will not ease the labour shortage.

The core issue is that the workforce doesn’t have enough of the critical attributes that today’s businesses are after. With the nature of skills requirements also evolving at a significant speed, this gap is only going to grow. Employers need to be supported in building the workforce of the future and creating sustainable talent pools. Doing so will require a step-change in traditional recruitment practices, including a move to skills-first hiring.

We’re unlikely to see the impact of the General Election on the UK’s labour market until the tail-end of the year at the earliest, but without a clear commitment from any party to boost skills development, the onus is on businesses themselves.

‘Need To Recognize And Differentiate Professional Recruitment Sector and Highly Skilled Contractor Remits from Gig Workforce’

Tania Bowers, Global Public Policy Director at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo)

The Labour Party’s manifesto may be focused on change and growth, but what is missing from the details so far is where the workforce to deliver against these plans will come from.

With the education sector suffering from staff shortages, the commitment to hire more teachers is certainly welcome, but where these resources will come from is the key question. As we highlighted in our own manifesto, the UK is in dire need of a coordinated national strategy for skills that aligns education investment with regional economic strengths. The information currently shared by Labour doesn’t clarify how these additional roles will be filled or how future skills development will be sustained.

The plans to add 40,000 more NHS appointments weekly and recruit thousands of mental health staff is again welcome news for voters, but overlooks the significant resourcing crisis facing the national health service. There are simply not enough people entering the healthcare workforce to fill the current vacancies, let alone additional roles. There are a number of ways to create a sustainable workforce for the NHS, including standardizing compliance standards across all NHS providers.

The plans to build 1.5 million homes is also missing the details about where the workforce will come from. Since Brexit, sectors such as construction and infrastructure have lost a significant proportion of resources. The UK needs a government that will look at a constructive and appropriate immigration approach to ensure international resources are tapped into.

APSCo is supportive of the growth and skills levy, but speed will be of the essence in relation to this. There needs to be a core emphasis on recognising that this is a critical component of building sustainable workforces and delays simply cannot be allowed.

There’s already been a lot of detail on Labour’s deal for working people, but it’s really important that the professional recruitment sector and highly skilled contractor remits are appropriately recognized in legislation and differentiated from the gig workforce and other areas of the economy where zero-hour contracts are rife. Protections for those that would be impacted by zero-hour contracts won’t be relevant for highly skilled contractors, and that needs to be recognized by the government.

“Lack of Focus on Water Infrastructure and Skills ‘Highly Concerning"

Adam Cave, Founder and Managing Director of Murray McIntosh
 
In response to the manifesto launches, Water by Murray – part of Murray McIntosh - has criticized the leading parties for a lack of focus on boosting the industry and its skills. The water sector has faced a series of challenges linked to poor maintenance of aging infrastructure and ongoing sewage and pollution issues in recent months.

According to Water by Murray’s Water Industry Labour Report – which surveyed nearly 4,000 engineers across the sector - the number one issue facing the industry is skills and recruitment, which was listed by 26% of respondents. This was followed by aging infrastructure (20%) and hygiene and pollution (16%).

It’s no exaggeration that water is one of the truly pivotal industries in the UK, which is why it’s incredibly disappointing and highly concerning that none of the leading political parties have focused on the sector in any real detail in their manifestoes. The Conservatives have outlined a vague ‘Plan for Water’, but that doesn’t offer enough support for the sector in light of the current challenges it is facing.

Indeed, none of the parties have gone into real detail about how they would help the water industry to prosper. Yes, there are more glamorous and headline-grabbing areas to prioritize, but without a functioning water industry, the country would grind to a halt. A series of issues are plaguing the sector, and the majority of those can be tackled by investing in skills and training, and by retaining the engineers that are keeping the industry running.

According to our data, seven in ten engineers are considering leaving the sector for nuclear, or oil and gas, and that’s in a market already badly impacted by skills shortages. Whatever party wins the election, we hope that they focus significantly on tackling the issues facing the industry and invest in people, infrastructure, and the environment, all of which need a boost.

‘There’s Only Little to Boost Economic Productivity or Bolster the Labour Market’

Tania Bowers, Global Public Policy Director at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo)

The Conservative Manifesto shows a clear focus on using tax breaks to appeal to voters. However, for UK businesses and the labour market, the detail that has been announced so far suggests there is little to boost economic productivity or bolster the labour market.

It’s clear that much of the tax breaks will be funded by clamping down on tax avoidance. This may be a positive move if implemented appropriately, particularly in terms of proper management of the umbrella market. This could also be interpreted as a possible big push on off-payroll once again, though. Should this be the case, the move may dampen the contractor market which is needed for growth.

Plans to continue to push apprenticeships without heeding the advice of businesses and trade bodies such as APSCo are of concern. As we have highlighted, if apprenticeships are to be appropriate for the modern, more flexible world of work, then how they are run and funded needs to be reformed. Increasing the number of apprenticeships won’t bridge the gap in the take-up of these study routes.

The plan to scrap the main rate of NICs for the self-employed in the next Parliament is flawed. Not only will this fail to increase security for these workers in terms of sick pay, pensions, and other core elements, but it also applies only to those who are unincorporated. For the professional staffing sector, the majority of these workers will be incorporated, due to the tax laws that apply to recruitment businesses engaging them and the fact that unincorporated self-employment is inherently insecure.

Given that the UK is facing a dearth of highly skilled professionals in critical sectors such as healthcare, IT, security, and manufacturing, it is these workers that need the government’s attention.

With the UK’s skills crisis growing, the planned cuts on immigration could be a blunt instrument for the economy. Regional assessments that are based on individual skill requirements should be considered to ensure the country’s labour market is dynamic and meets the evolving needs of businesses.

It’s concerning that as of yet, no party has made it clear that they are speaking directly to businesses, meaning that manifesto plans are likely to be out of touch with the realities of modern-day economic difficulties.


 
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