In an effort to keep you abreast of the election issues, HRreview puts the spot light on the Tories’ pledges and the impact on recruitment:
Economy and tax:
•Abolish the rise in National Insurance Payments for anyone earning less than £35,000, paid for by £6 billion in efficiency savings in 2010/2011;
•Make small business rate relief automatic;
•Cut the main rate of Corporation tax to 25p or lower and the small companies’ rate to 20p;
•Any new business started in the first two years of a Conservative government will pay no Employer National Insurance on the first ten employees it hires during its first year.
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Diversity and Equality:
•Force equal pay audits on any company found to be discriminating on the basis of gender;
•Place an obligation on Jobcentre Plus offices to ask employers if their vacancies could be advertised on a part-time or flexible basis.
Immigration
•Set an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants admitted into the UK to live and work;
•Apply transitional controls on workers as a matter of course in the future for all new EU Member States.
Sector specific issues
•Pledge to support the provision of free nursery care for pre-school children, to be provided by a diverse range of providers;
•The way in which the childcare industry is regulated and funded will be reviewed to ensure that no providers, including childminders, are put at a disadvantage;
•Review the criminal records and ‘vetting and barring’ regime and scale it back;
•Abolish the Agricultural Wages Board;
•Development of jobs in key sectors such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, IT, the creative industries, high value manufacturing and hi tech engineering will be a priority;
•Support co-operatives and mutualisation so that public sectors workers can run and deliver public services: also allowing social enterprises, charities and voluntary groups to bid to run services.
Business and regulation:
•A commitment to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses;
•A commitment for 25 per cent of government contracts to go to small firms;
•A ‘one-in, one-out’ rule for new regulations, introducing regulatory budgets and sunset clauses to remove unnecessary regulations;
•Move Britain towards a ‘one-click ‘registration model to make it easier to start a business;
•Reform regional business support to create business-led Local Economic Partnerships that will be responsive to local business needs;
•Negotiate to return powers over social and employment legislation from the EU to the UK. Jobs, welfare and skills;
•Simplify existing welfare schemes into one single back-to-work programme, including the 2.6 million people on Incapacity Benefit;
•Draw on a range of Service Academies to offer pre-employment training for unemployed people. The first academy will offer 50,000 training and work placement programmes in hospitality and leisure;
•Establish a network of Work Clubs, where people receive mentoring, skills training and help to find local job opportunities;
•Establish a new programme called Work for Yourself to give unemployed people access to business mentors and loans to support self-employment as a route back into work;
•Give small businesses a £2000 bonus for every apprentice they hire;
•Fund 200,000 apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships, 100,000 work pairings and 100,000 further education college places for young people over two years;
•Create a new all-age careers service and establish a Community Learning Fund to help people restart their careers.
