April 28, 2015

With just over a week to go until polling day, I thought it would be useful to summarise the respective positions of the main parties this week so you will have an idea about how your vote might affect your organisation from a HR perspective.  Let’s kick off with the Conservative party. Without doubt, the last five years have seen extensive efforts to deregulate employment law and reduce burden on business. Will that trend continue if the Tories are elected for another five years? With an aim of achieving ‘full employment’ in Britain, here’s some of their more interesting pledges:

• Aim of increasing the national minimum wage to over £8 an hour by end of 2020;
• Creating an extra 3 million apprenticeships over the next five years;
• Getting thousands more disabled people into employment by transforming policy, practice and public attitudes (no further explanation provided!);
• Helping those with obesity and addictions back into work… by reducing their benefits if they refuse recommended medical treatment; and
• The Tories’ radical (or perhaps barmy?) idea… the introduction of paid volunteering leave for up to three days a year.

So nothing quite as ground-breaking as the shake up of unfair dismissal protection or the introduction of tribunal fees. Perhaps the main work has already been done?