Budget reaction: picking the positives as UK faces further austerity
6 December 2012
Recruitment industry stakeholders have taken a number of positives from yesterday’s Autumn Statement from the Chancellor George Osborne, despite the headline news being that Osborne’s austerity plan will last a year longer than previously planned, to 2018.
Thu, 6 Dec 2012
Recruitment industry stakeholders have taken a number of positives from yesterday’s Autumn Statement from the Chancellor George Osborne, despite the headline news being that Osborne’s austerity plan will last a year longer than previously planned, to 2018.
A more robust HMRC, further investment in infrastructure projects including in education and doing away with the divisive taxation of controlling persons legislation have been welcomed from various quarters.
“We would have liked to have seen the introduction of initiatives, such as scrapping NIC [National Insurance contributions] entirely for small employers and increased allowances for companies that take on apprentices.”
Ann Swain, the chief executive of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), and HR services firm Penna were among numerous bodies welcoming the news on Controlling Persons, which would have tightened the taxation regime for those in interim management and professional contractor roles.
Swain comments: “We said at the time that these ill thought-out proposals took no account of the professional interim market and that professional contractors were not ‘fat cat’ tax avoiders but skilled professionals working on short-term projects for organisations undergoing change management programmes, turnarounds or other business critical issues.”
Penna claimed in a statement that “the government’s decision recognises the value that executive interims provide to businesses in the UK”.
Having heard the announcement of a further £77m to be invested in HMRC, Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) chief executive Kevin Green says: “A more robust HMRC is very welcome. As well as pursuing tax avoidance by big household name companies, we’re very glad the government has responded to our calls and explicitly said they will investigate offshore intermediaries operating in our industry.”
But he added: “However, they have not made a commitment to improve their efforts to crack down on the abuse of travel and subsistence schemes and we will continue to argue for greater action. Abuse of these schemes distort the recruitment market and give unscrupulous recruiters an unfair advantage over those who play by the rules.”
On the issue of education, with Osborne announcing the building of 100 new schools funded by money raised through cuts elsewhere in the public sector, Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development chief executive Peter Cheese said: “Government policy on education reform, employer ownership of skills and on improving the vocational education system will support the development of more high skills, high-value workplaces.
“This area of policy has much greater capacity to deliver what employers need than the government’s desire to further deregulate our already flexible labour market.”
Ian Taylor, CEO of active leisure, learning and well-being Sector Skills Council, SkillsActive, added: “It is correct that there is no miracle cure when it comes to economic growth, however it is highly important, more so than ever, to ensure that we continue to invest in skills.
“In order to achieve the private sector led growth which the government so desperately yearns for, we need to have a highly skilled and adequately qualified workforce.”
On the point of broader infrastructure investment, the British Retail Consortium director-general Stephen Robertson added: “Backing specific transport projects that create construction jobs quickly and then help get goods to stores and customers, and people to work, is welcome. Boosting house building will stimulate demand. Our own research
shows the strong link with sales of products such as furniture, carpets and homewares.”
Recruitment industry stakeholders have taken a number of positives from yesterday’s Autumn Statement from the Chancellor George Osborne, despite the headline news being that Osborne’s austerity plan will last a year longer than previously planned, to 2018.
A more robust HMRC, further investment in infrastructure projects including in education and doing away with the divisive taxation of controlling persons legislation have been welcomed from various quarters.
- For more on the Autumn Statement, see full reaction below the ad, and the new issue of Recruiter, out next week.
“We would have liked to have seen the introduction of initiatives, such as scrapping NIC [National Insurance contributions] entirely for small employers and increased allowances for companies that take on apprentices.”
Ann Swain, the chief executive of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), and HR services firm Penna were among numerous bodies welcoming the news on Controlling Persons, which would have tightened the taxation regime for those in interim management and professional contractor roles.
Swain comments: “We said at the time that these ill thought-out proposals took no account of the professional interim market and that professional contractors were not ‘fat cat’ tax avoiders but skilled professionals working on short-term projects for organisations undergoing change management programmes, turnarounds or other business critical issues.”
Penna claimed in a statement that “the government’s decision recognises the value that executive interims provide to businesses in the UK”.
Having heard the announcement of a further £77m to be invested in HMRC, Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) chief executive Kevin Green says: “A more robust HMRC is very welcome. As well as pursuing tax avoidance by big household name companies, we’re very glad the government has responded to our calls and explicitly said they will investigate offshore intermediaries operating in our industry.”
But he added: “However, they have not made a commitment to improve their efforts to crack down on the abuse of travel and subsistence schemes and we will continue to argue for greater action. Abuse of these schemes distort the recruitment market and give unscrupulous recruiters an unfair advantage over those who play by the rules.”
On the issue of education, with Osborne announcing the building of 100 new schools funded by money raised through cuts elsewhere in the public sector, Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development chief executive Peter Cheese said: “Government policy on education reform, employer ownership of skills and on improving the vocational education system will support the development of more high skills, high-value workplaces.
“This area of policy has much greater capacity to deliver what employers need than the government’s desire to further deregulate our already flexible labour market.”
Ian Taylor, CEO of active leisure, learning and well-being Sector Skills Council, SkillsActive, added: “It is correct that there is no miracle cure when it comes to economic growth, however it is highly important, more so than ever, to ensure that we continue to invest in skills.
“In order to achieve the private sector led growth which the government so desperately yearns for, we need to have a highly skilled and adequately qualified workforce.”
On the point of broader infrastructure investment, the British Retail Consortium director-general Stephen Robertson added: “Backing specific transport projects that create construction jobs quickly and then help get goods to stores and customers, and people to work, is welcome. Boosting house building will stimulate demand. Our own research
shows the strong link with sales of products such as furniture, carpets and homewares.”
