Council staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland were last awarded an annual pay rise in April 2009 and, in the subsequent three years, prices have risen by 13%, depressing their earning power by the same amount, said a report today by Unison and the New Policy Institute.

The report has been released on the eve of talks between unions and local government employers about the national pay award for 2012-13. Employers are expected to seek to impose a third consecutive pay freeze, in line with the government’s policy of keeping wages stable across the public sector in 2012-13 and in reflection of Whitehall cuts to councils.

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Seventy three full-time equivalent posts, including 22 registered social workers’ jobs, are to go in Hertfordshire Council’s locality older people and physical disability teams because of cuts to caseloads attributed to the county’s reablement service. The teams employed 526 people as of April 2011.

The changes, agreed at a meeting on Monday, are due to save £1.4m next year, part of a £3.4m package of annual savings delivered through reorganising the council’s adult social care functions. A further £1.6m will be saved by transferring initial assessments, brokerage, scheduled reviews and adaptations assessments to outsourcing company Serco, with 12 registered social workers due to transfer to the firm.

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This is according to a new study in the journal Occupational Medicine,undertaken by researchers at The University of Nottingham and University of Ulster, which also urges that more attention be paid to occupational health. Researchers questioned 17,000 workers and compared results from pre-recession findings in 2005 and mid-downturn in 2009.

Dr Jonathan Houdmont from The University of Nottingham’s Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, the study’s lead author, says: “The findings suggest that those organisations which seek to reduce work-related stress during austere economic times are likely to experience lower staff absence and greater productivity.”

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Mercer analysed data on 264,000 senior management and executives in 5,321 companies across 41 European countries.
The data comes from Mercer’s TRS system which provides benchmarking information for companies looking to create and maintain salary levels within their companies.

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The research team found in NHS hospitals located in areas where there is a great deal of choice among public sector hospitals, patients spend less time in hospital both before and after their surgery.

In contrast, NHS hospitals located in places where there are more private NHS providers have not seen the same benefits after they were allowed to compete. Indeed, there has actually been a rise in patients’ length of stay in hospital. NHS hospitals competing in markets with more private providers tend to treat older and less well-off patients.

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The Confederation of Business Industry’s chief policy director, Katja Hall, says that jobseekers should be allowed to keep their benefits during work experience periods.
Hall says: “Work experience schemes for Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants deliver excellent outcomes in terms helping unemployed people to find permanent work… programmes encourage people to gain essential workplace knowledge, which then makes them much more attractive to employers looking to fill permanent roles.”

There has been considerable controversy over the government’s use of ‘unpaid’ work experience programmes to help people into work, with retailers Sainsbury’s and Waterstones having pulled out of official schemes.

As reported by recruiter.co.uk, unemployed graduate Cait Reilly has issued judicial review proceedings against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, having been “required to carry out two weeks of unpaid labour at discount retailer Poundland”, which she additionally believes was not beneficial for her as she searched for full-time work.
Yesterday (19 February) the Guardian reported that employment minister Chris Grayling called those who criticise the government’s work experience schemes “job snobs about the nature of the work those supermarkets are doing”.

According to the Guardian, Grayling also said on the Sky News Murnaghan programme: “I praise Tesco for offering unpaid work experience, short term, to young people because it helps them.”

In the three months to December 2011, the number of people taking part-time roles due to the lack of full-time work rose by 83,000 compared with the previous quarter, bringing the total number to 1.35 million.

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UK unemployment rose by 48,000 to 2.67 million in the three months to December, official figures have shown.

The unemployment rate is now 8.4%, although the number of job vacancies rose to 476,000 in the three months to January. The ONS data also showed that average earnings increased by 2.0% in the year to December, unchanged from the previous month.

Commenting on the latest data, REC Chief Executive Kevin Green, says:

“To see unemployment rise for the eighth month in a row is disappointing but not surprising as the first quarter of this year was always going to be difficult”.

“However, we can look ahead with more optimism than in previous months. The feedback from recruitment professionals confirms that demand is increasing in some sectors. At the same time, the latest REC/KPMG Report on Jobs showed some real glimmers of hope for the jobs market with an upturn in permanent placements for the first time in four months. This will hopefully be reflected in next month’s employment figures”.

“The fact that the number of job vacancies has risen to 476,000 confirms an urgent need to address the disconnect that currently exists between what employers are looking for and what jobseekers have to offer.”

On the part-time and flexible work issues, Kevin Green says:

“Increased flexibility in terms of working patterns is likely to be one of the lasting legacies of the economic downturn”.

“It’s important to make the distinction between under-employment and unemployment. Of course it is frustrating for people to be in part-time work if they are after a full-time role, but some work has to be better than no work. People in part-time work can avoid falling into the benefits trap by earning an income, keeping their skills fresh and making themselves more attractive to potential employers for when the right job comes along. People working flexibly is good news for them and the economy”.

“Alternatives, like the state training programmes suggested by the TUC to boost public sector employment, are not the solution for getting people into work and could result in higher rather than lower unemployment”.

“In contrast, flexible working is an immediate solution to unemployment and we encourage both jobseekers and employers to consider the potential of working this way – whether it’s through temporary, contract freelance or part-time roles.”