NATIONAL EMPLOYER & PARTNERSHIP TEAM

Employer News

AUGUST 2017

Welcome to the August 2017 edition of Employer News.

The DWP National Employer and Partnership Team (NEPT) will be using this e-shot to communicate items of interest to Employers, Trade Associations and Partners.

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Today’s Labour Market Statistics

HEADLINE NEWS 

OVER 3 MILLION MORE PEOPLE IN WORK SINCE 2010

Employment rate at record high 75.1% with a record 32.07 million people in work.

Unemployment down 57,000 on the quarter and is at lowest rate since 1975.

The number of people in employment has increased by 3 million since 2010, with over 75% of the increase being in full time work.

Official figures released today show the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.4% – the lowest level since 1975.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people in work is at the highest level since records began in 1971. The record figures have been driven by increases in the number of people in secure work – over 75% of the increase in employment over the past seven years has been in full-time work.

There are now 338,000 more people in work compared to this time last year.

Minister for Employment, Damian Hinds said:

“These statistics show that record levels of people are in work across the country and earning a wage, which is great news.

“Over 3 million more people are in work now than in 2010, with seven in ten of these roles being in higher skilled work.

“Over the past year the rise in employment has been overwhelmingly driven by permanent and full-time jobs, as employers continue to invest in Britain’s strong economy.

“The task now is to build on this success through Jobcentre Plus and our employment programmes so that everybody can benefit from the opportunities being created.”

Today’s figures also show:

The employment rate is at a record high of 75.1%, with 32.07 million people now in work – an increase of 338,000 on the year.

This year has been a strong one for employment growth with 247,000 more people now in work since January.

There are a near record 768,000 vacancies in the economy at any one time.

The female employment rate is at a record high of 70.5%, with over 15 million women in work.

Youth unemployment is down by 394,000 since 2010.

There are more British people in work than ever before and around nine in ten people in jobs are UK nationals.

The UK employment rate is now the 4^th highest in the European Union and 7.0 percentage points higher than the EU28 average.

Separate figures out today show 1.3 million claims have been made to Universal Credit. Of the 570,000 people now claiming Universal Credit, 39% are in work.

The Government recently announced up to £35 million of funding with Devolution Authorities across England for six new innovation employment pilots. These will help over 18,000 disadvantaged people into employment, and tackle long-term barriers to work and in-work progression.

Details of the full article is available on GOV.UK

Movement to Work

Movement to Work is an employer led initiative to support young people not in employment, education or training to move into training or jobs, through such initiatives as Work Experience, Pre-employment training. They offer opportunities in various locations and to support visibility of these opportunities the M2W .team have recently launched a new on line platform, which can be found via the following link http://www.movementtowork.com/young-people

Common mistakes employers make with National Minimum Wage

By law you must pay workers at least the appropriate National Living or National Minimum Wage depending on their age and whether they’re an apprentice. The current rates are outlined below and click here to find out more information for employers.

Even if you are paying the correct minimum rates you should be aware of some common mistakes made when calculating worker’s wages which can result in not complying with the law. Examples include:

·         Paying staff at the wrong rate by failing to implement annual rate increases, missing birthdays and therefore not moving workers from one age band to another or making errors in applying the apprentice rates. For example, apprentices are entitled to the apprentice rate only if they’re either aged under 19 or aged 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship. So an apprentice aged 22 in the second year of their apprenticeship, is entitled to the higher minimum hourly rate for their age band.

·         Making deductions or payments connected to the job, which take pay below the legal rates. For example, asking staff to pay for uniforms, tools and safety clothing.

·         Including tips, shift allowances or bonuses as a part of staff pay.

·         Unpaid working time, which essentially are additional hours worked but not paid. These can be regular periods of time such as time spent helping to shut up shop or clear security after an employee’s shift has ended. They can also be longer periods spent training or ‘down time’ waiting for example. Other common unpaid working time errors include travelling time if it’s in connection with the worker’s job, such as between assignments.

·         Worker status errors by mistakenly (or intentionally) treating workers as either volunteers, or self-employed. Whilst genuine volunteers and self-employed aren’t entitled to the National Minimum or National Living Wage, workers are sometimes being treated as such in order to circumvent legal employer responsibilities.

The Government is committed to ensuring all employers are compliant with minimum wage legislation and the effective enforcement of it and will spend a record £25.3 million on enforcement over the next year.

If HMRC finds that an employer hasn’t paid the National Minimum or Living Wage the employer will have to pay any arrears to the worker together with a penalty. The employer may also be named in the media.

To find out more about National Minimum Wage and the errors to avoid visit our recorded webinars; Cutting your risk#1 and Cutting your risk#2.

The National Employer and Partnership Team would like to say thank you to all Employers, Trade Associations and Partners for the significant contribution you have made to the fall in unemployment, demonstrated in the figures.   

                                              Edition 8: 16.08.2017