Responding to the Labour election win, Tania Bowers, Global Public Policy Director at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) commented:
APSCo congratulates the new Labour Government on its landslide election win and wishes the new ministerial teams well as they settle into their roles. The professional staffing sector and a forward-thinking flexible labour market is critical to its plans for growth and APSCo will continue to be the voice to all parties articulating the difference between expert independent working and the broader agency market.
The UK staffing sector faces significant challenges, including an ongoing professional skills crisis. APSCo will engage closely with the new government on the policy solutions needed to tackle the shortage in skills and training across the labour market.
APSCo welcomes the Labour Party’s commitment to reform the Apprenticeship Levy to deliver a Growth and Skills Levy and will work closely with the new government on the detailed implementation of this policy. The new government has ambitious plans for skills policy, including the establishment of Skills England, but the proof will be in the actions delivered over the next year. Skills, migration and industrial strategy must be in alignment and employers need genuine flexibility around using the Levy to fulfil its potential to help solve the skills crisis. We continue to call for the funding of upskilling and reskilling of all workers, including agency workers and the self-employed.
An Employment Rights Bill will be introduced in Parliament in the next 100 days. APSCo will work hard to ensure that the needs of the professional staffing market is taken into account as this legislation progresses. APSCo members are clear that there is work to do to differentiate the highly skilled contract workforce in labour market regulation.
