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Social Democrats spokesperson on Education Equality and Access,  said today that much more needs to be done to equip students from disadvantaged schools to stay the course at university.

Cllr Gannon was commenting on research form the Higher Education Authority showing that students from disadvantaged schools are almost twice as likely to fail to make it past their first year in college than those from fee-paying schools.Cllr Gannon, who works with Trinity College Dublin’s Access Programme, said:“It’s disappointing, but not surprising to see that almost one-in-five students from Deis schools did not progress beyond first year at university.

Settling in to university can be very challenging for all young people, but those from disadvantaged schools face so many more hurdles than their counterparts from fee-paying schools.“I firmly believe that if we had better and more career guidance supports for secondary school students, that would help reduce the proportion of university drop outs among people from disadvantaged schools.“Career guidance hours have been drastically cut in schools, especially in Deis schools – and today’s research findings are the outworking of that lack of direction and information.

“It’s obvious that students whose parents have themselves gone to university can draw on their experiences and guidance on a daily basis – and that makes them much better prepared for university life.“Those whose parents did not progress to third level don’t enjoy the same kinds of informal supports – and it’s obvious that not enough is being done in our formal education system to bridge this social divide.“We need to see career guidance at a much earlier stage in the secondary school cycle, and also the introduction of classroom mentoring schemes so that young people can learn from people from their own communities who have made it through college and can share their experiences with them.”

The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017, brought by Employment Affairs and Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty, T.D., has today (17th May 2018) cleared the Committee Stage in the Dáil. 

The objective of the Bill is to improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts, and those working variable hours. It follows the publication of the University of Limerick study on zero-hour contracts and low-hour contracts, as well as an extensive public consultation process and in-depth discussions with ICTU and IBEC over a number of months.

Commenting on the Bill, Minister Doherty said: “This is a substantial piece of legislation that will improve the security and predictability of employment for thousands of workers. Once passed, the Act will apply to all employers across all sectors of the economy. We have sought to strike a fair balance between the respective rights and obligations of employees and employers. Our approach in this Bill is to try to ensure that where we are introducing new rights for employees, or strengthening existing provisions in the law, the measures are proportionate and balanced.

“The vast majority of employers are honourable in their treatment of their employees and meet their responsibilities under employment law. These employers should have nothing to fear in this Bill. On the contrary, the Bill is aimed at tackling exploitative employment arrangements, and employers who do not respect even the most basic rights of employees.”

The Bill addresses five key issues where employment law should be strengthened for the benefit of employees, without imposing unnecessarily onerous burdens on employers. The Bill will:

1. Ensure that employees are better informed about the nature of their employment arrangements and, in particular, their core terms at an early stage of their employment. A new offence is being created where employers fail to comply with the new information requirements.
2. Strengthen the provisions around minimum payments to low-paid vulnerable employees who may be called in to work for a period, but not provided with that work.
3. Prohibit zero-hour contracts, except in specific limited circumstances.
4. Ensure that employees on low hour contracts who consistently work more hours each week than provided for in their contracts, are entitled to be placed in a band of hours that better reflects the reality of the hours they have worked on a consistent basis over an extended period.
5. Strengthen the anti-penalisation provisions for employees who invoke, or try to invoke, a right that is specified in legislation.

The Minister also successfully introduced two important amendments which further enhance a number of provisions of the Bill. The amendments implement the Low Pay Commission recommendations to abolish trainee rates and also simplify minimum wage rates for younger workers.

The Minister said: 
“Each of the key measures in this Bill individually, and in the round, will help protect employees from being exploited by ‘if and when’ contracts. The banded hours provision will apply to them, as will the new minimum compensation provisions, and the anti-penalisation provisions that gives them recourse to the WRC. 
The Minister concluded: “This is an important piece of legislation which will genuinely help those employed in precarious situations. I am very pleased to see this Bill progressing through the Oireachtas and I look forward to working with Deputies and Senators to ensure that we deliver legislation that is fair and balanced."

Work and Pensions Committee calls on Government to remove the “cliff-edge” in benefit calculation that sees Carer’s Allowance - £64.60 per week – withdrawn in full as soon as Carers earn more than £120 a week.

This means that working additional hours can leave carers worse off – a clear contradiction to Government’s stated aims of “making work pay”. A pay rise can also leave parents facing the choice between losing Carer’s Allowance or losing free childcare for their three or four-year-old, which requires them to work 16 hours a week.

Universal Credit roll out

Universal Credit will remove disincentives to work for many carers, but it will be several years before Universal Credit is fully rolled out and some carers will still face cliff edges.

Carer’s vital to society

Many carers rely on the financial support of Carer’s Allowance. According to the latest census data, there are 6.5 million carers in the UK, with the number set to rise as our population and workforce age. Carers UK valued the annual unpaid economic contribution of carers at £132 billion. “They are indispensable to the person they care for and vital to society”.

Caring and work cannot be combined

More than three million carers (1 in 9 people in the workforce) juggle care with paid work. One third of working age carers are in full time employment, compared with almost half of non-carers. One in six carers have at some point given up work to take on caring responsibilities, and almost three million have reduced their working hours. The Committee says too many carers conclude that caring and work cannot be combined.

Flexible working

More carers could be encouraged to enter, or stay in, the workforce if they could arrange flexible working or were better supported to take time off for expected appointments and unexpected emergencies. But under current rules they must wait six months with a single employer before they can request flexible working and are currently forced to use annual leave or sick days to fulfil caring responsibilities. The Committee says this is at odds with Government rhetoric on the benefits of flexible working to the economy. The Government has accepted the case for statutory carer’s leave, but to ensure such a provision is affordable for all carers, the Committee says it must be paid time off.

The Committee says Government should:

• withdraw Carer’s Allowance gradually as income rises, in line with the Universal Credit taper system.
• link the earnings threshold is to rises in the National Living Wage
• allow carers to request flexible working from day 1 of their employment
• when resources allow, introduce a statutory 5 days paid carer’s leave
• act as model-employer itself: at present just six government departments are members of the Employers for Carers forum and only five have specific carer policies

Chair's comments

Rt Hon Frank Field MP, Chair of the Work and Pension Committee, said

“Carers are heroic and undervalued. They are a great untapped resource for our high employment, low productivity economy - and a sorely unrecognised one. They contribute hundreds of billions of pounds in unpaid work to our economy which is not counted on any Treasury balance sheet. Ensuring work pays and that employers adapt to accommodate caring is not just good for the carers: it is necessary for the whole economy. Government should lead on both practice and policy.

ABC Note: You can read the report here:

• Read the report conclusions and recommendations
• Read the report summary
• Read the full report: Employment support for carers

Image: Carers unsung heroes

Work and Pensions Committee

Wednesday 16 May 2018 Meeting starts at 9.30am

Agenda

Subject: Benefit Sanctions

Witnesses: Tony Wilson, Director of Policy and Research, Learning and Work Institute, Matthew Oakley, independent reviewer of JSA sanctions, and Dr David Webster, Honorary Senior Research Fellow (Urban studies), University of Glasgow.

Labour market statistics published

The labour market statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) unemployment decreased over the quarter and the year

• * The latest NI seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the period January-March 2018 was 3.1%, the lowest on record. The unemployment rate decreased by 0.8 percentage points (pps) from the previous quarter and 2.1 pps over the year (from 5.3%). The annual rate change was statistically significant, i.e. the recorded changes exceeded the variability expected from a sample survey of this size and would, therefore, likely reflect a real change.
• * The latest NI unemployment rate (3.1%) was below the UK average of 4.2%, which was the joint lowest on record. It was the lowest unemployment rate of the UK regions and was below the European Union (7.1%) rate in February 2018 and the Republic of Ireland (6.1%) rate for March 2018.
• * LFS estimates for January-March 2018 showed that 51% of those unemployed in NI were long-term unemployed (i.e. unemployed for one year or more), compared to 25.3% in the UK.

LFS employment rate and inactivity rate increased over the year

• * There was an increase (1.0 pps) in the employment rate (69.7%) over the quarter and over the year (1.3pps).  The change in the employment rate was not statistically significant over the quarter or the year. However, the increase in the employment rate from 2013 rates is statistically significant.    
• * The economic inactivity rate (28%) decreased over the quarter by 0.4 pps and increased by 0.3 pps over the year. Neither change was statistically significant.

NI Claimant Count (Experimental Series) increased over the month

• * In April 2018, the seasonally adjusted number of people on the claimant count (which includes some out-of-work claimants of Universal Credit) was 29,000 (3.2% of the workforce). This represents an increase of 200 from the previous month’s revised figure.

Confirmed redundancies decreased over the year

• * The Department received confirmation that 308 redundancies took place in April 2018. Although this was the highest monthly total since November 2016, there was a decrease of approximately a third in the number of confirmed redundancies (2,067) over the year to the end of April 2018.

Commentary

• * Overall, the NI results show an improvement over the quarter in unemployment, employment and inactivity rates.
• * At 3.1%, the unemployment rate is now at its lowest rate since records began in 1995 and is significantly below rates one year ago. Furthermore, the NI rate is below the UK unemployment rate (4.2%) for the third consecutive quarter after consistently being above UK rates since the end of 2013. The employment rate (69.7%), while one of the highest recorded rates, is below the UK rate (72.3%) and remains the lowest of the UK regions.
• * The economic inactivity rate decreased over the quarter but increased over the year. Although one of the highest rates recorded since 2010 and the highest rate of the UK regions, the current inactivity rate is significantly below peak rates recorded in mid-2009.
• * The improvements in the local labour market are similar to that of the UK labour market, which is reporting the highest employment rate and lowest unemployment rates on record. In contrast to the NI experience, the UK results also show the lowest inactivity rates on reco 

ABC Note: 

1. The detailed statistical bulletin is available at: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/labour-market-and-social-welfare/labour-force-survey

2. The Labour Market Report is a monthly overview of key labour market statistics. It includes figures from the Labour Force Survey, the claimant count (people claiming unemployment related benefits), the Quarterly Employment Survey, the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and official redundancy data.

3. From March 2018 the NI claimant count figures include Jobseeker’s Allowance Claimants and those claimants of Universal Credit who were claiming it principally for the reason of being unemployed. This is experimental and is calculated on the same basis as the GB Claimant Count.  For more information please refer to the Further Information section of the Labour Market Report.

4. The official measure of unemployment is the Labour Force Survey. This measure of unemployment relates to people without a job who were available for work and had either looked for work in the last four weeks or were waiting to start a job. This is the International Labour Organisation definition. Labour Force Survey estimates are subject to sampling error. This means that the exact figure is likely to be contained in a range surrounding the estimate quoted. For example, the number of unemployed persons is likely to fall within 0.9% of the quoted estimate (i.e. between 2.2% and 4.1%).

5. Employee jobs figures are taken from the Quarterly Employment Survey a survey of public sector organisations and private sector firms.

The Youth Select Committee has launched a new inquiry into barriers to work experience. The Committee is calling for evidence from a wide range of witnesses, including businesses and charities, as well as young people who have been directly affected by these barriers.

The announcement comes as a YouGov poll reveals more than two-thirds of young people (71 per cent) are expecting it to be tougher to find a job in 2030 with 58 per cent of all 11-18 year olds citing a lack of work experience as a barrier.

And research from the House of Commons library has given even greater cause for concern, as recent data shows more than half a million young people are unemployed (excluding those in full time education).

What is the Youth Select Committee?

Now in its seventh year, the Youth Select Committee is a British Youth Council initiative, supported by the House of Commons. The eleven committee members are aged 11-18 and include Members of the UK Youth Parliament, Youth Councillors, and representatives from each of the devolved nations. Access to work experience was voted one of the top issues affecting young people in last year’s Make Your Mark ballot – the largest annual consultation of young people in the UK.

This year, the committee will look at issues including:

• What does good quality work experience look like? What do young people and businesses expect to get from it?
• How important is good quality work experience to successful industrial strategy?
• What evidence is there that work experience boosts social mobility?

The Youth Select Committee call for evidence closes on Monday 18th June 2018 and the Committee will hold oral evidence sessions in the House of Commons in July. 

Who can submit evidence?

The Committee would welcome submissions from a wide range of stakeholders, including young people and the organisations that support them, businesses and schools.

The Committee is particularly interested in hearing about the differing experiences of groups of young people experience in making the most of work experience (eg. due to ethnicity, gender, disability, socioeconomic background and geographic location) and how these might be overcome.

Submissions may address any or all of the following questions:

General

What does “good quality work experience” look like? What do young people and businesses expect to get from it?

How important is good quality work experience to a successful industrial strategy?

What evidence is there that work experience boosts social mobility?

Young people

• How do differences between young people (eg. geographic location, socioeconomic background, ethnicity, disability) affect the work experience opportunities they people have?
• How could resources to help young people find out about and access work experience be improved?

Schools and businesses

• Should compulsory work experience for under-16s be reinstated? What is the right age for work experience within compulsory education: 14-16 or 16-18?
• How could schools and colleges be better supported to help their students access quality work experience?
• Are services to help schools and colleges develop relationships with businesses working well? How could they be improved?
• How could barriers to businesses (including small businesses) offering work experience be overcome?
• What does good practice in offering, advertising and recruiting for work experience look like, and how can businesses be encouraged to follow it?
• Does work experience benefit businesses? What are the motivations for businesses to offer work experience?

Other services and organisations

1. What role should the Government have in ensuring young people have access to quality work experience?
2. Should the Government invest in resources to help young people find work experience independently? What would these resources ideally look like?
3. How could private and third sector organisations be better supported and encouraged to help young people access quality work experience?
4. What lessons can be learned from the approaches of the devolved administrations and other countries to work experience?

How can evidence be submitted?

Evidence can be submitted by contacting the British Youth Council via email here.

Those interested can also submit evidence directly to Parliament via post to Clerk of the Youth Select Committee c/o Work and Pensions Committee, House of Commons, SW1A 0AA.

Evidence that is submitted will be published on the British Youth Council website. However, the British Youth Council do reserve the right to redact evidence partially or in full should it contain information we consider to be libellous.

If you do not wish your name to be published, then please indicate this when you submit your evidence.

Estimates from the Labour Force Survey show that, between October to December 2017 and January to March 2018, the number of people in work increased, the number of unemployed people decreased and the number of people aged from 16 to 64 years not working and not seeking or available to work (economically inactive) also decreased.

There were 32.34 million people in work, 197,000 more than for October to December 2017 and 396,000 more than for a year earlier.

The employment rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who were in work) was 75.6%, higher than for a year earlier (74.8%) and the highest since comparable records began in 1971.

There were 1.42 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 46,000 fewer than for October to December 2017 and 116,000 fewer than for a year earlier.

The unemployment rate (the proportion of people in work plus unemployed people, who were unemployed) was 4.2%, down from 4.6% for a year earlier and the joint lowest since 1975.

There were 8.66 million people aged from 16 to 64 years who were economically inactive (not working and not seeking or available to work), 115,000 fewer than for October to December 2017 and 171,000 fewer than for a year earlier.

The inactivity rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who were economically inactive) was 21.0%, lower than for a year earlier (21.5%) and the lowest since comparable records began in 1971.

Latest estimates show that average weekly earnings for employees in Great Britain in nominal terms (that is, not adjusted for price inflation) increased by 2.9% excluding bonuses, and by 2.6% including bonuses, compared with a year earlier.

Latest estimates show that average weekly earnings for employees in Great Britain in real terms (that is, adjusted for price inflation) increased by 0.4% excluding bonuses, but were unchanged including bonuses, compared with a year earlier.

Commenting on today’s labour market figures, senior ONS statistician Matt Hughes said: "With employment up again in the three months to March, the rate has hit a new record, with unemployment remaining at its lowest rate since 1975. “The growth in employment is still being driven by UK nationals, with a slight drop over the past year in the number of foreign workers. It’s important to remember, though, that this isn’t a measure of migration. “Growth in total pay remains in line with inflation, meaning real earnings are flat on the year.”

The ABC was invited to the launch of the Guardian Public Service Awards yesterday in London at the Guardian Media Group HQ (14/05/2018). Champagne and canapes were liberally applied to the 'great and the good' who were invited. Unlike many events where the Champagne runs out as if to say thank you now leave, there was a generous supply of the fizzy stuff.

Top author and journalist, Polly Toynbee addressed the audience, speaking about the NHS crisis and the starvation of finance in the public sector, to a modest but committed audience.

The awards in their 15th year are open in a variety of categories. If you run an operation that serves the public entering is a good idea. A win can certainly raise your organizations' profile.

Nominations for the 2018 Guardian Public Service Awards – open on 16 May. The Guardian is looking for the best and the brightest, who work together to achieve change, champion brilliant ideas and achieve real impact.

Supported by Ernest and Young, the awards span 11 categories, including the public servant of the year title, decided by the public vote, and a new category that awards those teams improving diversity within their organization and beyond.

ABC Note: The ABC are certainly going to be 'in it to win it' and we will be entering in the digital category. Let’s see if we can overtake a few of the ‘old stagers’ that seem to dominate a lot of these events. ‘See you at the top’ might be an odd battle cry for an organisation that helps those at the bottom, but we mean it folks. We try and be the best in everything we do.

Image: All of the winners at the 2017 Guardian Public Service Awards. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian.

MPs are warning that the regulations around universal credit pose a ‘very real risk’ to entrepreneurs as they have been designed with ‘little regard for the reality of self-employed work’ and are calling for changes to the rules to avoid crushing new start-ups.

To continue to qualify for universal credit while they are getting their business off the ground, entrepreneurs must show they are earning a minimum amount after one year, known as the minimum income floor (MIF). If they cannot, they cease to qualify as ‘employed’ for benefits assessment purposes.

The work and pensions select committee’s review of universal credit says that the aim of this rule is to ensure the taxpayer does not indefinitely subsidise unsustainable, low-paid self-employment.

However, while the Department for Work and Pensions(DWP) asserts that this one year start up period ‘makes sense’, it has no actual evidence to back that, and no plans to publish any significant analysis of the impact of universal credit on self-employment until at least Autumn 2019, four years after the full-service roll-out began.

The select committee says this strategy appears contrary to DWP’s planned ‘test and learn’ approach, and also argues there is existing evidence that viable, ultimately successful businesses frequently take more than a year to get going. MPs say the short start-up period could create an insurmountable barrier to entrepreneurs getting their business up and running and getting off benefits.

In addition, the committee says the way the MIF is applied, based on monthly reported income, also penalises the self-employed with their fluctuating income. This can mean they miss out on important support potentially to the tune of over £2500 a year. Farmers’ payment schedules, for example, are dictated by the seasons and other events, such as one-off bulk sales of livestock. Sole traders invoicing on a job-by-job basis may find those jobs take longer than a month, or a late payment can cause variation. But these factors are far from reliable indicators of the viability of a business. Expenses can be similarly volatile.

The committee wants the government to extend the start-up period to up to three years, with more tailored checks for evidence of progression and viability, including, for example, achieving expected increases in earnings each year. There should be reporting periods of up to a one year for self-employed claimants who receive irregular monthly pay.

MPs also want the department to produce ongoing evaluations of the effect of the new self-employment rules on universal credit claimants, and work to ensure frontline staff have sufficient expertise in self-employment, and that claimants have access to dedicated, specialist mentors.

Frank Field, chair of the work and pensions select committee, said: ‘Universal credit was not designed with self-employment in mind and it shows. Its current set-up for people starting and running their own business risks crushing potentially viable, productive enterprises. At the same time, it risks throwing away the significant investment of taxpayer’s money in them to that point.

‘The DWP should give people longer to get going, and not punish them for the income volatility that is in the nature of self-employment. This would give a boost to the entrepreneurship that is so vital in a dynamic economy. It would also offer good value for taxpayers and a fillip to the department’s beleaguered flagship policy.’

ABC Note: This is a riduclously shoirt time to make a small business venture. there is an old adage: year one you keep the business, year two you break even and year thre the business keeps you. 

Image: Government policies are a threat to the business class. 

ABC Note: This is a ridiculously short time to make a small business venture profitable. There is an adage: year one you keep the business, year two you break-even and year three the business keeps you.  40% of new jobs since 2008 a self-employed jobs. The [Tory] party of business is turning against its own potential supporters. The business class.  

Labour sources have confirmed Margaret Greenwood’s interim role as shadow work and pensions secretary has been made permanent following the sacking of Debbie Abrahams.

Greenwood has been filling in at shadow Cabinet since Abrahams was first suspended over allegations she bullied staff, which she strongly denies.

It means Greenwood will now be permanently facing off against Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, the woman she ousted as Wirral West MP in a knife-edge election result in 2015.