Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee notes with interest the comprehensive and detailed information contained in the Government’s report received in September 2006.

1. Employment strategies and trends. The Government indicated that the number of people in employment ending in June 2006 was at an historical high with 28.94 million people in employment, up 42,000 over the quarter and up 240,000 over the year. However, it recalled that there was still more to do to increase labour market participation among vulnerable groups and to meet the challenges related to the ageing population. The national employment strategy addressed these problems through the Department for Work and Pensions Five Year Strategy published in February 2005 and the Welfare Reform Green Paper – A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering People to Work, published in January 2006. The long-term objective was to increase the employment rate to 80 per cent, by taking 1 million persons off incapacity benefits and helping 1 million older workers and 300,000 single parents into work. This was to be done by tackling inactivity and unemployment, in particular in the most deprived areas with high rates of unemployment. The Government introduced the Deprived Areas Fund in October 2006 to provide Jobcentre Plus with the flexibility to address specific local problems and to help move local residents into employment.

2. The Government recalled that the labour market policy was aimed at creating economic conditions under which employment could flourish. The policy was based on four key elements: (a) macroeconomic stability to ensure a solid foundation for the creation of employment; (b) flexibility and diversity in employment that allows employers and workers to choose the form of work that suits them; (c) making work pay by reforming income tax and national insurance contributions, as well as increasing the national minimum wage and introducing tax credits; and (d) active labour market policies delivered through Jobcentre Plus and the New Deals programme. The Committee notes again with interest the data on labour market trends and in particular the measures taken to increase employment opportunities for vulnerable groups. The Committee asks the Government to continue to report on the manner in which measures adopted under the general economic policy, and in particular income and wages policies, contribute “within the framework of a coordinated economic and social policy” to pursuing “as a major goal” the objective of full, productive and freely chosen employment. As requested in its previous comments, it would also appreciate continuing to receive information and data on successes, problems encountered and lessons to be learned from the experience of social partners in the United Kingdom with regard to the application of the provisions of the Convention.

3. Educational and training policies. The Government indicated that the working-age population was becoming better qualified and that the proportion of the population with no qualifications was declining. The White Paper Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances, published in March 2006, sets out reforms to the further education sector to equip learners with high-quality skills for productive, sustainable employment and personal fulfilment and ensure that these skills correspond to the demand of employers. It also announced that the Government would continue to support low-income learners and they would extend the Adult Learning Grant to national coverage in 2007–08. The Government further indicated in its report that the United Kingdom had one of the lowest participation rates in education for 16-year-olds in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In order to encourage youth to stay in education, a reform of the education system for 14–19-year-olds was adopted. The target of the reform was to increase attainment by the age of 19 years, increase the number of young people completing apprenticeships and increase the number of young people participating in education at 17 years. The introduction of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) in 2004 had also had a positive impact in widening access to both further and higher education by encouraging young people from lower income backgrounds to enter academic or vocational post-compulsory education. More than 297,000 young people benefited from the EMA in 2004–05 and the participation of young persons in full-time education was expected to increase to 492,800 by 2006–07. The Committee notes the extensive measures the Government has put in place to coordinate education and training with prospective employment opportunities. The Committee would appreciate receiving an update on the impact of such measures in overcoming the difficulties in finding lasting employment faced by young workers entering into the labour market.