Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre la política del empleo, 1964 (núm. 122) - Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte (Ratificación : 1966)

The Committee notes the observations of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), received on 31 August 2022. The Committee requests the Government to provide its reply in this regard.

Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Convention. Active employment policy. Consultation with the social partners. The Committee welcomes the information provided by the Government regarding the measures undertaken during the reporting period, particularly with a view to adapting the provision of training with the changes in the demand for knowledge and skills and the needs of the labour market. The Government also provides information on the different reforms introduced to improve access to and the quality of education and vocational training offered, as well as the implementation of different schemes to promote employment among the unemployed. With regard to employment trends, the Committee observes that, according to ILOSTATS, in 2023, the labour force participation rate was 62.2 per cent (66.6 per cent for men and 58.1 per cent for women), the employment-population ratio was 59.7 per cent (63.7 per cent for men and 56 per cent for women). It also observes that, while the general unemployment rate was 4 per cent (4.3 per cent for men and 3.7 for women), the unemployment rate for young persons was 12 per cent (14.3 per cent for men and 9.4 for women). The share of youth not in employment, education or training was 12.8 per cent (13.5 per cent for men and 12.1 per cent for women).

The Committee further notes that, in its observations, the TUC expresses its serious concerns regarding the shape of the post-Covid labour market recovery with disproportionately negative consequences for certain groups, such as Black and Minority Ethnic workers (BME). The TUC points out that, in 2022, the unemployment rate of BME was over twice as high (7.7 per cent) compared to the unemployment rate for white workers (3.5 per cent). In this regard, the TUC suggests introducing race equality requirements into public sector contracts for the supply of goods and services, which would incentivise companies to improve their race equality policies and practices and minimise the use of zero-hours, temporary and agency contracts and promote permanent employment. The Committee observes that these disparities remain. According to the UK labour market statistics report of the House of Commons published on 12 November 2024, the unemployment rate for minority ethnic groups (8.1 per cent) during the period July to September 2024, was more than double the rate for White ethnic groups (3.6 per cent).

The TUC also emphasizes that the disability employment gap hasn’t changed since 2013, and it even widened since the pandemic. It refers to the “United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. Westminster Government Civil Society Shadow Report” of Inclusion London of March 2022, which underscores the increasing barriers for persons with disabilities to both finding and sustaining employment (paragraph 96). The TUC points out that, according to the report, persons with disabilities: (i) face pay gaps (they earn 20 per cent less than workers without disabilities, while women with disabilities face the biggest pay gap, as they earn on average 30 per cent less that men without disabilities); (ii) are over-represented in insecure work and zero hours contracts (26 per cent of them are in insecure work in comparison with 15 per cent of those without disabilities, while 15 per cent are in insecure work and earn less than the living wage compared to 11 per cent for workers without disabilities),where they are unable to access sick pay or disability leave, and employers are less likely to make reasonable adjustments for workers on insecure contracts; (iii) benefited less from home working arrangements than workers without any disability during the pandemic due to being less likely to be in managerial or professional roles. Moreover, the TUC highlights that, according to the cited report, since 2013 it has become increasingly difficult to access the “Access to Work” disability employment scheme, as in order to be eligible, persons with disabilities must work over a certain number of hours and earn over a certain threshold. Regarding the flagship disability employment scheme “Disability Confident”, the TUC argues that it is not clear what tangible difference the scheme has made and states that, for example, in 2019, while 13,600 employers signed up for the scheme, they only promised to provide 8,763 new paid jobs and 1,903 traineeships for persons with disabilities (representing an average of 0.78 jobs and traineeships per employer despite including some of the largest employers in the country). In addition, the TUC claims that thousands of persons with disabilities on out of work benefits (such as Universal Credit) are subjected to mandatory work search requirements under threat of sanctions (having their benefits stopped or reduced) for non-compliance. The TUC claims that research found that conditionality for jobseekers with disabilities is “mad-making” and it moves them further from employability. The TUC further claims that the Government has consistently ignored calls to end conditionality for persons with disabilities and that is not clear the number of persons with disabilities affected due to a lack of disaggregated data under Universal Credit.

Lastly, the Committee observes that the Government does not provide information on the consultations held with representative of the persons affected by the measures to be taken, and in particular representatives of employers and workers concerning employment policies with a view to taking fully into account their experience and views and securing their full co-operation in formulating and enlisting support for such policies of the employers and workers organizations, as required by Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee notes, in this respect, the TUC’s indication that, it has not been consulted. Noting that the Government has not replied to the TUC’s abovementioned observations and that the next report on the application of the Convention is due in 2025, the Committee has decided to analyse the Government’s reply to these observations together with updated information related to the policies and measures adopted to achieve full, productive and freely chosen employmentsince the Government’s 2022 report. In order to be able to examine the situation as regards employment and human resources development in a holistic manner, the Committee requests the Government to supply, in its next report on the application of the present Convention, updated information on any developments as regards the manner in which the national legislation and practice also give effect to the Paid Educational Leave Convention, 1974 (No. 140) and the Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No. 142).