This
project is financed by the LSC, SEEDA and
the European Social Fund
SPOTLIGHT
ON…..
For the March 2008 edition of Spotlight On, we complement Industry Focus on the Care Industry by taking a look at some of the broader issues around this topic: future trends in the demand for care; the changing nature of care; the role of informal carers; and the impact for those informal carers on their own labour market participation and on the Government’s initiative to raise the participation age for compulsory education or training. Please read the synopsis below and click through to the full feature on the Labour Market Focus website.
Remember, ‘Spotlight on…’ is here to help you. Please feedback your comments or requests for future ‘Spotlight on..’ features through the feedback button on the bulletin.
Age, Care and the Flexible Labour Market
Care, until recently a long neglected topic, is very much in the news at present. The numbers of people requiring care are rising and the kinds of care needed are changing due to a combination of people living longer into old age, and medical advances allowing people with more severe disabilities and health problems to survive for longer. Changes in users’ expectations and Government policy have shifted the emphasis away from caring for people in institutions and hospitals, towards helping people to live in the community for longer. Alongside a growing demand for care workers, care worker vacancy levels are high and the care workforce is having to work more flexibly across organisational and professional boundaries.
The care of older people relies heavily on informal carers. Employers will increasingly have to take into account that workers may have responsibilities for ageing relatives and are now having to be aware of changes in the legal position of carers as employees. It has been estimated that around 3 million people, one in 8 workers in the UK, combine working with caring for a disabled, ill or frail relative or friend. Unpaid work by carers for people of all ages has a significant impact on the economy which Carers UK says saves the UK some £87 billion per year.
Please click here to read a full article about age, care and the flexible workforce.
Raising the Participation Age
The Education and Skills Bill was published in late November 2007, outlining government plans to boost the skills and education of young people and adults. Addressing the Leitch Review ambition of achieving world class skills by 2020, the Bill will raise the education and training leaving age to 17 by 2013 and 18 by 2015 as well as strengthening the provision and support available to young people and adults.
The government recognises that raising the participation age will require suitable and engaging courses of study that meet young people’s needs and aspirations, as well as the right support to enable young people to take up study opportunities. The Bill includes the transfer to local authorities of responsibility for delivering the Connexions services and sets out local authorities’ responsibilities to support young people and promote participation. Local authorities will be required to have regard to the Quality Standards for Information, Advice and Guidance published in October last year.
Please click here to read a full article about raising the age of participation.
PLANNING FOR GROWTH
The Queen’s Speech on 6th November included the commitment to create a new Homes and Communities Agency to ensure delivery of three million additional homes across England by 2020. The 2012 Olympic Games are also driving new and accelerated infrastructure development. These increases in development activity mean that opportunities to work in planning are growing. Local authorities have been reporting shortages of planning staff for some time and a recent analysis of skills gaps has revealed serious shortages of staff from a number of professions needed to deliver development, especially planning. The shortage of qualified planners is also likely to create more opportunities for other staff in planning.
The planning system has the difficult job of balancing the competing needs of the economy, housing capacity, quality of urban spaces and safeguarding the natural environment. Planning encompasses a very wide variety of topic areas and types of jobs. Planners work in private and public sectors as well as the ‘third’ voluntary and charity sectors, including campaigning organisations.
As well as qualified professional planners, a number of other jobs support the planning system in both the private and public sectors. These include administrators, technical staff and, in local authorities, enforcement staff whose job it is to ensure that development does not take place without planning permission. Many enforcement staff are not qualified planners although they will need to know about the planning system.
Please click here to read a full article about planning for growth.
SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT
The way in which Government support is provided for disabled people to gain, stay in and progress in employment has changed along with a general policy shift towards inclusion in mainstream settings and away from separate, sheltered employment provision.
The Supported Employment Programme (SEP) which operated prior to 2001 was based on the principle of compensating employers for the limited productivity of supported employees. There was a substantial change in 2001 when WORKSTEP replaced SEP, bringing with it a radical shift in focus, concentrating on providing the right kinds of development so that individuals could reach their full potential and, where appropriate, work in mainstream employment. In addition to WORKSTEP, government support for disabled people getting into and staying in work is provided through Access to Work, the Job Introduction Scheme and the New Deal for Disabled People.
The British Association for Supported Employment gives a detailed definition of supported employment on its website. BASE says employment should be ‘real jobs’ in businesses with all the regular outcomes of being employed. The job would otherwise be done by a non-disabled worker, and is valued by colleagues.
Disabled people supported through WORKSTEP who took part in research for the Department of Work and Pensions (published in 2005) said personal goals such as increased confidence and self-esteem were the most important things gained through having a job. They wanted to feel accepted and respected by their workmates and valued for their contribution.
Please click here to read a full article about supported employment.
As well as bringing value to the intended beneficiaries of their volunteering, there is also considerable potential value for the volunteers themselves, the organisations they volunteer through and volunteers’ employers who are increasingly seeing business benefits from encouraging their employees’ volunteering. Through volunteering, people can learn and develop at the same time as making a difference. Companies benefit on many levels: from the employee’s enhanced personal effectiveness; increased commitment to the company; reduction in staff sickness; and improved public image. Many employers actively encourage their employees to volunteer and some run volunteering schemes.
Volunteering is potentially available to just about anyone. Regardless of age, levels of skill, knowledge or experience, and whatever a person’s mental or physical ability, opportunities for volunteering can be found or created. For people facing extra barriers to employment through learning disability, volunteering can be an excellent way to move towards greater independence and avoid the so-called ‘revolving door’ of spending many years at college taking courses at the same academic level. Skills acquired, confidence gained, can progress to paid employment.
Volunteering by young people received a considerable boost following the Russell Commission’s recommendations when the charity v was set up to improve coordination and promote new initiatives, especially involving young people. There is great potential for young people to improve their employability through volunteering. Research in 2007 however indicates that those supporting young people may need to do more to help them reflect on and articulate the increased skills and development they are gaining from their volunteering.
Many not-for-profit organisations are increasingly encouraging older people to get involved in volunteering. VSO no longer only sends school-leavers on its posting. Today the average age of a volunteer is 38, and ages range from 18 to 75, the majority coming from skilled, professional backgrounds.
Many volunteer schemes, especially those for young people, include some form of recognition of volunteers through awards or accreditation schemes. Volunteering England debate the pros and cons of accreditation for volunteers in their information sheet on accreditation in the Good Practice section of their website, highlighting the importance of handling the issue carefully to avoid putting off some volunteers who have had a poor experience of education or simply want to volunteer in a setting where the pressures of assessment and possible failure are not present.
There is a trend towards greater professionalisation of volunteering, for example the introduction by some organisations of Volunteer Agreements. This has pros and cons as some volunteers are put off by greater formality, yet there are benefits for both organisations and volunteers if both have clear expectations from the volunteering. Organisations and volunteers also need to take account of such matters as health and safety, and following good practice when working with vulnerable people.
Making volunteering available in new ways and allowing volunteers to fit volunteering in with their lifestyle is increasingly acknowledged as important.
Please click here to read a full article about volunteering.
MINISTERIAL AND DEPARTMENTAL CHANGES Three new government departments were set up by the
Prime Minister on 28 June 2007, in a shake up of
the work of the previous DfES and DTI. The new
departments are the Department for Children, Schools
and Families (DCSF), the Department for Innovation,
Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department
for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
(BERR). The appointment of Ed Balls, known to be
a very close ally of Gordon Brown, to head up the
DCSF shows the importance the Prime Minister attaches
to young people and education issues. Please click
here for the full list of Her Majesty’s
Government
The DfES has been split
in two, sharing out its responsibilities between
DCSF and DIUS. Responsibility
for science and innovation will transfer from the
DTI to DIUS and the remainder of the DTI’s
roles will be taken on by the new BERR. Higher education
and Lifelong Learning and Skills directorates move
to the DIUS.
Gordon Brown’s intention
to draw on a broader range of talent is reflected
in the announcement
in his 28 June statement of two new bodies: the National
Council for Educational Excellence (NCEE) and the
Business Council for Britain.
The move of further education
and lifelong learning from DfES to DIUS has major
implications for 16-19
education funding arrangements. Previously the responsibility
of the LSC, this will now pass to local authorities.
Although all 14-19 funding, apart from apprentices,
will now come from DCSF via local authorities, sponsorship
of the FE service as a whole will sit with DIUS.
Much of the detail of funding arrangements and the
timing of the changes has yet to be clarified, but
it is being assumed that the LSC, one of the biggest
quangos, will lose up to £7bn a year when responsibility
for 16-19 year olds moves to the local authorities.
Please click
here to read a full article about government
and departmental changes.
STUDENT
PLACEMENTS – MORE
THAN JUST A SANDWICH
Higher Education students, businesses, educational
institutions and government all agree that there
are considerable benefits from undertaking some form
of work experience related to a student’s course
of study. Along with government targets aiming to
raise participation rates in higher education, and
the introduction of new types of courses such as
Foundation Degrees, this means that students seeking
work experience have more options than ever before.
Aside from improving employability of graduates,
there is some evidence that performance of students
on scientific courses is also improved as a result
of work experience. A study of bioscience graduates
at Bristol University in 2004 indicated that up to
a quarter of placement students may benefit from
their sandwich year by crossing a threshold into
a higher degree class. Chemistry students at Nottingham
Trent University between 1998 and 2001 who undertook
a sandwich year also gained better degree results
compared with their peers without industrial training.
However, recent information from student placement
officers at universities and colleges indicates that
many students are reluctant to take up a sandwich
year. The main reason appears to be financial. For
some students, rates of pay for work experience are
too low and they cannot afford to give up their permanent
part time work which is supporting them through college.
Other students have said they do not want to delay
entering the labour market and want to complete their
studies and start earning more quickly. To ensure
that students do take up the increasing options available,
government, businesses and universities and colleges
will need to work together even more closely to ensure
that students are able to take advantage of work
related learning.
Please click
here to read a full article about student placements,
the benefits, and the pressures which are reducing
student take up.
IMPROVING LEARNING PROVISION FOR PEOPLE WITH LEARNING
DIFFICULTIES AND/OR DISABILITIES There have been numerous policy developments
nationally and at regional and local levels in recent
years
to facilitate the transformation of provision for
learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities
(LLDD), to significantly improve their life chances.
Within the context of wider strategic thinking
across the learning and skills and health sectors,
the Learning and Skills Council published its strategy
Learning for Living and Work: Improving Education
and Training Opportunities for People with Learning
Difficulties and/or Disabilities. The strategy
sets out national LSC’s vision for provision
for learners with learning difficulties and/or
disabilities (LLDD), and how the FE system in particular
needs to respond to meet the vision under 6 key
themes of ‘planning’, ‘quality’, ‘funding’, ‘working
with partners’, ‘communicating priorities’ and ‘learner
progression’.
In line with the Learning for Living and Work agenda,
the South East Learning and Skills Council strategy
Action for Inclusion provides a vision for the
South East region to improve the post-16 learning
and skills infrastructure for learners with LDD.
This includes: increasing the range of high quality
learning available for those with LDD; the development
of foundation learning and flexible mainstream
provision for those who are NEET and who are not
eligible or suited to E2E; developing a network
of specialist and mainstream providers; transforming
the provider infrastructure through review, collaboration,
improved organisation and capital investment, and;
the implementation of a five year £1.4 billion
Regional Capital Strategy which includes learners
with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
Please click
here to read a full article on the Labour
Market Focus website about emerging policy on LLDD
provision.
Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, Young
People and Families, recently suggested that workers
without children should get the same rights as
parents to request flexible working hours. The
minister said that the move would help all 29 million
UK workers balance their home and work lives better.
Ms Hughes wrote: "We must redefine the 'ideal
worker' and accept it is a fantasy to expect people
to have none other than work commitments."
These comments will be published in a new book
to be released in May, marking 10 years since Labour's
1997 election victory. In the book, commissioned
by the Institute for Public Policy Research,
Ms Hughes argues that the best way to help children
see more of their parents is for Britain's working
culture to change.
Please click here to
read a full article on the Labour Market Focus website
about emerging thinking on
flexible working practices, and activity in this
area in the South East region.
MATCHING SKILLS TO JOBS FOR THE SOUTH EAST From the perspective of those
working and living in the South East, identifying
how the local and
regional economy will grow, and which skills will
be needed, can ensure that the economic prosperity
of the region is accessed by its residents. This
edition of Spotlight On presents some of the main
information from the Region Profile, looking at
current performance, growth areas and activity
being undertaken to address issues.
The LSC South East has recently
released the Learning and Labour Market Region
Profile for 2006/2007,
and we have summarised the key information relating
to skills supply and demand to show target areas
for employment in the South East in the next seven
years. Of interest to advisers and those working
in IAG will be the projected growth in employment
in professional and managerial occupations, and
some decline forecast in occupations in manufacturing
and construction. Please click
here to read the section on
the Current Picture of Skills and Qualifications
and to find out more about growth areas, as well
as activity being undertaken to match supply with
demand.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER
The local government white paper, entitled Strong
and Prosperous Communities was published on 26th
October 2006. The aim of the white paper was to
make changes to local government that would give
local people and local communities more influence
and power to improve their lives. This stated aim
builds upon a growing consensus across central
and local Government that steps need to be taken
to strengthen local leadership, to enhance the
role of frontline councilors and increase community
involvement. The main areas covered by the white
paper are detailed in the full Spotlight On article
on the Labour
Market Focus website.
The implications on the ground are then considered,
with the reaction from the Local Government Association
as well as opposition groups considered.
THE SOUTH EAST PLAN
The Government’s South East Plan (SEP) has
been in the news over the last couple of years,
as it outlines how we need to respond to the challenges
facing the region such as housing, the economy,
transport and protecting the environment. The SEP
also includes improvements that need to be made
to ensure that the South East remains economically
successful and an attractive place to live. With
the SEP about to be scrutinised by a series of
public examinations, we felt it would be an apt
time to highlight some of the content, why it is
needed, and the effect of it’s implementation
the on the local labour market. A few case studies
have been chosen to outline the types of job
opportunities and careers that will be in demand
as a result
of the SEP. Click
here to go through to the website for the full Spotlight
On article.
LONDON
2012 OLYMPIC GAMES As the excitement of London’s success
in becoming host city for the 2012 Olympic Games
fades,
the focus now turns to the task of delivering a
world class event. The Olympic Delivery Authority
has begun recruiting for a range of roles. However,
putting on a world class event will involve more
people than those working directly for the ODA.
In this Spotlight On we highlight what is happening
in the South East to get the most benefit from
the Games for the region. This includes a look
at a dedicated multi-agency skills and employment
group and also the WorldSkills games which will
be held in London in 2011.
Click here for
the full Spotlight On article on
the website which covers the possible impact of
the Games on jobs, skills and tourism in the South
East; the work of multi-agency groups to progress
the skills agenda; opportunities for young people
from the Games and an introduction to WorldSkills
2011.
OLDER PEOPLE IN THE WORKFORCE
Britain has an ageing population. The government,
alongside governments in other developed economies,
is trying to encourage people to work longer. Companies
are also experiencing skills shortages and recruitment
difficulties. The environment as well as forthcoming
legislation is making employers increasingly look
to the older workforce in their human resource
strategies.
In the South East Region, there are 1,424471 people
between the ages of 50 and 64 (NOMIS, Census 2001).
Under the new Employment Equality (Age) Regulations
2006, businesses may only target a certain age
group if they are under-represented in the workforce,
but they must be careful not to exclude other groups.
Click here for
the full Spotlight On article on the website
which covers barriers to the labour
market that might face older people, recruitment,
information advice and guidance issues as well
as other information.
THE GRADUATE LABOUR MARKET
Motivations for Entering Higher
Education
Students state that their primary motivation for
going to university is to improve their job or
employment prospects. The Sodexho/Times Higher
University Lifestyle survey revealed the next most
common reason to be that a degree is essential
for their chosen profession. In fact, three of
the top six reasons relate directly to future employment.
Unsurprisingly, future earning potential was also
a common reason.
For the full feature on the graduate labour market, click here
Graduate employers are
increasingly looking for new graduate employees
to bring transferable skills
with them and to slot straight into the workforce
without intensive training. Skills gained through
part-time work during student years can have
long-term benefits in a competitive graduate
employment market.
The Graduate Prospects website contains student
employability profiles for twenty subject areas.
It’s not only part-time work that can
give students valuable transferable skills,
many organisations
offer work experience opportunities from a
week or two, to a whole year: more information
can
be found by contacting the National Council
for Work
Experience (NCWE) http://www.work-experience.org/
Information about the Graduate Labour Market
The Higher Education
Careers Services Unit’s
(HECSU) ‘Graduate Market Trends’ comments
on the latest data about graduate employment,.
Find these no-nonsense articles on the Prospects
website.
Did you know that …
More than three
fifths of UK-based graduates are in paid employment
within six months of graduating.
Almost a quarter
(23.9%) of graduates return to study after
graduation.
Female graduates
are slightly more likely than male graduates
to either be employed or be undertaking further
study.
The number of graduate
level vacancies is expected to grow for the
third year in a row.
The
average starting salary of graduates is around £17,000,
but can be more than £30,000 in top city
firms.
Find out much more about graduates’ first
jobs by reading the full feature click here
Graduate Employment in the South East
The South East region has campuses of 24 higher
education institutions, and almost fifty further
education colleges in the South East also offer
higher education courses. BUT, only a third of
young students from the South East undertake
their degree within the region. More than half
(53%) of those graduating from South East HEIs
find employment within the region, but more than
a fifth find work in London.
The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services
is the professional association of careers professionals
in Higher Education. http://www.agcas.org.uk/
The Skills for Business network
comprises the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs). Sector
Skills Councils are employer-led, independent bodies
that operate UK-wide and are, unsurprisingly, sector
based.
The SSCs are regulated and
funded by the Sector Skills Development Agency
(SSDA).
The Sector Skills Matrix provides
a range of economic, employment and skills data
by sector.
SECTOR SKILLS COUNCIL IAG PROJECT – BRINGING
INDUSTRY AND IAG SERVICES TOGETHER
The project is funded by the
SSDA (the Sector Skills Development Agency) to
test the capacity of SSCs to develop and offer
IAG services. In particular, the project will focus
on the accessibility and interpretation of sector-specific
labour market intelligence in enhancing IAG provision
to clients.
Click
here for the interview with Ann Mason from
the Sector Skills Agency for Audio Visual Industries
who is Project Manager for the IAG Project.
