Government calls on employers to hire more disabled people and help aid their social inclusion

The government has called on employers to hire more disabled people and help aid their social inclusion.

Employers can play a key role in ensuring that disabled people are able to play a full part in society through employment by preventing ill-health and injury, and providing appropriate support in the workplace.

Department for Work and Pensions minister Lord McKenzie said today: “Increasing the number of disabled people in mainstream employment has the potential to tear down the last barriers to social inclusion for disabled people.

“Just as important as getting disabled people into work is keeping people in work and preventing them from falling out of work in the first place.”

McKenzie said he wanted to see employers develop supportive cultures that allow staff with health problems and impairments to work, making the necessary adjustments to help them do so.

“Mostly these adjustments will be neither as difficult nor as expensive as people think. But clearly we have an important job ahead to engage, educate and support employers,” he said.

This story was first published in Personnel Today

Women’s minister Ruth Kelly spends £500,000 from Quality Part Time Work Fund in bid to reduce gender pay gap

Minister for women, Ruth Kelly, will grant nearly £500,000 to a number of organisations to create more quality part-time jobs at senior level, in an effort to reduce the gender pay gap.

The scheme comes a year after the Women and Work Commission report, which was commissioned by the prime minister to help women reach their full potential.

Royal Mail is one of the first beneficiaries - it was awarded £25,000 in funding from the Quality Part Time Work Fund. The company will need to match the grant to develop job-share and part-time managerial posts in two sorting office sites in London.

It aims to make 10% of management jobs on these sites part-time within 18 months.

Other successful bidders for the fund include Kelloggs, Tesco, three local authorities, Durham constabulary, and four voluntary sector organisations.

Kelly said: “The part-time pay gap is still too wide with women working part-time earning 40% less than men working full-time. Working with a range of employers across business, local government and the voluntary sector, we can kickstart the process of enabling more women to work part-time in senior posts.”

Small businesses under misconception of being fully compliant with age discrimination legislation could face tribunal claim02 April 2007 Small businesses are risking tribunals as they fail to make changes to employment policies following age discrimination laws, research has suggested.

A survey of 750 small businesses by conciliation service Acas revealed that only 17% have introduced changes to their employment and recruitment practices. Respondents said they had not made changes because they believed their organisations already complied, or that the regulations did not apply to their business.

Two-thirds of employers in the survey thought they were fairly or very well informed about the age discrimination regulations. However, fewer than 30% gave a correct response to a question about whether it is still lawful to have a retirement age.

Acas chair Rita Donaghy said: “These results are worrying as they highlight a potential timebomb in smaller companies in terms of tribunal cases. Age discrimination can affect all employees, young and old and to comply can be very simple and quick.”

This story was first created and published by Personnel Today

Employers Forum on Age warns national minimum wage band for younger workers is ageist

The national minimum wage (NMW) band for younger workers constitutes age discrimination and must be brought into line with the adult rate, the Employers Forum on Age (EFA) has warned.

Last week, the government announced a 3.2% increase in the adult rate, from £5.35 to £5.52 per hour, with effect from October 2007. But staff in the 18- to 21-year-old bracket will only be paid a minimum rate of £4.60 per hour.

EFA director Sam Mercer said this sent out "completely the wrong message" to employers about the consequence of making decisions based on age in the workplace. "We are frustrated by the refusal to address the fact that under the current bands, 18- to 21-year-olds are paid less, simply because of their age and irrespective of their capabilities or responsibilities," she said.

The EFA call for action follows a warning from lawyers that the NMW flouts the new age laws and that apprenticeships specifically targeted at younger people would eventually be proved illegal.
Age discrimination in employment became illegal on 1 October 2006. The EFA is lobbying the government on the issue of minimum wage age bands. An Early Day Motion has been tabled in Parliament and now has 88 signatures representing cross-party support.

"The current argument from the government that employers might potentially avoid taking on younger workers if they had to pay them the same amount as workers over 21 is simply reinforcing the discriminatory practices that the legislation was designed to eradicate," Mercer said.

Employers' and unions' views on the NMW rise
EEF: "We are pleased the government has recognised the additional costs that many employers will face when statutory annual holiday entitlement increases in October."

CBI: "The NMW has brought real benefits to many lower-paid workers, but it is right that this year's increase took account of business reality."

CIPD: "If the NMW is to succeed, it must be set at a rate that improving pay at the bottom of the labour market does not have adverse consequences for jobs, inflation or the wider economy."

T&G: "We are concerned that the progress that has been made in tackling inequality could be rolled back if the minimum wage fails to even keep pace with inflation."

GMB: "The figure of £5.52 is still well short of half of the UK average hourly rate for full-time workers."

TUC: "Everyone stands to gain from making the minimum wage as robust as possible, so the government should use this year to continue moving its enforcement work up a gear."

This story was first created and published by Personnel Today