The coalition government has now published its "programme for government" (PDF format, 475Kb on the Cabinet Office website) and Personnel Today has already pulled out the key implications for HR.
The document suggests that the coalition is happy to pick specific fights with some major public sector employee groups in seeking to cut spending.
Civil servants are, as always, first on the list. In the wake of early proposals to cut bonuses (on the Number 10 website), the coalition states its general intention to "make it easier to reward the best civil servants and remove the least effective". Following on from the High Court ruling that changes to the civil service redundancy scheme were unlawful, the new government intends not just to reform the scheme but "bring it into line with practice in the private sector".
But there are also proposals to review police terms and conditions, give schools greater freedom over teachers pay and re-negotiate the GP contract and review public sector pensions.
Elsewhere, bankers remain in the firing line. The government intends to "bring forward detailed proposals for robust action to tackle unacceptable bonuses in the finance sector".
The CWU will be interested to read that the government will "seek to ensure an injection of private capital into Royal Mail, including opportunities for employee ownership". How much of the Royal Mail will be up for sale has not been specified.
There are a number of proposals that could potentially affect both private and public sector HR, but many are quite vague, such as promoting equal pay or looking to promote gender equality on listed companies' boards.
There is a pledge to "support" the national minimum wage (a change from "keeping" in the Conservative Party manifesto but no mention of the plan to align the youth and adult rates proposed by the Liberal Democrats).
A commitment to "extend the right to request flexible working to all employees" appeared in both parties' manifestos, but no longer contains the many "ifs" and "buts" that appeared in the Conservative manifesto, so appears strengthened.
A pledge to reinstate the Operating and Financial Review comes from the Liberal Democrat manifesto (for the ill-fated story of the OFR under the last government see the article I wrote in 2005 if you are an XpertHR subscriber). Before this idea was scrapped by the previous government, it was intended to increase corporate responsibility reporting by firms.
There is also a general commitment to "review employment and workplace laws, for employers and employees, to ensure they maximise flexibility for both parties while protecting fairness and providing the competitive environment required for enterprise to thrive". This sounds like a liberal way of saying "cutting employment red tape".
| Tweet |
|
| Permalink | Email this |
