The launch of the document took place at an invitation-only event at the House of Commons last week, with government ministers and a cross-party group of members of parliament and peers in attendance.

The trade body for professional recruitment has urged policy makers across the major parties to ensure they adopt its recommendations which are designed to tackle the country’s professional skills crisis, raise collective productivity and drive economic growth.

According to APSCo, the four key opportunities that need to be capitalised on include:

• Creating the right workforce regulatory environment: through regulatory reforms which protect individual workers, drive economic growth and maximise productivity. This includes excluding highly paid contractors from the Agency Worker Regulations 2010 and reviews of Off Payroll IR35 and the employment status of the professional self-employed.
• Supporting workforce skills growth, training and talent development: through access to more flexible modular training under the Apprenticeship Levy and a greater focus on financial support for regional hubs. Access to international skills also needs to be extended through flexible short-term ‘project’ visas for highly skilled workers and a greater focus on skilled immigration in trade deals.
• Introducing policies that drive fairness and inclusion in the new world of work: to ensure legislation matches the pace of change in hiring and working practices. That includes legislating to boost ‘skills-first hiring’ practices and encourage people to rejoin the workforce through tax incentives on occupational health, mental health and health screening budgets.
• Harnessing technology for the skills revolution: to drive economic growth, which includes building on the existing ‘AI in recruitment’ guidance to deliver recognised and auditable standards. Any such regulation should be in alignment with global directives and needs to hold AI developers and technology providers accountable for transparency and fairness in their products.

Tania Bowers, global public policy director at APSCo, said: “Research from our members, trusted partners and global strategic partners such as LinkedIn are all pointing to the same issue in the UK: a severe shortage of professional skills that is only growing. Businesses are facing a critical lack of workers, with IT, digital, engineering and healthcare some of the hardest hit remits. 

“For the country to remain competitive, our labour market needs to be world-leading, fair and flexible. Our manifesto outlines exactly how that can be achieved. In what is already proving to be a highly contentious general election year, it is crucial that the major parties have a plan in place to beat the skills crisis that’s prevailed for far too long in the UK.

“We’ve already started engaging with key policy makers across the core political parties – many of whom were in attendance at the launch event itself – and it’s encouraging to note that these recommendations are aligned to the thinking of many MPs and policy influencers. Politicians of all parties recognised that the recruitment and outsourcing sectors play a crucial role in the strength of the labour market and the UK economy. We are pleased to hear that APSCo’s manifesto aligns with the core ideas of the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democratic and all parties that are looking to retain seats in Westminster,

Ann Swain, global CEO at APSCo, added: “I’m delighted at the responses to our manifesto launch. Thanks to our hosts Mark Pawsey MP and Peter Dowd MP, and Kevin Hollinrake MP, the minister for enterprise, markets and small business at the Department for Business and Trade who gave some valuable insights. I’m delighted that they all found our manifesto to be appropriately early and there was a huge amount of interest in our recommendations, particularly around Apprenticeship Levy reform and skills.”

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Newby, who is responsible for putting together the Party’s Manifesto, said “he was keen to hear more about our thoughts on talent, whilst Baroness Verma, a Conservative Peer with a keen interest in diversity, inclusion and women in business spoke with myself, keen to know more about our members’ activities in this area. 

“As (Kevin) Hollinrake, the minister said, private enterprise is the strong horse that pulls the cart of the economy and SMEs are critical to its success.

“Recruitment and staffing outsourcing are UK success stories – delivering innovation, expertise, opportunity and growth to the UK’s workforce. Working closely with companies and workers alike, APSCo UK and OutSource members are central to the growth and productivity of the UK’s key economic sectors. 

“But the UK economy and its staffing sector face significant challenges. Technology is changing the nature of the skills we need across the economy; AI and innovation is disrupting resourcing, with new jobs emerging requiring new skills from the labour market. 

“Equally, there are some long-standing challenges that make staffing the UK’s professional economy more difficult, from a limited supply of highly qualified talent to the complex and outdated workplace regulatory environment. Our Tackling the Professional Skills Crisis manifesto outlines how these challenges can be faced head on.”

• Comment below on this story. Or let us know what you think by emailing us at [email protected] or tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend.

L-r: Ann Swain, CEO, APSCo and Kevin Hollinrake, minister for enterprise, markets and small business at the Department for Business and Trade ©APSCo