Category Archives: Uncategorized

A time-out has been called by David Cameron on the NHS reforms that have been put into place. Healthcare recruitment agencies will eagerly await the actions of the coalition government on the NHS over the coming weeks, with many people not sure if we are now going to move forward with these reforms.

The Lib Dems claimed that most of their concessions have been put into place. This has of course upset many of the Tory back benches, believing this will lose Tories votes.

The main issue is the GP Consortia, a system that has abolished 2 tiers of management within the NHS and has given the power to groups of GPs that have been set up around the country. However now it is thought Hospital doctors and nurses should have more of a say within these Consortia’s and the worrying aspect is that many of these groups are unclear on what is expected of them.

David Cameron has called for an emergency meeting of all 143 Tories who joined the Commons last year; one senior MP described this meeting as a “lastminute panic meeting”

I believe we are entering into a stage of “no point of return” and as these are the kind of reforms that can make or break governments it is important that they stand united and agree this is how they want to move forward… if its is the best way, only time will tell.

Many recruitment agencies would be getting phone calls this week, with many employers requiring temps. It would be no surprise to hear that many Britons have strategically taking of 3 working days this week to ensure they get an 11 day holiday.

However although many of these holidays were planned for, the problem arises with the fact that Britain is considered to be the `Sicknote` capital of the world, with many employees calling in sick these next few days. No doubt this will cause much disruption and it is estimated that these holidays will cost the economy up to £30billion.

There is some economic good news though from all this and that is the extended holiday period has meant a huge uplift for many travel firms as many have experienced surge in sales. With Tui up 22% compared to last year and Ryanair up 10%, meaning many tourism recruitment agencies would pleased to hear this. There was also good news for retail recruitment agencies with many high street stores recording more sales over the Easter weekend compared to last year.

Recruitment agencies are concerned about the state of the economy today as uncertainty kicks in with the fall of the US markets.

S&P revised its outlook for the U.S. to `negative` after China moved to reduce its liquidity. There was also an added concern with Greece having to renegotiate the terms of its public debt, however Greek officials deny this.

The overall sentiment is that the global economy is becoming increasingly unstable and that any further surprises could have huge ramifications. Companies are therefore being more cautious and this has been shown by British companies cutting there marketing budgets in the first quarter of 2011 for the second consecutive quarter.

There is definitely an underlying current of uncertainty in the market and recruitment agencies are probably waiting in the wings to see how it affects the job market. Although at present there would not be to much change you can’t help but think of the saying `The straw that broke the Camel’s back` and hope the straw never arises…

Healthcare recruitment agencies especially nurses recruitment agencies have shown a marked improvement in their profits since the government has reduced spending in the NHS.

 Ambition 24, Team 24 and Mayday healthcare have all shown huge increases, with Ambition having profits of £10.4million compared to £733,000 in 2008, Team 24 showed £4.8m compared to £1.3m last year and Mayday Healthcare posted £6million profits in 2010.

What this shows is that the shake up within the NHS could have an opposite effect with job losses accumulating to 50,000 jobs but having to maintain their services by using these recruitment agencies.

I believe this shows that the government course of action, although understandable when looking at spend levels within the NHS, will have many teething problems that many could not predict. I only hope in the midst of these reforms services and people do not suffer as the main and only point to this is that we as a country provide a stable but good National Health Services.

Scotland financial recruitment agencies have found that there is a skills gap in finding suitable candidates for financial services.

The report provided by the Scottish Investment Operations (SIO), showed that graduates are proving not to be up to the standard required to work in this sector. Some key problem areas were communication, grammar and numeracy.

However the view of the Scottish Government was rather different stating that there is no evidence to support this report and in fact pointed to the latest international comparisons for people at school, where Scottish youngsters faired well against the rest of the UK.

Moving forward universities are looking to work more closely with finance companies, which should in turn be good for recruitment agencies, as they are introducing more courses and diplomas to bridge this gap.

I see this as a short term problem and have no doubt that this skills gap will be filled, it is just a timing issue as Scotland tries to become more influential in financial services.

The labour government leader Ed Mililband spoke at Oldham campaign centre about the VAT rise to 20%. The view was that the increase was too much too soon and instead of having the desired effect on the economy it will in fact be detrimental.

Recruitment agencies should expect an influx of job seekers on the back of this change as Ed Miliband predicted there could be as much as 250,000 job loses on the back of this. The 2.5% increase in VAT will cost families in general around £400 extra a year, Ed Miliband commented that this statement was made by Nick Clegg before the coalition was created.

Liberal democrat Tim Farron responded to this statement by saying that Ed Miliband, has spent his first 100 days in charge doing nothing, not even apologising for the mess this country is in due to the policies of Labour. The drastic measures need to be done to ensure that Britain can maintain economic stability and growth for the future.

Pharmaceutical recruitment agencies were alerted by GlaxoSmithKline news that they wish to create a further 1000 UK jobs. This news would have pleased the government which introduced tax incentives to promote the UK as a country that innovates.

The “patent box” scheme means that any UK-owned intellectual property, implying patents has huge reductions in corporation tax. This incentive is by and large aimed at the pharmaceutical industry which runs its business on patenting its products.

The worry was a few years ago that other countries such as Holland were leading the way in attracting growth in Pharmaceuticals. However with almost a U-Turn view in UK’s approach, means that GSK will develop its first new manufacturing facility in the UK for 25 years.

The £500m facility in Hertfordshire will expand its current respiratory drug plant and also be a biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant. GSK will also be setting up a £50m venture capital fund for early stage healthcare companies that need investing in to grow, which will be a welcome boost to healthcare companies and healthcare recruitment agencies.

Recruitment agencies especially healthcare recruitment agencies were highlighted in the news today by a report issued by KPMG in conjunction with the Recruitment Employment Confederation.

The findings in this report were echoed by Kevin Green, the REC,s chief executive,. Who warned that the jobs market is shown to be heading for a double dip.

In more detail the private sector looks to have flat lined, with its slowest growth for over a year. Whilst public sector recruitment has had the reality of the emergency budget finally sinking in, with large falls in demand across all public sectors, mainly healthcare workers within the NHS.

Accountants from KPMG have warned that a close eye has to be kept on the unemployment rate that currently stands at 2.47 million, that recently showed signs of improving but in light of this latest report would be no surprise if began to increase again.

My thoughts on this matter, is that this was expected, it was very hard to imagine with the emergency budget that it would not have these kind of results. We should also note that during the height of the recession the public sector was hardly affected due to the backing it had from the government. I do however view, especially in the NHS case, that spending freezes have almost gone past the point of requirement even affecting frontline services and so believe that this needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

The IMF has praised George Osborne on his plans of reducing public deficit and the news could not have been timed better with stats confirming the British economy grew in its second quarter by its fastest rate for nine years.

Caution has been raised with the remainder of the year, with tightening of fiscal policies and the slashing of public spending. It would be expected that Gross Domestic Product will be reduced.

Recruitment agencies dealing with the public sector would have noticed the drop in demand for staff but George Osborne has already pointed to the IMF report, stating it was a “very welcome endorsement” of the strategy implemented. Although Labour’s view, now led by Ed Miliband, believes the strategy to reduce the deficit is too soon.

My view on this is that having IMF approval is almost like getting approval from your parents. It is not that we need to be told we are doing things correct or even if this is the best approach to tackle the deficit but it does give some reassurance that they too believe this is the best course of action. I believe the next 6 – 8 months will give crucial signs of how the economy is coping and only till we see the scars of war can we recognise if we should continue on this path or not.