What's New

Not surprisingly, the latest jobs figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) paint a gloomy picture even though they cover only the first few weeks of the COVID-19 crisis.

Almost all regions in the UK have seen a broad decline in demand for staff week-on-week with only the North East bucking the trend, according to the REC (Recruitment and Employment Confederation).

Acas, the independent public body providing impartial advice to employers and employees, has published new guidance to help staff manage their mental health during the coronavirus pandemic.

Following calls from UK tourism agency Visit Britain, the new public holiday would potentially take place around October half-term of this year.

The Government has announced the launch of a new online service to let small and medium-sized employers claim back some coronavirus-related Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

With the Government encouraging more people to return to work, assuming they are not among the group who can work from home, employers are having to think seriously about what measures they will need to ensure workplace safety.

The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is taking legal action against the Government in an attempt to secure health and safety protections for hundreds of thousands of workers in the gig economy.

Kindness is the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, currently taking place up to Sunday 24 May 2020, which aims to highlight the benefits of helping others to improve mental health and wellbeing and reduce stress during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Setting out his action plan to tackle the spread of coronavirus, on 4 March, in the Commons, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that emergency legislation would be introduced to ensure that workers will get statutory sick pay (SSP) from the first day off work, not the fourth.

In March, Home Secretary Priti Patel asked the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the composition of the Shortage Occupation Lists (see Migration Committee asked to Update Shortage Occupation List).