CIPD & TUC Speak Out About IDS’s Remarks

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Trade Union Congress have both spoken out following Ian Duncan Smith’s recent comments at the Conservative Party Conference where he said that there was not a lack of jobs, but a failure to match people to jobs properly, and this failure had fuelled Immigration to the United Kingdom. The CIPD responded to the claims by saying that the main issues were due to skills, job location and travelling issues.

In order for a Tier 2 Licensed Company to sponsor an individual on a Tier 2 General visa it must first conduct a Resident Labour Market Test (where the job is not on the Shortage Occupation List) and advertise the requirement in both a suitable location (e.g. suitable Job Website, EEA wide newspaper etc) and with Job Centre Plus for at least 1 month.

Mr Duncan Smith said that “It’s short-sighted to say there aren’t any jobs at the moment. The fact is there are around half a million vacancies. We had a supply of labour – the unemployed. We had a demand for labour – all the new jobs. But we couldn’t match them up, so we had to import people.”

However the Chief Economic advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, John Philpott, said in response to the comments that “There are still five unemployed people chasing every vacancy, so it’s partly explained by job matching, and Job Centre Plus – though there is room for improvement – has been working well. But the main issues are less to do with the matching process per se and more to do with issues such as skills, location of jobs, and cost of travelling. To suggest that you can get unemployment down by improving matches alone is pushing it somewhat.”

The remarks were also attacked by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber who said that “Rather than attacking jobseekers for not doing enough to find work, the Government desperately needs to develop an economic strategy that prioritises growth and jobs to bring revenues in and the deficit down. The current plan of deep, rapid cuts is causing job losses to mount and sending our economy in the wrong direction. The Government is sitting on an unemployment time-bomb and needs to do all it can to prevent a generation from being permanently scarred by joblessness.”

Commonwealth Contractors

Commonwealth Contractors is a collection of highly skilled professionals from the Commonwealth and beyond. We partner with OISC Registered Immigration Partners capable of professionally representing a Tier 1 Visa Application / Extension and Tier 2 Licensed Consultancy & Associated Trust Partners who may be prepared, where required, to sponsor a doctor on a Tier 2 Visa (formerly UK Work Permit).

To find out more call Commonwealth Contractors now on 0330 390 9021 or Submit your details now and we will get right back to you. Please be prepared to send a copy of a recent CV so that we can pass to interested partners.