Recruitment bodies have responded to Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid’s Spending Review published yesterday.

The Spending Round sets out departmental spending plans for 2020-2021 to deliver on the public’s priorities, including health, education, and security.  

This included £2 billion in 2020-21 announced yesterday which will “help the UK to establish a new relationship with the EU, and capitalise on the opportunities created by Brexit.”

Money for schools, public services and the NHS will also increase.

No mention of the Apprenticeship Levy or IR35 was made.

Earlier this week, a coalition of UK business bodies representing tens of thousands of employers and millions of workers wrote a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid, urging him to use the spending review to broaden the apprenticeship levy.

Director of Policy and Campaigns at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, Tom Hadley responded to the Spending Round.

“The Chancellor’s plans for health and social care, education and infrastructure are all contingent on having the right staff and skills in place to deliver services and projects,” Hadley said. “We need a twin-track approach involving a radical step change on skills strategy and progression, together with an evidence-based immigration policy. On this, we will continue to make the point that this isn’t just about the ‘brightest and the best’; REC monthly data shows that we need staff to fill vacancies across a wide range of sectors and job roles.”

Sam Hurley, Operations Director at The Association of Professional Staffing Companies, also commented, “The additional £4 billion (£2 billion already announced and a further £2 billion today) of funds may be necessary should a no-deal occur. However, preparations take time, even if well-funded. As such, we fully expect that there will still be a significant impact on businesses, including the professional recruitment industry and its clients, in the event of a no-deal exit next month.”

“Additional spending in the public sector generally flows down into a loosening of constraints on recruitment and contract spend, but we wouldn’t expect any reversal on existing framework rates, although hiring numbers may increase,” Hurley said.

“The spending review does nothing to reduce our concerns about the impact of IR35 Off Payroll on the private sector, the flexibility and availability of contractor resources and the implications for the contracting labour market, which will undoubtedly be reduced flexibility and increased costs,” Hurley said.

“We do however, welcome the commitment to give schools a cash boost to improve education, as well as the additional funding to train and teach more than a million 16 to 19 year olds the skills they need for well-paid jobs in the modern economy, though the impact of this won’t be noted for some time yet,” Hurley said.