Mon, 26 Apr 2010

While Labour plans to introduce harder English tests for migrants, the Tories want an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants and the Liberal Democrats have called for work permits for economic migration.

These are among the policies revealed in law firm Langleys summary of some of the three main parties’ policies on employment related issues.

The Labour Party

The Labour Party proposes:

• that national minimum wage rises in line with average earnings by the end of the next Parliament;
• up to £70,000 advanced apprenticeships a year and Skills Accounts for workers to upgrade their skills;
• harder English tests to be taken by all migrants before they arrive to work in the UK and in the public sector all employees who have contact with the public to have an ‘appropriate’ level of English;
• that the link between migrants staying for a set period and being able to settle or gain citizenship will be broken and replaced by a points based system (based on the Australian system);
• jobs or training places for young people out of work for six months and the cutting of benefits at 10 months if they refuse a place;
• a guarantee of work for anyone unemployed for more than two years;
• ending default retirement age at 65, with a review to establish the right way to support more people to work longer;
• between 2024 and 2046 the state pension age will rise to 68 for both men and women;

The Conservative Party

The Conservative Party proposes:

• no further extension of the EU’s power over the UK without the British people’s consent;
• to keep national minimum wage;
• to consider bringing forward the date at which the state pension age starts to rise to 66 to as early as 2016 for men and 2020 for women;
• to implement an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants to UK, with access only to those who bring “most value” to the British Economy;
• more support for employers to encourage auto-enrolment into pensions;
• to reduce welfare dependency by creating a single Work Programme for the unemployed, with those on Incapacity Benefit to be reassessed;
• service academies to offer pre-employment training for the unemployed;
• for a period of two years, no new businesses to pay national insurance contributions on the first ten employees it hires during its first year;
• to give SMEs a £2,000 bonus for every apprentice they hire;
• to aim to deliver 25% of government research and procurement contracts through SMEs by cutting the administration costs of bidding;
• to look at how to abolish the default retirement age;
• to force equal pay audits on any company found to be discriminating on the basis of gender;

The Liberal Democratic Party

The Liberal Democratic Party proposes:

• to make the tax system fairer and simpler.  One proposed tax rise to 50% on incomes over £100,000 a year, which will affect just 1% of tax payers (and will pay for the abolition of student tuition and top-up fees, free personal care for the elderly and disabled, and lower local taxes);
• work permits for economic migration;
• to scrap the Department of Trade and Industry, transferring some functions to other departments and saving £8bn to be reinvested in education and training;
• to scrap the compulsory retirement age, allowing those who wish to continue working to do so;
• to require employers to accept anonymous job application forms to reduce sex and race discrimination in employment, initially for every company with more than 100 staff;
• that public sector organisations be required to declare in full all remunerations of £200,000 a year or more;
• a £400 pay rise cap for all public sector workers, initially for two years;
• to set the minimum wage at the same level for all workers over 16 (except for those on apprenticeships);
• introduce a regional points-based system to ensure that migrants can only work where they are needed.
• a crackdown on rogue employers that profit from illegal labour.