As Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak go head-to-head to become the next Prime Minister, the economic and social challenges could not be greater. With soaring inflation and a cost of living crisis, the candidate chosen by the Conservative Party membership will have an overflowing inbox from day one.

We look at the key priorities that the new Prime Minister could focus on to improve working lives across the UK:

1) Improve working conditions of millions of insecure workers by introducing the Employment Bill

The Employment Bill, proposed by the Johnson administration, pledged to create a new state enforcement body to tackle non-compliance in the labour market by bringing together the existing patchwork of state enforcement under the remit of a single body.

The long-awaited Bill has been repeatedly postponed since it featured in the Conservative Party manifesto in 2019. But a new leader may open new possibilities.

The Work Foundation’s UK Insecure Work Index 2022 found that over 6 million people are in severely insecure work. Many miss out on essential rights and protections as a result of our outdated employment laws. We need reforms that improve how employment status is determined, and shift the onus onto employers to prove why a worker is not eligible for specific entitlements.

Moreover, with the cost of living crisis and the largest drop in regular pay since records began, we need to strengthen minimum wage enforcement to ensure that all workers receive the pay they earn.

The new PM will be under pressure to develop a plan to catalyse economic growth, and it is crucial that this is underpinned by legislative changes focused on fair pay and good work.

2) Introduce a right to flexible working

Employees must have been employed for 26 weeks before they are entitled to make a request. Following a commitment in the 2019 manifesto to make flexible work the default, the Government has consulted on making the right to make a flexible working request available to all employees from their first day in a job.

This would be a positive step given that flexible working can play a vital role in overcoming structural barriers in the labour market. Despite recent progress, the disability employment gap still stands at 28 percentage points. Women in the UK were paid just 90p for every £1 earned by men, according to corporate gender pay gap reporting. We also know that older people, people with long-term illnesses and caring responsibilities are leaving the labour market and becoming economically inactive as they cannot find jobs that meet their needs.

Evidence suggests that flexible working conditions can reduce staff turnover, improve engagement and attract talent. But extending the right to request does not go far enough – to drive meaningful progress in this area, Government should introduce a right to work flexibly, with employers able to request exemptions for specific roles or activities.

3) Build on the levelling up agenda, opening up opportunities for training

The Levelling Up agenda – central to Johnson’s premiership – set out an ambition for pay, employment and productivity to increase across all areas of the UK by 2030, and for the number of people successfully completing high-quality skills training to have significantly increased.

While the aim to create growth across all areas based on high-skilled jobs is laudable, there was a notable gap between this rhetoric and the investment required to make it a reality. With the funding for the Levelling Up White Paper’s skills initiatives due to come from the Shared Prosperity Fund, the replacement to EU structural funds, it was revealed that the investment would only be forthcoming from 2024/2025.

The Levelling Up White Paper set out an ambition to invest in skills development for those furthest from the labour market. Whether or not the agenda is retained in its current form, the new Prime Minister must prioritise the provision of skills initiatives for lower paid workers with fewer recognised qualifications.

4) Reform the benefits system to meet the needs of people during the cost-of-living system and respond long-term challenges ahead

With the rate of inflation having rising to a new 40-year high at 9.4% leaving wages falling in real terms, thousands of people both in and out of work will need support from the benefits system to make ends meet over the months ahead. The UK out-of-work benefits system is among the least generous in the OECD and the pandemic showed the limitations of our system.

Previous governments have often adopted ad hoc approaches to economic crises when it comes to welfare. However, the pressures people on low incomes are facing through the cost of living crisis underline the importance of a taking a longer-term view and building a more sustainable benefits system that protects people through economic upheaval long-term. This has to include introducing more flexibility in accessing benefits for millions of people with irregular earnings.

In our UK Insecure Work Index, we recommended that going forward Government must ensure that Universal Credit uprating is determined by the latest forecast estimates, to ensure that social security support keeps pace with living costs.

5) A workforce strategy for social care workers

With an ageing society and increasing prevalence of complex health conditions, demand for social care will only increase over the years ahead. And while successive governments have ducked tough funding decisions around, the case for a better deal for the social care workforce will be very hard for the new Prime Minister to ignore. Johnson’s government recently increased National Insurance pay to fund the NHS and social care.

A spotlight was shone on the vital societal role played by social care workers during the pandemic. But despite all of their sacrifices, far too many of our 1.5 million care workers experience poor working conditions. As highlighted in Work Foundation research published last year, median pay for care workers was £337 per week in 2020, which compares with a median average of £479 for all employees. Besides low pay, care workers experience few opportunities for career development and variable hours.

As our research called for, it is vital that the new administration delivers on the Johnson administration’s commitment to produce a long-term strategy for workforce development. This would truly recognise the vital vocational role of care workers, and offers genuine opportunities for career progression.

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed by our bloggers and those providing comments are personal, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lancaster University. Responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained within blog posts belongs to the blogger.