Hello and welcome to the third Norton Loxley newsletter of 2023!

Let’s delve into the latest HR and recruitment insights that you should be aware of this month.

How will the Spring Budget impact your business?

Towards the end of last week the one word everyone was talking about was ‘Budget’. With the announcement of the Spring Budget 2023, what does this mean for your business?

Increase to childcare funding

There’s no doubt that the rising cost of childcare has been a pain point for families, with many making the tough decision between if/ whether the cost of returning to work outweighs childcare fees.

The budget announced its support for childcare funding which aims to reduce the cost of childcare to working families. This will be rolled out in stages next year:

  • From April 2024: 15 hours free childcare per week for working parents of 2-year-olds
  • From September 2024: 15 hours free childcare per week for working parents of children from 9 months of age
  • From September 2025: 30 hours free childcare per week eligible to all under-5s

We anticipate that the recent announcement of increased childcare funding available to working parents will greatly benefit businesses in two key ways.

  1. This announcement will allow some parents to re-enter work after having a child if they choose to do so, meaning that there will be a wider talent pool available when recruiting for your next vacancy ✅
  2. Your existing employees who are working parents may be able to increase their working hour availability ✅

For employers, we expect to see a significant rise of flexible working requests with the government announcement that flexible working requests will be a day one of employment right.

‘Returnerships’ for over 50’s workers

To encourage the over 50’s to return to work, the ‘returnerships’ apprenticeship programme will be introduced to provide vital skills academies and bootcamps to support individuals to retrain in a new skill. There will be a flexible ‘path’ for the returnerships which will take into consideration the individuals past experiences and expertise.

For employers, it’s time to consider what pay, benefits and contract details you would offer if you took on returnerships apprentices.

Back to the workplace support for disabled and long-term sick people

To support disabled people find work, the Universal Support voluntary employment scheme will be launched. For employers, be sure to make reasonable adjustments throughout your recruitment process to ensure workers can adequately work.

In summary, the Spring budget announcement hopes to increase the number of people in the workforce and support people to get back to work if they choose to do so. If you are looking to ensure that your HR policies and documentation are up to date and meets compliance, get in touch with our team of HR experts. Alternatively, if you are looking to grow your team we deliver effective recruitment solutions to SME’s and growing businesses.

Celebrating our 5th business birthday! 🎉

This year we have seen our client base grow, supporting some incredible businesses, we launched our rebrand to Norton Loxley and expanded the team!

The business has certainly evolved and developed again this year but one thing that has remained consistent is our focus on our clients’ needs, aspirations and results in the HR and recruitment solutions we provide.

We are very grateful for the continued support of our amazing clients, our extended network and for all the well wishes we have had to date.

We are looking forward to many more years ahead and continuing the Norton Loxley journey.🥂

Head over to our blog to read about the story behind Norton Loxley 👉 click here

Complimentary HR Health Check

Offload the stress and time that comes with recognising if your business has any HR related issues by completing our complimentary HR health check questionnaire.

Click here to complete the complimentary health check.

Please complete this questionnaire to the best of your knowledge so we can advise accordingly to support your business and we will be in touch.

Here at Norton Loxley we are a full-service HR and recruitment consultancy with a modern, fresh and commercially focused approach to delivering outsourced HR and recruitment.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out how we can find the perfect solution to drive your business or organisation forward.