The Government will remove the VAT staff hire concession on April 1 ignoring pleas from the REC.

The removal goes ahead despite a prolonged campaign from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation supported by other leading organisations from business and industry.

The REC spearheaded a campaign to persuade the Treasury and HMRC to defer its implementation until after the worst of the economic downturn is over.

Kevin Green, the REC’s chief executive, said: “We are dismayed that even after producing evidence that up to 150,000 temporary jobs are at risk, the Government decided not to heed our advice to defer this tax on jobs.

“We have consistently drawn the implications of the concession’s withdrawal to the Government’s attention and highlighted the impact it will have on the supply of temporary staff to key sectors such as financial services, healthcare, education and charities.”

Advice to shelve compulsory equal pay reviews has been praised by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has advised the Government to not follow through on the reviews which form part of the upcoming equalities bill.

The CIPD has praised the advice due to the current economic climate.

Charles Cotton,CIPD reward adviser said: “We welcome this pragmatic approach from the EHRC.
“There is a business case for ensuring all employees are paid fairly and equally according to their skills and contribution, not their gender or any other irrelevant attributes.

“But this case is likely to be harmed not helped by blunt legislative measures at a time when businesses are struggling to stay afloat.”

He added: “We believe the greatest return will come from a tireless and concerted effort by government and other agencies to promote the business case for fair pay – in good times and bad.

“Change will only truly occur through sustained communications to alter entrenched attitudes and practices. Enforcing equal pay audits could easily end up creating a box-ticking exercise that does little to tackle the broad and deep seated causes of gender pay inequality.”

“Pay inequality has many causes – one of the biggest being the different career paths men and women take, and are encouraged to take from a young age. Ending ‘occupational segregation’ will have a far bigger impact, but this is unlikely to be assisted in any way by compulsory equal pay audits.”

A new microsite has been launched to advise those facing redundancy or worrying about their career.

The site was launched by Jobsite following a survey of 5,000 workers revealed one in five was worrying about their short-term future.

Also, 16 per cent of the respondents claimed they were looking to change career before they were made redundant.

The site – www.jobsite.co.uk/redundancyadvice – will help with issues such as legal rights, CV preparation and skills assessment.

Jobsite CEO Keith Potts said: “Although many people are worried about their current employment prospects, others are actually feeling confident. This reflects the jobs market as we see it. The picture is not uniformly bleak: although some sectors have been hit hard, we’re still seeing employers in other sectors actively looking to take on staff.”

He added: “For those who are facing losing their job, it’s important for them to remember that they’re not on their own and that it’s not personal. It’s not them being made redundant – it’s the job that’s redundant. The candidate’s skills and experience remain valuable and we’ve seen many people bounce back from redundancy with a better job that makes them much happier.

“To help jobseekers get back on their feet and find a new job as quickly and painlessly as possible we’ve pooled the knowledge and insight we’ve gained from more than 13 years’ in the recruitment sector to create a redundancy advice microsite. This provides all the essential information in one place.”

Monster.co.uk has shown that online recruitment expanded last month following three months of shrinking.

The UK Index did however show that year-on-year, the Index fell by 39 per cent, the steepest annual decline on record and the fourth straight month that the Index has fallen on a yearly basis

Monster believes the growth was driven by significant increases in job opportunities in the education, training, management and consulting sectors.

Online recruitment activity eased the most for healthcare workers, although the sector showed the largest annual gain.

Among occupational groups, craft and related workers noted the strongest increase, while plant and machine operators and assemblers saw the sharpest decline