Staff shortages in education and healthcare are worse than anywhere else in the UK economy as public sector wages are further below those on offer in the private sector, according to a survey of employers.
Six in 10 education employers said they had difficult-to-fill vacancies, while more than four in 10 expected ‘significant problems’ filling posts in the next six months, according to a report by the CIPD organization. human resources professionals.
In the healthcare sector, 55% of employers had hard-to-fill vacancies, compared to 40% of all employers in the private sector, according to the survey, released on Monday. The search was conducted between March 12 and April 12.
The findings point to worsening tensions on the public sector workforce as unions representing teachers and nurses prepare to vote their members on new strike action.
The CIPD found that private sector employers were more likely than those in the public sector to improve job quality when they faced difficulty hiring, for example by offering better career paths or more flexibility.
Public sector employers, in contrast, were more likely to respond by offloading more tasks onto existing staff.
Concerns about workloads and a growing recruitment crisis in schools have fueled a determination by teachers’ unions to seek mandates from members to launch coordinated strike action starting in the fall.
The National Education Union will start voting on teachers across England on Monday to renew its current six-month strike mandate, which expires in July, after rejecting the government’s wage offer of a one-off £1,000 bonus to 2022-23 and a 4.5 percent salary increase in 2023-24.
THE Royal College of Nursingwhose members rejected the NHS pay deal accepted by other unions, will also launch a new England-wide strike poll later this month.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has urged health secretary Steve Barclay to reopen wage negotiations after union members rejected the government’s salary offer by 54 to 46%.
The RCN leader told the Sunday Times she had “underestimated” the determination of her members and said talks must “start in double figures”.
Cullen had initially pushed for a 19% pay rise but later called on members to accept the government’s offer of 5% for 2023-23 plus a one-off payment of at least £1,655, which equated to a 9% annual increase.
Jon Boys, senior labor market economist at the CIPD, said private sector employees were “stepping away” from their public sector counterparts when it came to bringing home pay, against a backdrop of continued strength in the employers’ appetite for hiring new staff.
The survey showed that public sector wage settlements are expected to improve over the next year: the average base wage increase expected by employers rose to 3.3%, from 2% in the previous quarter. But this is still well below the average 5% increase expected in the private sector.
The findings on education staff shortages echo those of the Confederation for Recruiting and Employmentwho said last week that vacancies for support staff such as teaching assistants, school secretaries and crossing patrols had increased even faster than for teachers.
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