Calls For Supply Chain Levy
The Transport Committee, a Select Committee of the House of Commons, has just published a report into the road freight supply chain, in which one of the recommendations is a supply chain levy.
The Commitee heard that the recent HGV crisis was triggered by the fact that around 50,000 drivers left the supply chain sector in the first quarter of 2021 due to the combined effects of Brexit, IR35, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the report: "The pandemic, which began in early 2020, exacerbated the existing shortage of HGV drivers. Logistics UK said that “over the past two years [the shortage] has deteriorated from chronic to acute”. The Department blamed disruption to vocational testing and increased demand as the economy improved as well as “underlying structural challenges”. Kieran Smith, Chief Executive of the recruitment agency Driver Require, said “the majority of it was down to the over-45-year-olds leaving in their droves. We are talking about over 50,000 who left at the beginning of this year in Q1 [2021]. That is what triggered the crisis”. He also attributed some of the shortage to “IR35, Brexit" [plus other issues]"
The report adds: "A lack of HGV drivers has concerned Government and industry for more than a decade. Too few people want to work in the [supply chain] sector, and the retention rate for those who become drivers is low. The covid-19 pandemic exacerbated those trends."
One of the recommendations made by the Committee in their report is that the supply chain industry should be given 2 years to recruit sufficient HGV drivers to remove the shortfall, and to provide adequate facilities (e.g. parking, toilets, security, etc), or a supply chain levy should be imposed to fund reform. The report states: "If industry does not deliver, the Government should implement the levy charging mechanism and cause the industry to pay sufficient sums for the Government to build these facilities and pay to train new drivers, so they do not have to pay the cost of their own training."
The report adds: "The Supply Chain Levy should be applied to those at the production and sales end of the supply chain, such as large retailers, oil companies and online service giants. These organisations currently make large profits which do not trickle further down the supply chain to the companies which transport the goods....The Supply Chain Levy would require the parts of the supply chain where margins are greatest to deliver improved standards and the resilience to the supply chain which they themselves require to ensure their shelves, warehouses and petrol pumps are full."
Menopause Related Claims In The Employment Tribunal Increase
Research conducted by Menopause Experts Group has found that the number of claims in the Employment Tribunal which cited the menopause increased by 44% in 2021, from 16 in 2020 to 23 in 2021. In 2019, there had been 7 cases
Of the 23 claims that cited the menopause, 16 included a claim for disability discrimination, 10 for sex discrimination, and 14 included a claim for unfair dismissal.
According to the report, "one claimant who had told her employer she was suffering hot flushes due to menopause was reprimanded for undoing her top button when experiencing a hot flush and was told to do it up."
The CEO at Menopause Experts Group, Dee Murray, stated: "Employers are starting to get the message about menopause in the workplace, but the growing number of employment tribunals in this area show that there’s still a lot of work to be done. Too many policies aren’t taking women’s needs into account, and more and more employees are showing that they are happy to stand up for themselves."
Murray added: "The lack of education is dangerous for women’s health and unfair to their careers. What’s frustrating is the fact that there are so many training courses available to employers. Teaching our colleagues about menopause is vital if we are going to remove the stigma surrounding what is a big part of a woman’s life."
