A Budget for Stability - 2008

I have never heard the word stability used so many times in one speech but Alistair Darling achieved a new record in his first UK Budget. It did make me wonder if it was a lesson in brain washing however his supporting evidence did enforce the fact that the UK is ahead of many of its EU partners and most of the world. He suggested it is the most stable of the G7 economies and has the second highest GDP per head of population in the same grouping.

Comments by pundits did suggest that the current slow down will not result in a recession for the UK simply a tightening of fiscal belts. It would probably not allow for further interest rate cuts in the near future.

The Chancellor made a point of stressing that the UK now has lower unemployment than France, Germany and Italy and our “fair employment rules” have gone a long way to ensuring this continues. I hope this point marks a continuing endorsement of the Government’s commitment to not giving way on the EU demands for user comparability pay and what was formerly the Agency Workers Directive; despite its recent proposal to create an Agency Work Commission.

He announced the following aid for businesses, especially SMEs:

· More help for small businesses, with capital gains tax remaining at 10 per cent.

· £60m more for SFLG Scheme, which will be extended to all small businesses.

· New target of 30 per cent of Government contracts for small firms.

The latter point is particularly important to those recruitment agencies that supply to the Public Sector. In recent years we have seen an increasing move towards the use of PSLs and Master/Neutral Vendor arrangements where the criteria for selection preclude SMEs from tendering. This new commitment should endorse our claim to be treated fairly. It must still grow further, especially as SMEs now employ of the workforce than do large firms.

So, in conclusion I would say it was a fairly safe (stable) budget for recruiters. Nothing special but equally nothing horrendously challenging.