REC response to Spring Statement 2025

Commenting on today’s Spring Statement, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Chief Executive Neil Carberry said:

“Success for the Chancellor and this government comes from economic growth, and the Chancellor was right to emphasise this today. But economic growth comes from private sector success – generating the income that funds jobs, tax revenues and ultimately our public services. On that, we remain at a crossroads. The upcoming rise in Employer’s National Insurance, anti-business rhetoric from some parts of government and worries about impractical new employment regulation are all acting as anchors on business confidence to invest.

“The government’s overall message is more positive and sectors such as housing and defence will be heartened but we need more from the government on the broader industrial strategy. Progress on reforming the apprenticeship levy, easing bureaucracy for employers and proper partnership working is what is needed now to underpin the labour market and unleash growth across all sectors.”

On the Chancellor’s comments about costly agency staff in the NHS, Neil Carberry said:

“The narrative about costly agencies is back to front. NHS Trusts are struggling to find contingent staff due to a nine-year freeze in most pay rates for affordable, on-framework agency work. This has driven trusts to expensive provision that could be avoided by working in partnership with agencies, unions and trusts to design a system that really works. With the National Insurance rise next month, agencies are forced to absorb the cost due to the government's refusal to pay its own tax increase. This attempt to save pennies will ultimately cost pounds, as Trusts will increasingly rely on non-pay-capped off-framework providers or expensive NHS bank solutions. Agencies, which have been unfairly blamed and belittled by the government today, continue to provide vital 21st-century staffing solutions at a time when the NHS cannot fill its vacancies. Agencies want to remain an integral part of the NHS as respected partners not as punchbags. Without them it is patients that will lose out.”