CMI calls for tax breaks for firms investing in training

The CMI claims employers want support to develop their existing staff. Its findings show 74% of organisations want more financial support from Government to help develop employee skills, 57% say flexible working regulations must be applied across the whole workforce and more than half (51%) have called for a reduction in business tax.

Ruth Spellman, chief executive of the CMI, said: "We are calling for tax breaks for businesses investing in their staff and developing out proposals with key partners. Employers should be encouraged to develop staff because a depleted organisation with fewer skills to call on is less likely to survive the recession.

"It is not a strategy of baling out business or massaging unemployment figures, but creating a strategy for survival that reduces redundancy rates over the long term."

Less than one in five employers (15%) think the Government can do little to affect the downturn - but many respondents suggest it should push through measures motivating staff to perform.