HR Magazine - The HR policy guide: UKIP

While UKIP has mostly been a fringe party, it has been gaining popularity in this year's election; appearing in televised debates alongside the main parties. In the fourth of HR's series on the parties' employment-related policies, we take a look at UKIP's.

Skills

The party plans to introduce a new apprenticeship qualification to replace four non-core GCSEs, which can be continued at A-Level.

It will scrap tuition fees for students taking approved degrees in science, medicine, technology, engineering and maths on the condition they subsequently live, work and pay tax in the UK for five years.

Employment regulation

The party will guarantee ex-armed forces employees a job in the police force, prison service or border force for at least a year.

It will amend working time rules for trainee doctors and medics.

It will allow businesses to discriminate in favour of British workers aged under 25 ahead of better-qualified or more experienced foreign applicants, in order to tackle youth unemployment.

The party plans to repeal the Agency Workers Regulations. It will also place a duty on large employers to offer fixed contracts to employees working on zero-hours contracts for a year or more.

Pay

UKIP will increase the personal tax allowance to £13,500. Party leader Nigel Farage has also indicated he would give NHS staff a pay rise.

Pensions

The party has not made any announcements on pensions.

Family-friendly policies

UKIP has made few family-friendly pledges, saying only it would provide child benefit to children permanently resident in the UK, limited to the first two children.

Farage has said maternity laws are a burden on small businesses, and the party has criticised Labour’s plans to double paternity pay.

Immigration

UKIP would create an independent Migration Control Commission to set the number and type of highly-skilled migrants allowed to enter the UK, based on an Australian-style points system. Upon qualifying, highly-skilled workers would be issued a visa for up to five years. This would apply equally to EU and non-EU citizens.

Migrant workers would have to earn more than £27,000 a year before being admitted, with exceptions such as nurses. They would also have to have a pre-arranged job, accommodation, and NHS-approved health insurance.

The party would restrict the numbers of work permits issued annually to between 20,000 and 50,000.

UKIP would ban unskilled migrants from entering the UK for an initial five-year period, subject to regular reviews.

UKIP will leave the EU.

It pledges to review all EU legislation and regulations from the EU and “remove those which hamper British prosperity and competitiveness”.

It would seek to exit the principle of free movement of labour.