The Home Office announced this week that the end date for adjusted digital right to work checks has been delayed again, to 5 April 2022.

The official guidance can be found here.

This follows extensive campaigning by the Recruitment and Employers Confederation and others, including yesterday’s letter from the REC to the Home Office urging them to extend the use of digital right to work checks until a permanent digital solution is in place, due to the current labour shortages.

In response to the announcement, Chief Executive of the REC Neil Carberry said:

“This is great news for recruiters and hiring businesses all over the country. Digital right to work checks have been a resounding success during the pandemic, allowing companies to hire quickly and safely as well as improving compliance. It makes complete sense to extend their use, especially considering the unprecedented labour shortages we are experiencing now. This move comes on the back of extensive campaigning from the REC with our last letter to the Home Office yesterday – linking the need for a delay to helping with worker shortages. We look forward to working with them further on a more permanent digital solution.”

FIS CEO, Iain McIlwee responded: 

“It is great to see some pragmatism, but we need to get away from this last minute lurch, which creates uncertainty and confusion.  We also need to look more holistically at the skilled worker and shortage occupation list, the economy is at risk from principles being too rapidly applied”.

Lookig for employment advice – access the FIS Employment Toolkit here

Tuesday this week saw FIS relationship with Barbour ABI take on a new level with #TakeoverTuesday, a social media event which saw the FIS take over the Barbour ABI social channels.  The initiative enabled FIS to promote new Specifiers Guides, the Acoustic Verification Scheme, Annual Conference and showcase our core values and vetted membership to the Barbour ABI community of designers and specifiers.

FIS and Barbour ABI have developed a partnership approach based on knowledge sharing between the two communities with a particular emphasis on legislative compliance, best practice and innovation.  Other aspects to this collaborative partnership have seen Barbour ABI develop a specialist Finishes and Interiors Hub on their website, sharing of Barbour ABI market data with the FIS Membership and discounts for FIS Members on core Barbour ABI services.  Barbour ABI are also running a session on sustainability as part of the FIS Annual Conference this year – plans are to follow this up with a series of white papers exploring sustainability in the finishes and interiors sector.

Simon Mahoney, Group Director at Barbour ABI said

“Our work with FIS reflects the importance of this sector and our ethos of building bridges across the supply chain to join up the various actors and information streams to help deliver transformation.  We appreciate the FIS is a dynamic community and a key source of knowledge.  Helping to draw attention to this through our social channels is a great way to engage our network in this and emphasise the importance of collaboration and delivering transformation through a networked industry.”

Iain McIlwee FIS CEO said

“Core to our ethos as a community is collaboration.  FIS exists to provide a voice, but also eyes and ears for the sector, scanning the horizon for challenges and opportunities and understanding. Barbour ABI are one of the key sources of authoritative information and have a great network and platform that supports all parts of construction – it is great to be working with them in such a proactive way to help share best practice and ensure the wider market are aware of what we as a community can do to support them and help deliver transformation.”

You can see the content from our #TakeoverTuesday here

Register for the FIS Virtual Conference – every Wednesday in September

Visit the FIS Interior Design Hub on the  Barbour ABI platform here

Members receive 15% discount off any products within the Barbour ABI portfolio – access your discount here

All members are invited to consider nominating themselves to join the Board. By joining, you have the chance to use your knowledge and experience in the finishes and interiors sector to influence the direction of the Association and support our mission to improve safety and quality, minimise risk, enhance productivity and drive innovation in the sector, ultimately ensuring that membership and guidance are reflected in all relevant specifications.

The role of a Board Member offers the chance to influence the direction of the Association and share your knowledge and experience of the fit out sector.

The Board’s focus is on strategic issues, and ensuring the delivery of agreed targets.

If you would like to stand for election please complete the nomination form.  Nominations must be received by 17 September 2021.  Election results will be announced at our AGM in November.

Any questions about the process or the role, please don’t hesitate in contacting FIS CEO on 07792 959 481 or email iainmcilwee@thefis.org

To find out who is currently on the Board click here

From Monday 16 August, people who have received two doses of a covid vaccine or who are aged under 18 will no longer be legally required to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact of a positive case. This means that fully vaccinated contacts will routinely be able to attend work if they do not have symptoms.

Instead of self-isolating, those who are identified as close contacts of positive covid cases are advised to get a free PCR test as soon as possible. Anyone who tests positive following the PCR test will still be legally required to self-isolate, regardless of their vaccination status or age. Build UK has updated its COVID‐19 flowchart with the latest information on when to self‐isolate.

Vaccination

To encourage people to take up the vaccine when offered, NHS England is offering large employers access to local health professionals who staff can speak to confidentially to ask questions or raise concerns they may have about the vaccination. There is also a range of messages explaining the vaccine programme that employers can share with staff through internal staff communication networks.

If you would be interested in learning more about the offer from NHS England please contact Howard Wheeler at the Cabinet Office: howard.wheeler@cabinetoffice.gov.uk