A consultation document proposing to increase statutory annual leave from 20 to 28 days in the UK is expected shortly.

The Working Time Regulations 1998 will be changed so the statutory leave entitlement will increase from four weeks to 5.6 weeks, or 28 days for five-day week workers, and is expected to be capped at 28 days. Employers will be able to include public and bank holidays if they wish.

It is likely the increase will be effective from October 2007, and may be phased in. The additional days can be used flexibly, can be carried forward into a new leave year, or paid in lieu, or paid at a lower rate than the four weeks leave outlined by the directive, and be used to bring down working time averages for drivers if employers and employees agree.

Skills for Logisitcs

Skills for Logistics is to carry out detailed research into workforce diversity within road transport particularly identifying ethnicity, gender and age and barriers to recruitment. Currently, less than 1% of LGV drivers are female, 2% are from ethnic minority groups and only 3% are under 25. The research aims to find out why these figures are so low and how they can be improved upon.

SfL has also established that the driver shortage is diminishing following the publication of its annual UK survey of LGV driver employers. Figures for the driver shortage more than halved from last year's predicted shortfall of 46,000 to 15,000 in 2006/07, confirming that the introduction of the RTD has so far had little impact upon driver numbers; the number of overseas drivers entering the UK workforce rose faster than expected as a result of EU expansion and the continuing economic downturn is reducing the need for drivers.

Collective Redundancies

DTI is to amend regulations on collective redundancy consultation so that formal notifications are given to the secretary of state before any notice of dismissal is issued, in order to fully comply with the provisions of the EU Collective Redundancies Directive.

At present, employers have to notify the secretary of state when they are proposing to dismiss as redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days, or where it is proposed to make 100 or more employees redundant, the notification must be given at least 90 days before the first of the redundancies takes effect and where 20-99 redundancies are proposed at least 30 days before the first of the redundancies takes effect. Small employers will not be affected as they do not usually not come within the threshold of collective redundancies.

Driver CPC - Latest Details

The Driver CPC will be introduced in 2009 for lorry drivers. Following the recent consultation, the DSA has confirmed it will offer new entrants to professional driving the opportunity to acquire the driver CPC at the same time as they obtain their vocational driving licence. Drivers will have to keep their certificate valid by completing a total of 35 hours training every five years - there will be no additional test to take. Existing drivers will not have to pass the initial qualification, but will be subject to the five yearly periodic training requirement, although no test will be required.

The initial qualification for new drivers will be obtained by the driver passing detailed tests, comprising a total of four hours of theory testing and two hours of practical testing. These tests will be set at the equivalent of an NVQ Level 2 and are being developed by the DSA in conjunction with industry, including the RHA.

Driver CPC tests are being developed in a modular format that will enable them to be integrated with the current licence acquisition tests, but it will be possible to take the current licence acquisition driving test for trucks and vans separately from the CPC tests so that those who do not require a CPC and want to drive these vehicles in a non-professional capacity can do so.

If they decide at a later date they want to drive the vehicles on a professional basis, they will have to take the additional test modules to get a driver CPC. It will also be possible to work towards obtaining a CPC at the same time as taking national vocational training, providing the NVT lasts at least six months. The CPC tests will still need to be taken, but this option allows drivers to work professionally in the United Kingdom while working for their CPC, up to maximum of three years.

From 2007, the theory test part of the licence acquisition test will be extended to include more questions, so that all drivers of vehicles requiring a C or D licence will have a more rigorous assessment.