HR Review

Every undergraduate in England will be offered work-based learning as part of a new commitment aimed at improving graduate employment prospects and giving businesses access to recruits with more practical workplace skills. Universities UK (UUK), which represents 142 universities, has set an ambition for all undergraduates to have access to meaningful workplace experience by 2035, with an interim target of 50 percent by 2030.

Grant Thornton UK is pursuing ambitious growth plans, including the recruitment of 160 new partners over the next two years, and Abigail Fisher has been brought into a newly created chief people officer role to help ensure its people strategy keeps pace. She joined the professional services firm in February 2026 after 12 years at international law firm Eversheds Sutherland, where she progressed to HR director.

The system for signing young people off work with health conditions risks pushing them into long-term economic inactivity and damaging their employment prospects, government adviser Alan Milburn has warned. The former health secretary, who is leading an independent government review into youth worklessness, criticised the use of GP fit notes (previously called sick notes) during a visit to the Netherlands.

Grant Thornton UK is pursuing ambitious growth plans, including the recruitment of 160 new partners over the next two years, and Abigail Fisher has been brought into a newly created chief people officer role to help ensure its people strategy keeps pace. She joined the professional services firm in February 2026 after 12 years at international law firm Eversheds Sutherland, where she progressed to HR director.

Giving fathers six weeks of well-paid leave could increase UK economic output by £2.68 billion a year by helping more mothers remain in employment and work longer hours, according to an analysis of international evidence. Researchers at King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership reviewed 33 studies of paternity and parental leave reforms across Europe, Canada and the US, examining the economic and social effects when fathers are given their own protected period of leave.

What a modern operating model across HR, Finance and IT looks like. Organisational change is now part of business-as-usual for HR teams. Restructures, acquisitions and expansion into new markets are happening more frequently, putting greater pressure on HR operations. AI is accelerating the pace of change, making the ability to respond with confidence even more critical. Join HiBob to explore what it takes to help HR, Finance and IT manage frequent change with greater clarity and confidence.

McLaren is planning to create 1,000 jobs in the UK as part of a £450 million investment in its Woking technology centre, as the British supercar manufacturer expands its manufacturing and research operations. The investment will support manufacturing and research and development at the Surrey site, according to a report in the Financial Times on Wednesday, which cited two people with knowledge of the plans. The 1,000 roles are expected to include indirect and agency workers.

According to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report, just 10% of UK employees are engaged at work – below the European average of 12%, and half the global figure. Yet Engage for Success, established as a taskforce by the UK government, puts average UK engagement at 65% in its 2025 survey – the first rise since the pandemic. How can both be right? The uncomfortable answer is that they are measuring different things, in different ways, and calling both ‘engagement’.

More than 40 major retailers are offering thousands of work experience placements to young people who are out of work and education, as the industry aims to help 100,000 into retail jobs by 2029. A new Opening Shift programme will provide placements lasting between two and four weeks for 18 to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEET).

Occupational Health Assessment Limited has appointed Professor Alan Hawley as medical director and Dr Alice Penn as an occupational physician as the provider expands its clinical team. The Guildford-based occupational health provider said Hawley joined on 1 September and will oversee training, mentoring, audit and governance. He has specialised in occupational health for more than 20 years and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.