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Job vacancies have hit a record high as the economic recovery continues, according to official figures and a recent article by the BBC.

The number of vacancies in the three months to August rose above one million for the first time since records began in 2001.

Figures also showed employee numbers were back at pre-Covid levels in August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

August payrolls showed another monthly increase of 241,000 to 29.1 million.

Business groups said, however, despite the return of staffing levels to pre-pandemic rates there remained high demand for more staff, and there was a risk labour shortages would dampen growth.

What’s happening to those people on furlough?

The ONS deputy statistician, Jonathan Athow, said: “Early estimates from payroll data suggest that in August the total number of employees is around the same level as before the pandemic, though our surveys show well over a million are still on furlough.”

But Mr Athow pointed out that the recovery was not even, with areas such as London and sectors like hospitality and the arts still down.

The ONS also cautioned that young people had been badly affected by job losses.

“The overall employment rate continues to recover, particularly among groups such as young workers who were hard hit at the outset of the pandemic, while unemployment has fallen,” he said.

Overall, the unemployment rate fell from 4.7% to 4.6% in the three months to July.

‘Acute hiring crisis’

Siren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce said, however, that firms were currently facing an “acute hiring crisis”.

“With Brexit and Covid-19 driving a more deep-seated decline in labour supply, the end of furlough is unlikely to be a silver bullet to the ongoing shortages,” he said.

“These recruitment difficulties are likely to dampen the recovery by limiting firms’ ability to fulfil orders and meet customer demand.”

The food and accommodation sectors saw the biggest jump in the number of jobs available in August, increasing by 57,600.

Some companies in the food industry, which has already seen a shortage of fruit pickers and lorry drivers, have been unable to provide normal service recently.

Supermarket bosses have also warned that it is vital to fix the labour shortage problems before key trading over the Christmas period.

Dairy giant Arla, meanwhile, has also had to cut back on milk deliveries to supermarkets because of the driver shortages.

And Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, warned that there could be more pain to come.

“While the pressure should ease as more people look to return to work and the furlough scheme ends, the UK labour market is set to remain choppy with vacancies taking time to fill due to skills shortages and reduced availability of overseas workers,” she said.

Sam Alberti  in an article in Accountancy Age writes that Government proposals to establish a new professional body for corporate auditors have been dismissed as “a costly distraction” and “career limiting” by the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Association for Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

As part of the government’s wider crackdown on audit in the UK, the plans were outlined in a whitepaper published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) earlier this year. A four-month consultation period followed, concluding on July 8.

According to the whitepaper, a new professional body could help to raise the status of corporate auditors and reinforce their public interest obligations.

“The existing recognised qualifying bodies and supervisory bodies already deliver a profession that clearly and distinctly supports auditors, drives high audit quality and is inclusive for wider corporate auditors,” said the ICAEW in its official response to the whitepaper.

“Establishing a separate professional body for corporate audit risks reducing the attractiveness of entering the profession and obtaining a high-quality qualification which is a source of UK global competitive advantage.”

The response also notes that the ICAEW is prepared to develop its qualifications and training infrastructure in line with the government’s reform objectives. This, it argues, would further nullify the creation of a new professional body.

ACCA’s response to the consultation offers further criticism, asserting that, while the idea of expanding audit aligns with its own research findings, funding a new professional body dedicated to audit would “not be in the public interest”.

“It is not in the public interest to publicly fund a specialised professional body, either through the UK government or the new profession when the demand for corporate auditor services has not been tested.

“Whilst there is likely to be a wider demand for accountants and auditors in this space, ACCA does not believe that a new, distinct professional body is required to facilitate this.”

The response goes on to highlight the training, qualification and personal development infrastructure that ACCA already provides, arguing that the duplication of this would be unnecessary.

Perhaps most importantly, the ACCA response condemns the “separation” of corporate audit from accountancy, which it argues would be the consequence of establishing a new professional body for audit.

“We do not consider that the case has been made to separate auditing as a profession from its existing roots in the accountancy profession.”

Among other things, ACCA argued that this new commitment to a separate profession could be “career limiting” and “less attractive to young talent”.

Comments published by the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors (CIIA) also reject the proposal. It argues that the establishment of a new corporate auditing body could have “unintended consequences” for internal audit by duplicating its remit and responsibilities.

“We do not see it as being necessary or desirable to set up a completely new corporate auditing profession with a new dedicated professional body,” it said.

“If it were deemed there was value in establishing a ‘corporate auditor’ qualification, a far more effective and better mechanism for delivering this would be for the existing relevant professional bodies to provide this.”