Businesses will be under increasing scrutiny over working conditions after the government launched a scheme to crack down on rogue employers.
As part of the new scheme, a helpline will be introduced for vulnerable workers to report abuses to the government’s workplace enforcement agencies.
A new board will be established to co-ordinate the work of the groups that ensure firms keep to the rules on the treatment of staff including HMRC, the Gangmasters’ Licensing Authority (GLA) and the Health and Safety Executive.
An information campaign will then be launched later this year to raise awareness of employment rights issues and to encourage workers to report abuses in the “dark corners of the labour market”.
“We want to prevent unscrupulous employers who undercut honest competition and prey on people who are fearful or so desperate to earn a living that they are open to exploitation,” continued employment relations minister Pat McFadden.
Unions welcomed the move but said the government had missed a vital opportunity to extend the coverage of the GLA. Brendan Barber of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) wanted the GLA’s remit to be extended to cover care workers, and the construction and hospitality sectors.
The government has also disappointed the TUC with its reluctance “to examine a legal loophole that deprives many workers for gaining the status of an employee, which stops their entitlement to many rights and allows an employer to sack them with no comeback if they attempt to enforce the limited rights they enjoy,” according to Barber.
Neil Carberry, head of employment at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) welcomed the new scheme: "New laws and regulations do little to tackle unscrupulous firms, who simply ignore the law while they undercut law-abiding businesses. This package of reforms will not increase the burden for honest businesses, but will help protect workers who are being denied their employment rights."
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