Who said what to whom?
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, told the House of Commons in response to a question by his Shadow, Chuka Umunna, that he will deal with employment agencies that may be mis-selling accident protection insurance to people on their books.
What does it mean?
Umunna suggested that up to 100,000 workers might be affected by this practice, which reportedly involves employment agencies charging people unnecessarily for insurance and directly profiting from those sales. This is part of a wider problem relating to the exploitation of people in low-paid or insecure work.
While the political focus is on the minimum wage, only 4 per cent of workers in the UK are paid at that level. Other questionable practices may have a wider impact; for example estimates suggest that zero hours contracts affect up to 1m workers. By pledging to tackle the specific malpractice identified by Umunna, Cable is accepting that his colleague the Chancellor's new commitment to a higher minimum wage doesn't comprise a full strategy for improving the working experience during the economic recovery.
What could go wrong?
While it is possible to investigate specific examples either in litigation or through the political process, the small number of these may suggest that there is a wider issue in terms of enforcement of employment law. On the minimum wage itself, work by the Centre for London suggests that there may be up to 300,000 workers being paid below the statutory minimum, but there have only been two successful prosecutions of law-breaking, low-paying employers.
When will we know?
The Business Secretary didn't commit to a timeframe for resolving the issues raised by his opposite number. But, the wider question is if and when the Labour Party decides to challenge the government's record in enforcing employment law when it comes to the low-paid; that may prompt a similar level of scrutiny for the enforcement issues as we have seen recently for the minimum wage rate—and raise the political stakes for protecting people in low-paid or insecure work. This would be quite a turn around from two years ago when No10 commissioned Adrian Beecroft to review employment law with a view to reducing the burdens on business (and hence the protections for employees).
Commitment rating: 4
Vince Cable made the commitment sought by Chuka Umunna immediately, in contrast to many such pledges made in the Commons, which have to be painfully extracted painfully from the Minister at the despatch box. But, while Cable successfully fought off the Beecroft proposals and has since acted on zero hours contracts, the question is whether and when his commitment will broaden into setting out a new approach to the enforcement of employment law in general.
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, told the House of Commons in response to a question by his Shadow, Chuka Umunna, that he will deal with employment agencies that may be mis-selling accident protection insurance to people on their books.
What does it mean?
Umunna suggested that up to 100,000 workers might be affected by this practice, which reportedly involves employment agencies charging people unnecessarily for insurance and directly profiting from those sales. This is part of a wider problem relating to the exploitation of people in low-paid or insecure work.
While the political focus is on the minimum wage, only 4 per cent of workers in the UK are paid at that level. Other questionable practices may have a wider impact; for example estimates suggest that zero hours contracts affect up to 1m workers. By pledging to tackle the specific malpractice identified by Umunna, Cable is accepting that his colleague the Chancellor's new commitment to a higher minimum wage doesn't comprise a full strategy for improving the working experience during the economic recovery.
What could go wrong?
While it is possible to investigate specific examples either in litigation or through the political process, the small number of these may suggest that there is a wider issue in terms of enforcement of employment law. On the minimum wage itself, work by the Centre for London suggests that there may be up to 300,000 workers being paid below the statutory minimum, but there have only been two successful prosecutions of law-breaking, low-paying employers.
When will we know?
The Business Secretary didn't commit to a timeframe for resolving the issues raised by his opposite number. But, the wider question is if and when the Labour Party decides to challenge the government's record in enforcing employment law when it comes to the low-paid; that may prompt a similar level of scrutiny for the enforcement issues as we have seen recently for the minimum wage rate—and raise the political stakes for protecting people in low-paid or insecure work. This would be quite a turn around from two years ago when No10 commissioned Adrian Beecroft to review employment law with a view to reducing the burdens on business (and hence the protections for employees).
Commitment rating: 4
Vince Cable made the commitment sought by Chuka Umunna immediately, in contrast to many such pledges made in the Commons, which have to be painfully extracted painfully from the Minister at the despatch box. But, while Cable successfully fought off the Beecroft proposals and has since acted on zero hours contracts, the question is whether and when his commitment will broaden into setting out a new approach to the enforcement of employment law in general.
