Publication of Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2018/19
11 May 2018
The Director of Labour Market Enforcement has published his first full Strategy for 2018/19. The Strategy sets out 37 recommendations to help stop the exploitation of vulnerable workers. There have been many changes to the labour market during the last 40 years and due to this it was realised that labour market laws and regulations were not being fully enforced.
The Director undertook a public consultation in summer/autumn 2017 to help form the Strategy. The approach that was taken builds on the strategic enforcement framework that has influenced enforcement policy in countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia in recent years. The framework is based on four principles:
-
Prioritisation: action from enforcement bodies needs to be informed by an understandingof the probable severity of problems across sectors, both in terms of frequency and level of harm;
-
Deterrence: the threat and perception of the likelihood of investigation and enforcement must proactively spur employers into compliance;
-
Sustainability: enforcement must have a long-term effect on employer behaviour
-
System-wide effects: each layer of an industry must be affected by enforcement, sometimesusing sector-specific levers.
Below highlights some of the Strategy’s key recommendations that came out of both the consultation and other work carried out by the Labour Market Enforcement office over the past year:
-
HMRC NMW/NLW team should develop a more supportive approach when companies ask for advice in order to be compliant.
-
A statement of rights should be made mandatory for all workers from within week one of employment commencing. The Government should develop a template for the written statement of employment to ensure transparency in information provided, and to reduce the burden on business.
-
The right to a payslip should be extended to all workers.
-
For hourly paid workers, there should be mandatory inclusion of total hours worked and hourly rate of pay on payslips.
-
HMRC, or another appropriate state body, should be provided with the powers and remit to take responsibility for the enforcement of holiday pay for all workers, including mechanisms to recover holiday pay arrears.
The full Strategy report is available to read here.