Employment Status in the UK
Are you an employee, a worker, self-employed or something else?
Confusion surrounding the status of individuals at work has reigned for decades. HR professionals who have studied UK employment law will be very familiar with the judgement made in the case of Ready Mixed Concrete Ltd v Minister of Pensions [1968]; a case that continues to have huge influence in defining how individuals at work are treated today.
Matthew Taylor’s review of modern working practices was published in 2017 and successive administrations have promised to bring forward an Employment Bill but the mood music on that has fallen eerily silent. You can listen to Oven Ready’s interview with Matthew Taylor here: https://ovenreadyhr.com/stop-exploitation-of-gig-economy-workers-change-the-tax-system/
The Status of Workers Bill
Widely acknowledged as one of the country’s leading experts in UK employment law, Lord Hendy QC intends to end this confusion once and for all with the introduction of his Status of Workers private member’s bill currently on its 3rd reading in the House of Lords before making its way to the House of Commons. Lord Hendy’s bill seeks to create a universal status of ‘worker’ giving everyone in employment the same rights and protections and end the exploitation of the current system by organisations (many operating in the gig economy) keen to avoid both paying tax and their employment law obligations.
This is a wide ranging interview with one of the UK’s leading employment law experts and amongst other areas we cover:
A detailed overview of the current UK employment status legislation and why the system is broken;
How unscrupulous organisations have exploited the current system leading to the rise of bogus self-employment; in other words, individuals who have been stripped of the most basic of employment protections for financial gain;
Lord Hendy’s view on the conclusions and remedies in Matthew Taylor’s report and why they don’t go far enough;
A passionate explanation of how employment legislation should operate in a wealthy and civilised country;
Why the ban on ‘fire and rehire’ bill should be supported and his disappointment that the Government defeated it;
Resources:
Lord (John) Hendy QC
https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2876
Stop Exploitation of Gig Economy Workers? Change The Tax System!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/podcasthost/
Twitter: @OvenHr
https://www.personneltoday.com
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To listen to the full episode, download a transcript and view all the other Oven-Ready HR podcast episodes or find out more about Oven-Ready HR and Chris Taylor your show host visit https://ovenreadyhr.com
