What should be the status and rights of agency workers, casual workers and the self-employed (including those working in the 'gig economy'), for tax, benefit and employment law purposes. 1.3 A particular issue for determining employment status is the burden of proof. Currently, there is no clear legal definition of self-employed status. I work in a pub where I was employed but then I was told I had to be paid as self employed because there wasn't enough work.
2.4 Citizens Advice research with people on non-standard contracts shows that currently this balance is not always achieved. Confusion about rights and status, together with challenges for employees to exercise them, has resulted in many workers feeling they have no choice or authority to how they work - and that therefore they experience uncertainty rather than flexibility. The interviewee's experience: The impact of non-standard contracts on family life Anna works in childcare and lives with her husband and children. 2.9 Both employers and employees will benefit from better practice regarding the use of non-standard contracts, which could help achieve a fairer balance between risks and benefits.
Develop and promote modern approaches to workforce and personnel management, with a particular focus on non-standard contracts. What specific provisions should there be for the protection and support of temporary workers and those who are not employed? responsible for such delivery – the government, the recipient of the work, a mutual, the individual himself?. We believe that employment rights need to be adapted so that they can continue to support the needs of those in non-standard employment.
Enforceable: streamlined, coherent options for individuals to protect their rights and report abuses
3.8 Finally, for fraudulent employers, non-compliance with the court system, including failure to pay any judgment entered against them, is a gamble that pays. Taking steps to improve access to EE and recovering EE prices is an essential part of the government's role in labor market enforcement. He was informed by one of the owners of the company that he did not have the money to continue. commercial. However, because the employer was not insolvent, he was not entitled to receive the full amount awarded.
Adaptive: Proactive monitoring of changing labour market trends and employment practices, to ensure we can maintain the balance between flexibility and basic
However, the current framework could be adapted to offer more of the most basic securities to those who are self-employed. Over the past year, Citizens' Advice has fought for safer self-employment and highlighted a number of areas where the self-employed could benefit from greater support. This immediately puts self-employed people who experience short periods of illness at a disadvantage compared to their employees.
Review whether Employment Support Allowance is an effective way of providing income for the eligible self-employed if they are unable to work because of this. However, even among self-employed people with a household income of more than £1,000 a week, only 24%. Pensions are meaningless for the self-employed - pensions are only worth having when your employer puts money in too.”
With a pension account you can't just withdraw your money.” Trevor, 61, leaflet deliverer, self-employed for eight years. If some of the policies and legislation [around pension schemes] are all made a little bit friendlier to include self-employed businesses, it would be good.” Government, pension providers and advisory bodies must increase information and advice to self-employed people about pension options.
Pension providers should expand flexible pension products that allow the self-employed to save at their own pace. Citizens Advice conducted interviews with a range of self-employed parents to explore the benefits and difficulties. Improved advice and guidance on business management and budgeting to ensure self-employed people are supported to plan and budget for time off and are aware of its importance.
Self-employed people will also be able to use this database to advertise their services if they are available to cover others. Citizens Advice carried out a series of in-depth interviews with self-employed people from across the country. Few self-employed people we spoke to had followed the classic, 'entrepreneurial' model, with a planned move into self-employment to realize a business idea.
Improving start-up advice and support could benefit many self-employed people who currently want advice but are unable to find organizations suitable for them.
Is there evidence that businesses are treating agency workers unfairly, compared with employees?
5.5 Illegal deductions: In theory, agency workers should experience no more problems with illegal wage deductions than other workers. However, we have found that some agencies may mislead agency workers about the deductions they face and sometimes do not include them in the agency worker's contract. However, by this stage the agency had been transferred to a holding company and was in liquidation.
5.6 Protection: Temporary workers are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if their income exceeds £112 per week and they are absent from work for four consecutive calendar days. If they have been there for less than 3 months, they must receive sickness benefit until the end of their disability, the end of the last assignment they worked on or the end of a future contract, placement or assignment, where this has already been agreed . 5.7 Unfair treatment: Although agency workers have clear rights to sick pay, our evidence shows that this right is often ignored. This is a common problem for the temporary workers we help at Citizens Advice.
This is a common problem among temporary workers. Research by Acas shows that many are afraid to assert their rights because they are often dependent on employment agencies. Employers often do not make it clear to temporary workers what conditions they are entitled to, and unscrupulous employers may even mislead their employees about this. Temporary workers, in turn, may be afraid to ask for better treatment, especially if they fear they will be left out of work.
Pay issues and unfair promotions are the most common agency worker issue reported to us by Citizens Advice staff. Agency workers' rights are an important component of ensuring that unscrupulous employers do not gain an unfair competitive advantage by exploiting Britain's flexible labor market. Regulation and enforcement have also not always kept up with agency practice—some agencies are finding ways to avoid their responsibilities, and agency workers are often ill-equipped to protect their rights.
He discussed the problem with his agency, but was told that he wasn't really in the same class as everyone else. There was no transparency over how the grading system was set up and it was difficult for Jonathan to prove that he was doing the same job as his colleagues.
Should there be steps taken to constrain the use by businesses of agency workers?
Improving the rights of agency workers
Should steps be taken to restrict companies' use of temporary workers? . – which could be called the Fair Work Authority – would have clear overall objectives and a comprehensive set of combined powers. It would fulfill both a proactive and a reactive function, monitoring trends in labor market organization and their likely impact on rights in the future, and working to enforce existing rights. A Fair Work Authority could proactively identify and tackle potential rogue employers and use public money more efficiently.
Our previous research found that more than four in five people with a problem at work are put off by the level of current employment law fees. By reducing the fees for 28 people to seek redress through an employment tribunal, the government could deter bad agencies from undermining the rights of temporary workers as well as make the system more accessible.
Identifying inappropriate use of insecure employment and encouraging good practice
Due diligence when choosing an agency
What are the issues surrounding terms and conditions of employees, including the use of zero-hour contracts, definitions of flexible contracts, the role of the Low Pay
What are the issues surrounding employee employment conditions, including the use of zero-hour contracts, definitions of flexible contracts, the role of Low Pay. I have the feeling that I am self-employed and that my employer would say 'no chance' if I asked for sick pay. Some of our interviewees expressed concern that their employers – or the line managers with day-to-day responsibility – simply did not understand the rights and entitlements of those on non-standard contracts.
She was aware that she should be entitled to maternity pay and when she asked, her line manager said he would look into it. She was concerned that her employer wanted to offer less maternity pay if she received it. However, the combination of lack of knowledge, unreliable contracts and some instances of poor practice and exploitation left many interviewees feeling unable to rely on the basic rights and security to which they were entitled.
7.7 Citizens Advice supported over 60,000 people who have experienced problems with their pay and rights at work over the last year - accounting for over a quarter of all our employment advice. We helped 14,000 people with issues directly related to their salary or payslip and we had over 200,000 views of our online advice for those struggling to get paid. We also regularly help individuals who have concerns that their pay is less than the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage; we helped 3,000 people in this area directly last year, with 90,000 hits to these advice pages on our website.
However, more needs to be done to fully address challenges with labor market enforcement. However, the National Audit Office also estimates that there were approximately 209,000 jobs in 2015 that paid less than the legal minimum, with particular issues in certain sectors; it has been proposed more than one in ten. He has 38 members of staff, all of whom are paid the "Living Wage" (ie the voluntary rate above the National Living Wage).
As discussed in this contribution, we believe that the current enforcement arrangements can be improved by reducing employment tribunal fees and streamlining the current arrangements. What is the role of unions in representing the self-employed and those who do not work in traditional employee roles?
