Closed call for evidence

Labour Market Enforcement Strategy 2023 to 2024: call for evidence

Published 13 April 2022

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General Information

Call for evidence details

Issued: 13 April 2022

Respond by: 31 May 2022

Enquiries to: LMEDirectorsoffice@beis.gov.uk

How to respond

Email to: LMEDirectorsoffice@beis.gov.uk

Confidentiality and data protection

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Quality assurance

This consultation has been carried out in accordance with the government’s consultation principles.

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Introduction

This call for evidence sets out the issues on which Margaret Beels, the Director of Labour Market Enforcement, seeks evidence to inform her strategy for 2023 to 2024.

The Labour Market Enforcement Strategy for 2023 to 2024 is due to be delivered to government in autumn 2022.

• written feedback on these questions and any relevant evidence that you may wish to bring to our attention by 31 May 2022; and/or
• stakeholder engagement (round table meetings and partner visits) to hear views and evidence from stakeholders directly, scheduled for June 2022

Further details on the stakeholder engagement planned for June will be issued in due course.

Should partners wish to host a roundtable that the Director and/or ODLME officials can attend to discuss any of these issues this would also be welcomed. We are especially keen to hear the views of workers themselves.

Background

The UK economy and labour market continues are facing significant challenges from a variety of perspectives including economic and political challenges (COVID-19; the Ukraine crisis), technological change (eg gig economy working; the rise in online recruitment) and impacts from changes in policy (eg Brexit; off payroll working).

My interim LME Strategy 2022/23 (publication forthcoming) identified a number of areas, where I believe there are or may be heightened risks to labour market non-compliance. This call for evidence seeks information about a number of these areas and provides an opportunity for respondents to draw to my attention evidence that they have of other areas where they observe significant risk of worker exploitation.

I am seeking stakeholder evidence on emerging issues around compliance and enforcement in the UK labour market.

• evidence of the scale and nature of the labour non-compliance threat, including whether it varies across the UK
• challenges in terms of compliance and enforcement for the 3 enforcement bodies under my remit (HMRC NMW; GLAA; EAS).
• views and ideas on how some of these challenges may be overcome

Structure of the call for evidence

This call for evidence is structured in 2 sections:

Section 1: About you

Section 2: Questions relating to the emerging non-compliance threats

It is not expected that you answer every section, or every question. You are of course welcome to submit any documents (eg research, reports or media articles) to which you refer in your evidence.

We may wish to quote evidence received in the published strategy to support its conclusions and recommendations and will attribute these to the individual or organisation that supplied it, unless we are explicitly asked not to do so. Accordingly, please highlight whether any of the information you submit is of a sensitive nature or if you wish to remain anonymous.

Please send your evidence to: LMEDirectorsoffice@beis.gov.uk by Tuesday 31 May 2022 and feel free to contact the office at the same address if you have any questions.

Call for evidence questions

Section 1

Please briefly tell us about you / your organisation and your interest in enforcement of labour market regulations.

Section 2 - Key areas

1. Recent changes in how UK labour market is operating

For instance since the end of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), changes in employment status (eg, the shift away from self-employment following IR35 rules changes) increases in job vacancies.

1a. What changes have you observed or experienced?

1b. How might these changes impact non-compliance and is this likely to grow or subside over the coming year (2022 to 2023)?

1c. What response have you observed by the enforcement bodies to identify and address these issues?

2. Workforce

Looking at the experience of people engaged in or available for work, either in a specific geographical location or in a particular firm or industry sector.

2a. What has been the experience of workers arising from changes to the labour market? Please provide specific evidence.

2b. Have changes in the immigration rules in 2021 impacted on workers’ experience and has this differed between migrant or domestic workers?

2c. Are these impacts consistent across the board or do they vary by sector? If the latter, then how?

2d. Is there any evidence to suggest additional threats to workers associated with labour shortages?

3. Workforce Engagement

Looking at evidence of how workers gain understanding and enforce their employment rights.

3a. What examples can you share of initiatives that have assisted workers to understand and enforce their rights – particularly as regards harder to reach workers?

4. Business Engagement

Various mechanisms initiated or supported by the enforcement bodies encourage, influence and embed good practice, eg Responsible Car Wash Scheme, Construction Protocol and the Apparel and General Merchandise Public/Private Protocol, The National Minimal Wage Naming Scheme and the Good Business Charter.

4a. What impact do you think these interventions have had? ie are they effective?

4b. Why? What would make them more effective?

4c. Are there any other examples of good practice? These can be drawn from across the regulatory landscape.

5. Recruitment

5a. What changes have you observed to recruitment patterns and practices. For example, online recruitment and offshore recruitment.

5b. Do any of these trends you observe raise concerns about compliance?

5c. Do you have any evidence to share in respect of recruitment fraud?

6. Employment models

What evidence can you present as regards compliance of newer models of employment – for example gig economy workers, employment through umbrella companies*, joint employment models**

6a. Do you have evidence of these being associated with worker exploitation?

6b. Do you have evidence of other employment models that might give rise to compliance concerns?

*Umbrella company is a term used for company that employs a temporary worker (an agency worker or contractor), often on behalf of an employment agency. The agency will then provide the services of the worker to their clients. Umbrella companies do not find work for the workers they employ.

**Joint employment model: An example of this is an employee formally employed by one employer the (primary employer) may be deemed constructively employed by another employer (secondary employer) for example an employer and a contractor or subcontractor performing services for the employer or a staffing agency providing employees to the employer.

7. Enforcement resourcing

All 3 enforcement bodies engage in educational activity, promotion of compliance, enforcement and support to workers.

7a. What assessment do you make of how these 3 bodies operate?

7b. Provide evidence and examples of best practice to address labour market non-compliance that you would like to highlight to the Director?

Other issues

8. Over and above the issues raised above, are there any other relevant issues you would like to bring to my attention for this strategy? For instance, effectiveness of labour market enforcement and how this could be improved, allocation of resources and good practice that can be drawn from across the regulatory landscape.