- More workers to gain access to the National Minimum Wage and
holiday pay.
- Proposals will also make it easier for 900,000 people to
access rights they should already be entitled to and improve the
rights of the genuinely self-employed.
- Measures set out as part of the government's Plan to Make
Work Pay
Over 900,000 people could benefit from new plans which include
measures to crack down on bogus self-employment, helping more
workers access protections like the National Minimum Wage and
holiday pay.
Bogus self-employment is a practice whereby some businesses
mislabel staff as self-employed to avoid statutory obligations.
However, the day-to-day reality is that many of these people are
treated as workers, not self-employed. External estimates suggest
that as many as 900,000 people may currently be affected by this
and could be missing out on core employment rights.
The proposals to be consulted on could provide greater clarity to
businesses and workers, levelling the playing field for those
businesses who are already doing the right thing and clamping
down on abuses. This could help workers such as parcel couriers,
delivery drivers, hairdressers and gig economy workers.
As part of the same measures, the consultation will propose
targeted new protections for people who are genuinely
self-employed, including a right to a written statement about
individual contracts they enter and extended protections against
the practice of blacklisting.
Business Secretary, said:
When loopholes are exploited, people are denied their basic
employment rights and businesses doing the right thing are
undercut.
These proposals are about creating fairness that works for
businesses and working people alike, while continuing to back the
flexibility and independence that genuine self-employment offers
The consultation launched today [14 October] will run for 12
weeks, closing on 8 January. Business, workers, trade
unions, self-employed representative bodies and others are
invited to respond via gov.uk with views. Ministers are
specifically keen on views on how this practice can be stopped to
bring fairness to the labour market whilst protecting, and
enhancing, the rights of the genuinely self-employed.
Notes to Editors:
