ALT Having reduced low pay, the next frontier is raising job quality Progress on reducing low pay - from a fifth of the workforce to just 1% of workers aged 25+ - has not been matched action to tackle insecurity at work Strengthening employee rights will benefit mainly low-paid workers, including extending Statutory Sick Pay coverage to the 1.3 million lowest paid. 2.4 million workers who are anxious about surprise changes to shifts will gain new protections.
ALT Employment rights are about improving workers’ lives, not GDP growth While business groups claim the Employment Rights Bill will be damaging, the government says it will help solve the UK’s productivity problems. In reality, evidence suggests there will little economic impact in either direction. Countries that have reduced employment regulation have seen similar employment growth to other countries.
ALT Clocking in.. Plans to tackle hours insecurity include: 1) A new right to a contract reflecting the hours someone usually works 2) A new right to reasonable notice of shift patterns with compensation for short-notice cancellations However, details are being left for secondary legislation. We suggest ‘reasonable’ notice for shift changes should be set to 2 weeks. Shifts cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice should be compensated in full. These, along with other measures, will reduce workers’ anxiety.
ALT Tackling bogus self-employment The recent increase in Employer National Insurance has raised the employment status tax gap between employees and self-employed workers to 9% for a typical earner. This raises the risk of bogus self-employment - where workers are misclassified as self-employed to avoid tax and legal responsibilities. The Government must therefore complement stronger rights with stronger enforcement of the boundary between workers and the genuine self-employed.
ALT Ngunan Adamum on stage
