The Government will be holding an inquiry focusing on the “rapidly changing nature of work, and the status and rights of agency workers, the self-employed, and those working in the ‘gig economy’”.
The inquiry by the Commons Select Committee on Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (previously BIS) will also look at issues such as low pay and poor working conditions for people working in non-traditional employee roles.
The latest statistics say that a record number of people – 4.79 million – are self-employed (July–August 2016), while 1.66 million people are employed on a temporary basis.
Terms of reference include the status and rights of agency workers, casual workers, and the self-employed (including those working in the ‘gig economy’), for the purposes of tax, benefits and employment law.
Comment: Clearly this is in response to the ever growing nature of flexible working arrangements and the devil will be in the detail but hopefully the Committee set up to hold this inquiry will endeavour to find a balance between protecting vulnerable workers, penalising the unethical employers yet still permit the UK’s flexible workforce to continue to thrive.
See the Case Law - Uber article here – a case which has most recently highlighted employment status and rights versus self-employment and sought to protect workers who are being exploited. However, it is equally important to note that many people choose to become self-employed and do not want or expect employment rights, nor do they feel exploited and therefore if the inquiry places too many restrictions that hinders the growth of the UK’s flexible workforce it could likely be economic suicide in my opinion.
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