Employment Status Update

It was widely misreported last week that workers in the gig economy now have additional employment protections.

The “Good Work Plan” which the government published on Wednesday 7 February indicates that the government intends to adopt many of the recommendations of last year’s Taylor Report into working practices. The Taylor report made many suggestions to tackle issues evolving out of modern working practices including flexible assignments within the gig economy, use of zero hours contracts and agency workers.

The government has announced it plans to implement numerous measures including helping to enforce workers sick pay and holiday rights, naming and shaming employers who fail to pay Employment Tribunal awards and aiming to increase minimum hourly rates of pay for zero hours workers. It is, however, unclear exactly how this will be achieved and when.

Some have described the announcement as lacking substance on many of the most crucial issues discussed in the Taylor report. The government intends to launch a number of consultations seeking views on legislation for these more complex areas such as defining employment status and protecting agency workers.

Whilst therefore this appears to be a positive step it is clear that the future remains uncertain. We will keep you posted on any further development as and when they occur.