Biggest 'reset' for workers in a generation proposed in Taylor review
Matthew Taylor has defended his proposals to shape workers' rights in the gig economy against claims that they are "feeble".
Tuesday 11 July 2017 18:05, UK
A long-awaited review into Uber-style employment represents the biggest 'reset' for workers for a generation, its author has told Sky News - but critics say it does not go far enough.
Matthew Taylor, head of the Royal Society of Arts and a former adviser to Tony Blair, unveiled a series of proposals that aim to ensure all work is "fair and decent" and defended the review against critics who said it was "feeble".
The report was commissioned last year by Theresa May amid concerns about the practices of companies operating in the so-called gig economy such as Uber and Deliveroo.
It cites figures estimating that 1.3 million work in this part of the economy.
Mr Taylor told Sky News: "If all the recommendations are carried out - and that would be a hard and complex process and it will take some time - it will be the biggest reset of employment law for the most vulnerable workers that we've seen in a generation."
A key aim of the review has been to address fears about the treatment of those employed on zero hours contracts.
Mrs May, speaking at its launch, acknowledged that it was important to ensure that employers "do not use these contracts to exploit people".
She said the Government would study its recommendations carefully and respond in detail later in the year.
But Labour's shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said it missed the chance for major reform to help those in insecure work and could pave the way for a loss of rights for Uber workers that had been won in the courts.
The CBI said some of the proposals would be "of significant concern to businesses".
Mr Taylor's review calls for a new category of worker called "dependent contractor" to be created to bolster rights to sick pay and holiday pay, covering those who do not currently enjoy full employment rights.
Uber said in a statement that it would welcome "greater clarity in the law over different types of employment status".
Deliveroo said the review was a chance to make the law "fit for the 21st century" but warned that "any moves to restrict flexibility could undermine the very thing that attracts people to work in this sector".
The report also says workers should be given the right to request fixed hours and permanent contracts, though it stops short of calling for a blanket minimum wage right to be extended to them.
Instead it calls for two-way flexibility on pay, with companies having to pay at least the minimum wage in exchange for a contractor working during busy periods.
In addition, the review calls for a move away from "cash-in-hand" payments to tradesmen, addressing a practice thought to cost the Treasury £6.2bn a year in lost tax revenue.
Mr Taylor said the proposals aimed to help people told to be ready for work only to be told none is available or "who spent years working for a company on zero hour contracts but who without a guarantee of hours from week to week can't get a mortgage or a loan".
Others might feel that if they raised legitimate workplace concerns for fear they might be denied the hours "that they so desperately need".
Mr Taylor sought to reassure "good employers" that they had nothing to fear and said there was "nothing wrong with zero hours contracts" - but that they must not be used as a "lazy way" for companies for transfer risk onto the shoulders of their workers.
"Bad work - insecure, exploitative, controlling - is bad for health and wellbeing, something that generates cost for vulnerable individuals, but also for wider society," he added.
But TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady, said the review would prompt a "sigh of relief" from gig economy employers.
Thompsons Solicitors' chief executive Stephen Cavalier said the recommendations were "feeble and add another layer of unnecessary complexity".
Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors, said Mr Taylor had "got the balance right".
But Neil Carberry, CBI managing director for people and infrastructure, said: "Changes to the application of the minimum wage, rewriting employment status tests and altering agency worker rules could have unintended consequences that are negative for individuals, as well as affecting firms' ability to create new jobs."