Labour Research March 2017

Law Matters

Employment status


Last month saw the publication of the review into the impact of new work models on employment practices ordered by prime minister Theresa May last October.


Employment status review (confusingly dated December 2015), is divided into three parts, dealing with self-employment, atypical contracts and a final section on the future. 


Overall, the review, published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (now known as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy), appears to kick the troubling issue of employment status into the long grass, concluding “it is not yet clear that fundamental reform is the answer”. It says that before any change can be undertaken, “a substantial amount of further work is required”. 


In a comment revealing of government priorities, the report suggests that issues relating to employment status could be addressed with “less radical reforms”. This would be “in order to preserve the high levels of flexibility in the current system”. 


https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/585383/employment-status-review-2015.pdf