Exclusive: Campaigners say millions are missing out on key rights including sick pay and protection against unfair dismissal
Andy Burnham is being urged to protect 4 million gig economy workers by prosecuting companies that use widespread “bogus” self-employment practices to deny people their rights.
As the prime minister fleshes out his agenda, the Fabian Society and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have warned that millions of workers are missing out on key statutory rights including parental leave, redundancy pay and protection against unfair dismissal.
Publishing a joint report calling on Burnham to take action, the Labour-linked thinktank and the anti-poverty charity said changes were essential to make work pay amid the cost of living crisis.
The report calls on the government’s Fair Work Agency – launched in April as a powerful watchdog for workers’ rights – to use its civil proceedings powers to prosecute companies suspected of engaging in “widespread bogus self-employment”.
It also urges ministers to push ahead with changes to employment law to combat longstanding misuse of the system.
Britain’s employment laws are unusual among leading economies for including three classifications of employment status. An employee has the most rights and responsibilities, while a self-employed person has limited protections but fewer obligations. There is also an intermediate “worker”, or “limb (b)” status, with fewer rights and obligations than a full employee.
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