Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Employment lawEconomics, government & businessDepartment for Business and Trade (DBT)Latest NewsEmployment contracts

Matthew Taylor: ‘Government losing interest in reforms’

by Personnel Today 19 Feb 2021
by Personnel Today 19 Feb 2021 Matthew Taylor, interim director of labour market enforcement. Photo: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/PA Images
Matthew Taylor, interim director of labour market enforcement. Photo: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/PA Images

Matthew Taylor, whose contract as interim director of labour market enforcement expired last month, has said there is a ‘deafening silence’ from the government over employment reforms.

Taylor told the Guardian newspaper that reforms in areas such as zero-hour contracts and the gig economy, some of which were laid in his Good Work Plan of 2017 and were approved by the government, may have slipped from the agenda as the Conservatives had become uncertain about the way forward on labour laws because of the impact of Brexit and the Covid pandemic.

His comments came on the eve of a potentially landmark ruling by the UK’s Supreme Court on the future of the gig economy with a decision scheduled in the Uber v Aslam case on Friday 19 February.

Resources

Kwasi Kwarteng: workers’ rights review will not go ahead

The Good Work Plan: how should employers prepare?

Employees want increased flexibility after the pandemic

Mounting pressure to plug gaps in income support

Although the government had pledged to make the UK “the best place in the world to work” in the Queen’s Speech of December 2019 when the reforms were set out, its enthusiasm for the reforms had since wilted, Taylor told the Guardian.

The employment bill that had been pledged before the UK formally left the EU – was unlikely to be launched until late 2021 or even early 2022, government sources have stated.

Taylor told the newspaper: “We have seen a gradual but unmistakable deceleration of the government reform agenda in relation to good work. There was an initial enthusiasm but that has waned, and waned, and waned.”

He added: “I suspect they are caught in the horns of a dilemma, in that they have deregulatory instincts you would expect of a Conservative government.” Businesses were very unhappy about Brexit, he said, so ministers didn’t want to look as if they were adding extra burdens.

Taylor’s role as employment rights tsar remains vacant after his term expired in January. Around the same time, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng confirmed that a review of workers’ rights that may have removed some regulation, had been abandoned.

A government spokesman said: “We remain ​firmly committed to ​upholding high standards and to delivering legislation that ensures we have an employment framework that is fit for purpose in the 21st century.” He added that time for scheduling the bill was the key issue.

Pressure on the government to reform the labour market has also come from within the Conservative Party with the House of Commons women and equalities committee saying last week that the bill was vital for protecting female workers disproportionately hit by the pandemic. Caroline Nokes, the group’s Conservative chair, said it was important the bill arrived before the end of June.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Keir Starmer has stated that Labour must work more closely with business, giving it a key role in dealing with social responsibilities and the climate emergency. He said: “A fair society will lead to a more prosperous economy.”

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more human resources jobs

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
‘No jab, no job’ recruitment is legal says justice secretary
next post
Vaccinations: What are the challenges for global employers?

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Legal expert calls new holiday pay regulations ‘incoherent’

30 Nov 2023

Cruise giant accused of planning ‘fire and rehire’...

24 Nov 2023

Burges Salmon takes home 2023 Employment Law Firm...

21 Nov 2023

McDonald’s: How can employers prevent sexual harassment?

21 Nov 2023

Tesco equal pay test cases to move to...

17 Nov 2023

Minimum service levels: Work notices guidance published

16 Nov 2023

McDonald’s dismisses 18 staff following sexual harassment claims

14 Nov 2023

Unions accuse government of minimum service levels ‘red...

14 Nov 2023

UN watchdog urges action to prevent another P&O...

10 Nov 2023

Process of enshrining EU-derived worker protections into UK...

7 Nov 2023

  • How to spot and tackle imposter syndrome in the workplace PROMOTED | Half of all UK adults...Read more
  • BetterMe for Business: How to Build Wellness Culture at Work PROMOTED | Ever encountered a...Read more
  • Global growth with simple HR compliance (webinar) WEBINAR | In an increasingly global marketplace...Read more
  • Talent acquisition: How AI can complement a ‘back to basics’ approach PROMOTED | Artificial intelligence is now...Read more
  • What will it mean to be an HR professional in 2024? (webinar) WEBINAR | As we approach 2024...Read more
  • HR Budget Planning for 2024: Preparing your People Strategy PROMOTED | As organisations continue to adapt...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+