10 October 2014


Vince Cable has launched a ‘wide-ranging’ employment review to help clarify the employment status of up to a million British workers.

The review follows the recent review and upcoming legislation of zero hours contracts. The review proved that an increasing number of people are on employment ‘worker’ contracts, which provide fewer basic rights (e.g unfair dismissal, maternity pay) than ‘employee’ contracts.

The government claims it is unable to collect meaningful data as many workers are not aware of their employment status or employment rights. Furthermore, many employers are not aware of the rights of their employees, opening them up to legal challenges.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will review the current employment framework with the aim of streamlining the ‘complex’ area of employment rights relating to employee status.

Business Secretary Vince Cable, praising the ‘resourceful’ and ‘flexible’ approach to employment rights after the recession, has decided that it is time to treat employees properly again;

“However now the economy is firmly on the road to recovery, it is important that the fruits of the recovery are shared by all. Some types of contracts which offer fewer employment rights, and which were never designed to be widely used, have become much more commonplace. As the economy recovers, it is right to explore giving a silent minority of workers the security and rights enjoyed by the majority of employees. Confident, secure employees spend money, which is ultimately good for UK plc.”

Officials expect to present interim findings by the end of the year, and hope to submit recommendations for next steps to ministers by March 2015.



An in-depth analysis of the review will be released by the IER soon.