What’s going wrong? Unlike in other countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Australia – which have one prominent organisation to enforce most employment rights – in the UK, the role is spread across six different bodies managed by six different government departments. This means workers don’t know where to go when they have a problem and the various regulators don’t share information as well as they could. They are also under-resourced: the UK has just 0.
There is something to be said for this. Most employers want to follow the rules and regulators can help them to do that. As a health and safety inspector explained to me once: “Most of the time I’m problem solving. I’ll stand with a director going, ‘I’m not happy with it. How are we going to fix it. How about if you do this?’”
This isn’t just a concern for big businesses. The Federation of Small Businesses has also said the current system “needs reform” to “support workers and ensure a level playing field for employers”.