Employment Edit: 16 January 2025

Minimum wage enforcement

The Low Pay Commission has published a report into compliance and enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW). The report, which you can read here, looks at the scale and nature of underpayment and sets out recommendations to the government on enforcement.

NMW enforcement is an area that is set to be reformed as part of the proposals set out in the Employment Rights Bill. A new single enforcement body, the Fair Work Agency, is set to be established to enforce certain employment law rights including the NMW, holiday pay and statutory sick pay. In the report, the LPC sets out its view that the creation of the Fair Work Agency represents a ‘significant opportunity to change the way workers think about state enforcement.’ To read more about the Fair Work Agency and other key employment law reforms, don’t forget to check out our handbook to the Employment Rights Bill and beyond.

Employment Rights Bill – EHRC briefing

Earlier this week, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published a briefing on the equality and human rights considerations raised by the Employment Rights Bill.

In the briefing, the EHRC shares its view that many of the measures in the Bill have the potential to reduce workplace inequalities and promote the right to just and favourable conditions at work. However, it also noted that the ability of Parliament and stakeholders to understand the potential cumulative implications of the Bill and to assess potential unintended consequences for some protected characteristic groups might be limited by the fact that much of the detail is set to be included in secondary legislation.

The EHRC recommends that further analysis be undertaken in relation to the proposed introduction of a new third-party harassment claim under the Equality Act. It suggests that the analysis should look at how to balance third parties’ rights to freedom of expression with employees’ protection from harassment, and should take into account the potential additional complexity that could arise where the third party is expressing a protected philosophical or religious belief.

MAC’s annual report

The Migration Advisory Committee recently published its annual report, which is available here. One of the notable conclusions in the report was the MAC’s assessment that the impact on immigration of proposed investment in skills will vary by sector and occupation. Megan Summers and Hayley Ainsworth have co-authored a blog post looking at this and other conclusions from the report