It will come as no surprise to trade unionists that despite minimum standards and increased penalties for employers breaching them, some workers in the UK remain vulnerable.
The Government also recognised some time ago that certain groups of workers were losing out on their employment rights and has now published the evaluation of two, separate, two-year pilot studies into the difficulties they face in a report published this month.
One pilot was based in London (City and Docklands) and focused on the cleaning and building services sector; the other was based in Birmingham and focused on the hospitality sector.
The pilots differed in terms of target sector and scope, structure and partnership model used, but both were designed to reach vulnerable workers and help them benefit from the employment rights to which they are entitled.
They each engaged in preventative work. This was work aimed at vulnerable workers and employers that would reduce susceptibility to employment rights breaches in the future, as well as direct action to help vulnerable workers and employers. The pilots ran for two years and were completed in March 2009.
The Government then commissioned Opinion Leader (a research consultancy) to undertake a process evaluation of the two pilots and to provide facilitative support during the pilots’ planning stage. A total of 105 interviews were carried out in five separate phases. Quarterly monitoring information was also collected.
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