At the end of 2016 the government asked Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society of the Arts, to lead the Independent Review of Employment Practices in the Modern Economy. The purpose of the review is to look into the ways in which employment practices need to change in order to keep pace with modern business models.

The Law Society has expressed the view that the time is ripe for government and public policy makers to build upon the current employment law framework to ensure that it is in tune with the evolving economy.

In their response to the Review, the Law Society has concentrated on two key legal aspects of the review:

• How to streamline the definitions around employment status, so it is easier for people to understand what rights apply to them;
• How enforcement can be improved so vulnerable people can gain redress if unscrupulous employers operate outside the employment law framework.

In their submissions, the Law Society make recommendations to ensure that employment law can create better workplaces. Their main recommendations are:

• There is an urgent need to reform how employment status is defined. The report suggests clearer definitions for the different employment statuses. All those in paid work must be given the assistance necessary to understand what rights they are entitled to, particularly those working outside of a written agreement. All those who pay for someone's labour need to know what responsibilities they have and what commitment can be demanded (page 6).
• The Director of Labour Market Enforcement should be able to conduct inquiries, in a similar manner to the Competition and Markets authority via their market studies tool, into sectors, or the application of employment legislation, when it believes there are systematic issues that need exploring (page 15).
• The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) should be given the responsibility to carry out an investigation to discover whether an organisation or group of organisations in a sector have correctly attributed employment status and clarified what rights and responsibilities exist. If an organisation disagrees with the GLAA's assessment, the matter should be referred to the Employment Tribunal (ET) for judgement (page 16).
• The government should immediately scrap the current ET fee system, which, since its introduction, has undermined people’s ability to enforce their employment rights. Applying fees to the ET should not be considered until the HM Courts & Tribunals Service modernisation programme is concluded (page 17).
• Organisations should be encouraged to be transparent about their employment practices, which will help to create fair competition and help level the playing field by ensuring that all businesses are fulfilling their legal obligations (page 18).

The Law Society's full submission to the Review can be downloaded here.