Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.
Deliveroo
iStock_ AdrianHancu_AW

Taylor made: Jobs tsar warns against rash changes

by
12th Oct 2017
Save content
Have you found this content useful? Use the button above to save it to your profile.

Matthew Taylor, the eponymous author of the Taylor Review on the gig economy, cautioned MPs against sudden changes to on-demand working.

Taylor was commissioned by Theresa May to investigate the working conditions of the gig economy. In his highly anticipated report published in July, Taylor recommended that gig economy workers be classified as “dependent contractors”.

This would be a new framework to cater for the casual nature of gig economy work. These dependent contractors would not be employees, but they wouldn’t be genuinely self-employed, either. The new category would be entitled to a more limited set of workers’ rights, including the minimum wage, holiday and sick pay. Taylor’s recommendations would necessitate creating a brand new dependent contractor status test.

The key now, Taylor said, is finding the best way to instantiate these ideas without alienating workers and consumers.Taylor warned that suddenly introducing the National Minimum Wage for gig economy workers would effectively wipe out the sector.

The solution, according to Taylor, is not to wipe out a popular commercial and lifestyle option. Instead, in a nod to Richard Thaler, the former policy adviser to Tony Blair advocated for a “nudge” approach to gradually ameliorate the on-demand sector’s negative traits.

Taylor explained that his circumspection was motivated by two factors. First is the wild popularity of these services among consumers. Transport for London, for instance, weathered an onslaught from irate Londoners when it recently banned Uber from operating within the City.

Secondly, Taylor told MPs, was that flexible working was popular among many workers. A move to a formal shift system would not suit many on-demand workers. "If Uber drivers, Deliveroo couriers, on-demand workers, are classified as workers and get the minimum wage, we will probably have to end on-demand work," Taylor said. 

But Taylor’s ideas did meet some resistance from MPs. Rachel Reeves, chair of the BEIS committee, called the dependent contractor designation a “slippery slope” and said the plan would be a regulatory nightmare. Meanwhile, the work and pensions committee chair Frank Field said the government was not prepared to consider exceptions to the national minimum wage legislation.

Replies (2)

Please login or register to join the discussion.

avatar
By chatman
12th Oct 2017 17:18

I'm prepared to be torn to shreds, but could you have some sort of formula by which, if other criteria were also met, a self-employed gig-economy worker would accrue employee rights, eg total number of hours worked over a period would trigger employee rights accruing from the next hour worked within a defined period?

Thanks (1)
avatar
By Akrigg
13th Oct 2017 10:48

All interesting stuff.

Not entirely convinced by the idea that working for less than the NMW is a "popular lifestyle option" with many people.

Thanks (2)