New Director of Labour Market Enforcement appointed

Margaret Beels has been appointed as the new Director of Labour Market Enforcement, effective as of 22 November. In this role, she will oversee an assessment of the scale and nature of breaches, both accidental and intentional, of regulatory requirements in the labour market. This will include oversight and direction of the 3 existing labour market enforcement bodies:

• The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS)
• The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA)
• HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Team

Margaret Beels' background lies in labour market enforcement, and she has previously served as Chair of the GLAA.

The REC looks forward to working with Margaret Beels to ensure that compliance and enforcement in the UK labour market are able to operate effectively and responsively. The REC has written to Margaret Beels offering our congratulations and support, but also setting out some of the key areas for collaboration that need to be addressed in the labour market. These include:

• The introduction of a Single Enforcement Body (SEB) combining the remit of the current GLAA, EAS and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage teams.
• Changes to the employment status of employees and temporary workers to align the meaning of employee status for the purposes of employment rights and tax.
• Introduction of ways to end unfair working practices such as compensation for shift cancellations, and the right to request a stable working pattern

Moving forward the REC would like to see more clarity around the future of workers’ rights and the protection that workers must be afforded to ensure the UK workforce is operating as effectively as possible. Where there is uncertainty around worker's rights, we are keen to work with the DLME to establish who is responsible for these and set out clearly a plan for how stakeholders can engage in the process to achieve this change.