Author Archives: wonkypolicywonk

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About wonkypolicywonk

Wonkypolicywonk is a recovering policy minion, assigned wonky at birth.

ET awards: looks like we’ve got us a trend thingy

Six months ago, I noted on this blog that, in 2014/15, there had been a marked increase in the median awards for unfair dismissal or discrimination (the only jurisdictions for which the lackadaisical HMCTS bothers to record the relevant data). … Continue reading

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Enforcement of the NMW – a fair sport?

Earlier this month, the newly re-named Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS, formerly BIS) named & shamed another batch of 197 NMW rogues. With six months having passed since the last batch, in early February, BEIS was able … Continue reading

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What does the appointment of Liz Truss as justice secretary mean for the MoJ review of employment tribunal fees?

I’m sorry I haven’t a clue. Update (19 July): However, with the enforced departure from the MoJ this week of both slow-reading junior injustice minister Shailesh Vara and slightly less junior injustice minister Dominic Raab – who appeared to have … Continue reading

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Justice by Committee

No, it wasn’t the report we #ukemplaw nerds have been holding our breath for. We are still waiting for the Ministry of Justice’s report of its post-implementation review of the justice-denying employment tribunal (ET) fees introduced in July 2013. But … Continue reading

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Latest ET stats. Nothing to see, move along.

It would be nice if the latest set of quarterly employment tribunal (ET) statistics, published by the Ministry of Injustice today, provided some distraction from the imminence of World War III, the associated bonfire of all our employment rights, and … Continue reading

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71% of Acas research is rubbish

So, this week Acas published yet another ‘independent’ research report purporting to show how wonderful Acas is. It’s a dense and lengthy tome – 106 pages, not including the copy of its survey questionnaire – and, to convince you of … Continue reading

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NMW enforcement: has BIS kissed goodbye to £4m in financial penalties?

As noted on this blog in February, something very unusual went on with enforcement of the national minimum wage (NMW) in 2015/16, with both the total amount of NMW arrears recovered by HMRC and the number of workers benefiting from … Continue reading

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ET fees: Who said what to the Justice committee of MPs

With the report of the Ministry of Injustice’s internal review of the employment tribunal fees introduced in July 2013 having now been sitting on the desks of justice secretary Michael Gove and his intellectually-challenged junior minister, Shailesh Vara, for seven … Continue reading

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Lies, damned lies, and co-authored articles in the Guardian

In “The Truman Show” – the film in which the eponymous hero comes to realise he is living in a constructed reality television show – Truman Burbank first suspects his marriage is a sham when he finds a wedding photo … Continue reading

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NMW enforcement: curiouser and curiouser

To their credit – and that is not something I tend to say very often – Tory ministers appear to have been stung into action by revelations that large, profitable companies such as B&Q, Morrisons, Tesco and Caffe Nero are … Continue reading

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