Author Archives: wonkypolicywonk

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About wonkypolicywonk

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

Brexit and workers’ rights: Give me a break!

Posted on April 16, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

The already hyperbolic ‘debate’ around the likely impact of Brexit on UK workers’ rights got significantly sillier this week, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn using his Big Speech on Europe to warn of a “bonfire of [workers’] rights” should Britain … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

New research: 95% of journalists don’t know their **** from their elbow

Posted on April 7, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Confirmation bias was much in evidence earlier this week, when a small tsunami of press and media reports of a new ‘research’ report by My Family Care on the little-loved Shared Parental Leave – and in particular the report’s headline … Continue reading →

Posted in Equality | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Putting Shailesh Vara in context (condensed)

Posted on April 6, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

I’ve been feeling bad that my last post was a tad, well, unreadable. So this is the condensed version. With charts (see, I do love you, Gem). So, the question is: Has the introduction of Acas early conciliation been (a) … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice, Workers' rights | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Phantom menace: ET fees & Acas early conciliation

Posted on April 4, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

As previously noted on this blog, I have been resisting the urge to write about the feeble performance of the imbecilic junior injustice minister, Shailesh Vara MP, when giving oral evidence on the impact of employment tribunal (ET) fees to the Justice … Continue reading →

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ET cases: going down. ET awards: going up.

Posted on March 31, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

A new Acas research paper – Managing conflict in the contemporary British workplace, published this week – includes some interesting, if not entirely surprising, findings on the impact of the hefty employment tribunal (ET) claimant fees introduced in July 2013. … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Brexit & workers’ rights. Meh.

Posted on March 29, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

A few weeks ago, I turned down the offer of a freelance assignment: an article on the implications of Brexit for UK employment law. Well, the day job is pretty busy, and frankly the subject matter didn’t float my boat. … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

How soon is now? Ministry of Injustice needs more time to work out the bleedin’ obvious.

Posted on March 26, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Two months ago, I was daft enough to venture on this blog that Michael Gove – everyone’s favourite justice secretary – might be close to concluding his Ministry’s snail-like review of the justice-denying employment tribunal fees introduced in July 2013. … Continue reading →

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Workers thank their lucky stars for the Workers’ Party. Oh, hang on …

Posted on March 16, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Every now and then, someone in the Labour Party has a pop at the Tories for not prosecuting enough employers for breaching the national minimum wage. When he was shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna was not averse to skating on this … Continue reading →

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Oh look, another set of ET claim statisti …. zzzzzzzzzzz

Posted on March 10, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Warning: This post contains selected statistics, taken in isolation and out of context         (© Shailesh Vara, junior injustice minister and officially the nation’s slowest reader) So, today the Ministry of Injustice coughed up the latest set … Continue reading →

Posted in Justice | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

NMW enforcement: what the **** is going on, Mr Boles?

Posted on March 8, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

“Our policy of naming and shaming employers who ignore the law means there are consequences for their reputation as well as their wallets.” So said BIS Minister Nick Boles in February, when naming & shaming another 92 employers for non-compliance … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , , | Leave a comment