Author Archives: wonkypolicywonk

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About wonkypolicywonk

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

Paying the (s16) penalty. Or not, as the case may be.

Posted on March 5, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Back in January, I noted on this blog that, since the provision came into force in April 2014, only 11 penalties had been imposed on employers under section 16 of the Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Act 2013, and that only … Continue reading →

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Ice-cold in Calais

Posted on February 18, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

This morning I was up early to accompany Green Party leader Natalie Bennett and London Assembly member Jenny Jones as they visited a ‘bunch of migrants’ (© David Cameron) in the Calais refugee ‘camp’ known – seemingly with good reason … Continue reading →

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Minimum wage enforcement, the Tory way

Posted on February 15, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Something very unusual has been going on with enforcement of the national minimum wage. As the following table shows, over the past five years HMRC has recovered an average of £3.9 million in arrears for an average of 23,147 workers. … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Don’t panic, Mr Boles!

Posted on February 12, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Scene: The private office of BIS skills minister, Nick Boles. Civil servant (breathlessly): “Ah, minister and permanent secretary, I’m glad I’ve caught you both. We have a situation.” Minister: “What, trouble in the City?” Civil servant: “No, minister, the City … Continue reading →

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BIS, you cannot be serious!

Posted on February 5, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

So, with markedly less media hoo-ha than on previous occasions, BIS today ‘named & shamed’ another 92 employers for breaching the national minimum wage (NMW). The relative dearth of national media coverage may reflect the absence from this tranche – … Continue reading →

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Another Coalition miss from the penalty spot?

Posted on January 26, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

With the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) having recently confirmed that it is set to commence section 150 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 – which provides for the imposition of financial penalties on respondent employers … Continue reading →

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Employment tribunal fees: All you need is Gove

Posted on January 23, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

With almost four months having passed since Ministry of Injustice officials dumped their ET fees review report in the intray of the nation’s slowest reader – junior injustice minister Shailesh Vara MP – and two months having passed since the justice … Continue reading →

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Modest Vince and his modest reforms

Posted on January 19, 2016 by wonkypolicywonk

Call me weird, but if I was Vince Cable, I wouldn’t go around bragging about how I “blocked” attempts by George Osborne to “set a high minimum wage” – as Sir Vince does in his near unreadable tome about how … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments