Author Archives: wonkypolicywonk

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About wonkypolicywonk

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

Cochlear implants: as told by Wonky Junior

Posted on February 25, 2018 by wonkypolicywonk

Today is international #CochlearImplantDay. If you’ve not heard of cochlear implants, they are an amazing technology that enables an increasing number of profoundly deaf children and adults to ‘hear’ sound, and so learn to communicate primarily by speech (often supplemented … Continue reading →

Posted in Disability | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Honey, I shrunk the NMW arrears

Posted on February 4, 2018 by wonkypolicywonk

As noted previously [Shurely ‘tediously’? Ed] on this blog, Tory ministers have not been slow to crow about their apparent success in fortifying HMRC’s enforcement of the national minimum wage (NMW) in recent years. In April 2016, the then business … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Mind the (Gender Pay) Gap

Posted on January 17, 2018 by wonkypolicywonk

While I don’t suppose it will protect me from accusations of ‘mansplaining’, I am going to preface this blog with two pre-emptive statements. Firstly, I am wholly committed to eliminating sex discrimination in the workplace, unequal pay, and the gender … Continue reading →

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

NMW enforcement: 500% of nothing is still nothing

Posted on January 5, 2018 by wonkypolicywonk

On 28 December, as I was travelling to Wet Wales for New Year, Sarah O’Connor of the Financial Times – surely the best employment correspondent of recent years, who has now moved on to a wider investigative brief – reported … Continue reading →

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

Minimum wage, minimum shame?

Posted on December 19, 2017 by wonkypolicywonk

On 8 December, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) named & shamed another 260 employers for non-compliance with the national minimum wage. Inevitably, press and media coverage of this round of naming & shaming – the 13th … Continue reading →

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

Wish you were here, Minister

Posted on December 8, 2017 by wonkypolicywonk

Batting for the ‘have nots’ rather than the ‘haves’, lefty policy wonks like me don’t get to claim many policy wins – we spend most of our professional lives banging our world-weary heads against very well constructed brick walls. I … Continue reading →

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

To name & shame, or not to name & shame, that is the question

Posted on November 9, 2017 by wonkypolicywonk

In August, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) named & shamed another 233 employers for non-compliance with the national minimum wage. Not surprisingly, press and media coverage of this round of naming & shaming – the 12th … Continue reading →

Posted in Workers' rights | Tagged , | 6 Comments

ET fees: the backlash starts

Posted on September 24, 2017 by wonkypolicywonk

The much belated but very welcome victory for common sense and the common law – the latter being a fairly straightforward legal concept seemingly long forgotten by the allegedly planet-sized brains in the High Court and Court of Appeal – … Continue reading →

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

ET fees: Supreme Court dumps on Clarke, Cable & Grayling

Posted on July 26, 2017 by wonkypolicywonk

🙏💻🙏📱🙏 👀💻👀📱👀 😀👀😄👀😃👀😆👀😝👀😂 🚫💷🚫 💥🎉👏🍸🍻🍷🎉🍺🎂🍸🍻 👏❤️💋 Supreme Court judges 💋❤️👏 👏👊😍 Adam Creme, Shantha David & Unison 😍👊👏 👏👊😎 Dinah Rose QC & Michael Ford QC 😎👊👏 👏👍😇 Caspar Glyn QC, Sean Jones QC, Darren Newman, Abi Adams & Jeremias Prassl 😇👍👏 😱⚠️ Ken Clarke, Vince Cable & … Continue reading →

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

Give me six. Why not?

Posted on July 7, 2017 by wonkypolicywonk

Extend the time limit for submitting an employment tribunal claim – from three months to six months – in cases of pregnancy or maternity discrimination. Hmmm. Yep, I was pretty sceptical when serious people – including Equality & Human Rights … Continue reading →

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