The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has today responded to the Government’s Employment Status consultation on how to make rules for employment rights and tax clearer for individuals and businesses, as proposed by the Taylor Review on Modern Work Practices.
In its response to the consultation, the BBPA has expressed concerns over the breadth of proposals in the Taylor Review, advising that an improvement to the current structures in place to resolve disputes would be more suitable for addressing concerns around workers’ rights than legislation.
In particular, the BBPA has identified codifying employment status through legislation as too prescriptive, which would remove judges’ ability to adapt on a case by case basis. Likewise, the BBPA has also indicated that codifying employment status through legislation could create unnecessary uncertainty and costs for the industry, which continues to be burdened by excessively high beer duty and business rates.
To overcome these issues, the BBPA has suggested that the proposals outlined by the CBI for a ‘Fast Track’ scheme on ruling the status of employment would be best. This would enable those who wish to get a ruling on the status of their employment to do so quickly, without significant disruption to the current structures used to resolve employment disputes.
BBPA Chief Executive, Brigid Simmonds (pictured) commented, “As an industry that supports 900,000 jobs and a range of employment opportunities across the whole of the UK, brewers and pubs are key job creators for the nation.
“Although clarity is still needed from the Government on employment status, we prefer to build upon the strengths of the tribunal system. A ‘Fast Track’ scheme for ruling employment status would be best, meaning minimum disruption to the current structures in place to resolve disputes.”