ADD2615 Employment Rights Programme

1.1 This decision is to approve £30,000 from the Social Integration Budget to support £105,000 already approved under MD2973 and £20,000 already approved under DD2576 bringing the total budget to £155,000 to deliver the Employment Rights Programme.

1.2 The programme aims to improve access to employment rights advice for migrant Londoners at risk or with experience of labour exploitation through a commissioned programme to train and support community and migrant organisations.

1.3 As part of the Mayor’s manifesto commitment to make London a fairer city to work in, the Mayor’s Employment Rights Hub was launched in October 2019. The Hub provides information and signposts to advice for Londoners experiencing a problem at work. The Employment Rights Hub remains a valuable resource to provide information to Londoners dealing with problems at work. Since January 2022 there have been over 107,000 views on the page, and a total of 268,000 views since its launch in 2019.

1.4 Earlier this year the GLA commissioned research from ClearView Research into the barriers that Londoners face when attempting to defend their employment rights. The intention was to understand how the GLA can build on the Employment Rights Hub to respond to some of the other barriers, beyond lack of awareness, that stop Londoners from speaking up about their rights at work.

1.5 The report, High Risk, No Reward: Resolving employment rights problems in London provided insights into the nature of employment rights breaches that commonly occur in London and the groups that are most affected by them. It also provided a series of recommendations that were co-designed with research participants for the GLA and other parties interested in supporting Londoners with their employment rights.

1.6 Key takeaways from the research and stakeholder engagement include:

i. A consensus that although the availability of information is important, people often find it difficult to navigate the information available and apply it to their specific circumstances.

ii. There is a need to empower local community organisations to support people to defend their employment rights. With the right tools and knowledge these organisations are best placed to support people to interpret their rights or signpost them to relevant places in order to get the support that they need.

iii. People from marginalised groups find it more difficult to defend their employment rights. For example, it is difficult for migrants with no recourse to public funds to reach out for help due to the perceived and actual risks of engaging with enforcement authorities. In addition, people from BAME backgrounds, women and those with disabilities find it more difficult to defend themselves when faced with a culture of discrimination in which it is unlikely that they will be taken seriously.

1.7 In response to the research, as well as engagement with the London Employment Legal Advice Network (ELAN), we have identified that training frontline community organisations to improve their knowledge of employment rights and ability to provide first-tier advice would provide culturally-competent support to help Londoners understand their rights and access justice.

1.8 Doing this through a collaborative project between the Financial Hardship Team and the Migration Team will enable us to have greater impact at scale, and benefit from the shared expertise across both teams.

1.9 An organisation or partnership will be commissioned to develop and deliver the training programme, establish the employment advice drop-in service and manage the community of practice. The GLA will coordinate and chair 6-weekly meetings with all partners and interested statutory and philanthropic funders, and will monitor and evaluate the project by requiring six monthly reports and an end-of-project report from the commissioned organisation.

2.1 The objectives of this funding are to:

i. Improve community organisations’ understanding and awareness of employment rights and relevant pathways to justice to better advise and support Londoners facing issues at work.

ii. Increase access to free and high-quality employment advice for underserved communities in London, including by strengthening signposting and collaboration among advice organisations.

iii.  Improve advice and support services addressing the intersection of migration issues and labour exploitation.

2.2 The activities and associated outcomes will be:

i. The supplier will develop and deliver a new structured programme to train frontline professionals to better identify and address employment issues. Training should include a robust module on how employment and immigration issues intersect to ensure migrant workers are able to access appropriate employment advice. The work will deliver training resources which can be re-used.  

ii. The supplier will establish an employment advice drop-in service in partnership with some of the trained migrant and community organisations to support them to identify and support clients facing employment issues. Work will provide ongoing casework supervision, second-tier advice, and bursaries to strengthen their capacity to participate. 

iii. The supplier will set up and manage a “community of practice” (e.g., online information channel, working group, resources etc.) to support all newly trained caseworkers to ask questions, share information, discuss signposting capacity, and promote continuous learning and development. 

iv. The GLA will coordinate Steering Group meetings every six weeks with all partners and interested statutory and philanthropic funders to discuss the project, challenges, lessons and opportunities for further support and collaboration. 

2.3 We will monitor and evaluate the project by requiring that the supplier provide six monthly reports:

i. To assess the delivery – these reports will include quantitative data on activity, engagement, and reach. For example: number of training days, attendees, drop-in advice clinics, clients, supervisory sessions, organisations, and individual advisers 

ii. To assess the impact of this delivery – the reports will also include outcomes of training, supervision activity, and advice/casework. For example: survey to measure change in adviser confidence and competence; number of clients accessing employment rights advice; development of casework as tracked through file reviews; direct outcomes for clients from casework such as improved conditions, settlements, etc.  

iii. To assess legacy of the work – the final report will compile stakeholder and end user feedback to gauge rights awareness and ongoing work. 

3.1 Equality is a key driver of the employment rights programme. Polling commissioned by the GLA and carried out by YouGov showed that Black and Asian Londoners in employment are more likely to have experienced both problems with time off work and being paid less than the minimum wage. In contrast, higher earners, White respondents and Londoners without a disability are least likely to have experienced a breach.

3.2 White Londoners also had greater awareness than any other ethnic group of organisations that offer support with employment issues, including ACAS, Trade Unions, Citizens Advice and mediation services. Higher earners were more aware of the national minimum wage than lower earners in London.

3.3 Given this picture, we are ensuring funding for organisations to develop expertise in employment legal advice is targeted to benefit groups of Londoners who are more likely to experience problems at work and less likely to access justice. This will include a huge diversity of local community and migrant organisations such as those run by and for Londoners who are Black, Asian, and/or from South East Asia, Hong Kong, Central Asia, Latin America, Roma communities, Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe (including countries outside the EU) and more.

3.4 Community and migrant organisations who participate in the training will be identified based on their expertise and experience supporting Londoners from marginalised and minoritised communities.

4.1 There are no known conflicts of interests or interests to declare associated with this decision. Drafting officers include secondees and individuals who have worked directly in the sector and robust conflict of interest procedures will be in place throughout the formal tendering process.

5.1 Approval is being sought for expenditure of £30,000 of the Social Integration budget to contribute to the programme approved under MD2973, which aims to build capacity and strengthen referral pathways and collaboration between the migrants and employment rights sectors, to better identify and support migrants facing labour abuse and exploitation.

5.2 The £30,000 expenditure is expected to be spent this financial year 2022-23 to fund the initial milestone payments for this programme.

5.3 There is sufficient budget to fund this £30,000 expenditure within the Social Integration 2022-23 budget.

​​​​​​​6.1 Set out how the project will be delivered and complete the outline timetable