Ministers withhold key information about Land Registry plans

Ministers are withholding key information about their plans for the Land Registry, the Public and Commercial Services union says.
This means the government's consultation on planned changes to the agency is flawed and it will be impossible for the public and businesses to reach an informed view, the union says.
In its submission to the consultation sent today (19th February), the union adds the government has failed to say why the changes are proposed, and notes the Land Registry has a customer satisfaction rating of 98%, operates at no cost to the taxpayer and made £98.8 million last year.
The union is concerned that proposals to turn the registry currently run as a self-financing civil service 'trading fund' into a government-owned company is a first step towards full privatisation.
Detailed information about a new operating model including proposed changes to the size and shape of the organisation is missing from the consultation document, however, and to date ministers have refused the union's requests to publish it.
The union has written to business secretary Vince Cable to ask him to make the full plans public.
Other issues the union raises in its submission include:

- The risks and disadvantages of running the 150-year-old system of land registration for profit, instead of as a public service, and the implications for data security

- Grave concerns about the Treasury losing control over what surpluses can be retained and what can be done with them

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Not only have ministers failed to make the case for change, they are withholding key information and denying the public and businesses the chance to reach an informed view.
"Far from being the most transparent ever, this looks more like smoke and mirrors from a government preparing to gift a trusted 150-year-old institution to a private company."

For further information contact:

Tony Conway
PCS Industrial Officer
Group Secretary Land Registry Group
0121 643 4342
Mobile: 07803501639

Encouraging news for job seekers but those already in work have less to cheer about

Commenting on the latest labour market figures published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“These are encouraging figures for the millions of people desperate for work. It is good that unemployment levels continue to fall, and that young people are finally beginning to share in the improving jobs market.

“But people already in work have less to cheer about with prices still rising twice as fast as wages. While we have a record proportion of women in employment the widening gender pay gap means many women are not getting the fair pay they deserve.

“Jobless levels are falling but there’s a long way to go before we see the rates of pay and employment enjoyed before the recession.”

Britain needs a pay rise – TUC mass demonstration in the autumn

This autumn the TUC is to organise a mass demonstration in London under the banner of Britain Needs a Pay Rise. It will take place on Saturday 18 October 2014, and will begin with a march through central London, culminating in a rally in Hyde Park.

This will be the fourth march that the TUC has organised since the coalition came to power. The first – the March for the Alternative – in March 2011 saw 500,000 people attending a huge march and rally in London.

With people facing the biggest squeeze on their incomes since Victorian times, and official figures out last month showing that wages have fallen in real terms every year since 2010, the TUC believes that as growth returns to the UK economy, everyone should get to share in the recovery.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Hard-pressed families across the UK must be beginning to wonder when the tough times they are experiencing will ever end. They keep hearing that the economy is growing and learning of yet another bonus extravaganza in the city, yet their own wages never seem to go far enough.

“Worries about money are a big deal for ordinary people. While their household budgets can just about stretch to cover everyday essentials, they are likely to have to load up their credit cards to meet the cost of any unexpected items.

“During the dark days of recession, workers accepted that their pay might have to be frozen or even cut to save jobs, but now the economy is picking up – and many employers can afford to pay their staff more – the time has come for Britain to get a pay rise.”

Those employers who can afford it should pay a living wage, says TUC

Welcoming the findings of the interim report from the Living Wage Commission – Working for Poverty – published today (Monday) which says that the UK’s economic recovery is likely to fail one in five workers, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The UK economy may be in recovery mode, but most people’s pay packets have yet to experience a similar revival. For those families firmly stuck in low-pay Britain, life is tough, and they continue to struggle to make their wages stretch far enough to meet the cost of food, fuel and other essentials. “Low pay is blighting the prospects of millions of workers, and we need urgent action to tackle the UK’s serious, and worsening, low-pay problem. “One way of easing the financial pressures on low-paid families would be for more employers to pay the living wage. Across the country, there are many companies and organisations which could afford to do so, yet they continue to pay their staff poverty wages. “If the recovery is to be one experienced by everyone in the UK, ending the squeeze on incomes and boosting pay – especially for those on low incomes – is essential. As this report shows there are many people in Britain who very definitely need a pay rise.” For information - The Living Wage Commission is a 12-month independent inquiry into the future of the living wage. The Commission will be looking at the opportunities and barriers around the living wage and what potential there is for an increase in coverage that might address the rise of low pay and working poverty in the UK. - The Living Wage Commission is chaired by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, and includes Frances O’Grady, Adam Marshall (Director of Policy & External Affairs, British Chambers of Commerce), Victoria Winckler (Director, Bevan Foundation), Sir Stuart Etherington (Chief Executive, NCVO), Kate Pickett (Co-author, The Spirit Level; Co-founder of the Equality Trust), Guy Stallard (UK Head of Facilities, KPMG) and Wendy Bond (low-paid worker representative).

Workers are still at risk 10 years on from Morecambe Bay

A decade on from the tragedy at Morecambe Bay which saw 23 Chinese workers lose their lives, vulnerable workers are still at risk of abuse, injury and even death at work, the TUC is warning today (Wednesday).

On the evening of 5 February 2004, 23 untrained and inexperienced men and women were drowned by an incoming tide off the Lancashire and Cumbrian coast as they collected cockles.

In the wake of the tragedy the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) was established, and since it began operating in 2006 it has been working tirelessly to prevent further exploitation of vulnerable, mostly migrant, workers.

Through its licensing system the GLA has forced employers to improve working conditions, and made it harder for rogue employers to undercut reputable firms who treat their workers well and pay them a decent wage. But the TUC fears this will no longer be the case following government changes last year to the remit of the GLA.

Since October the GLA is no longer responsible for regulating the forestry sector, land agents or cleaning contractors operating in the food processing industry. The TUC believes this means that exploitation of workers is increasingly likely, as bad employers realise there is little chance of them getting caught out.

And since last spring, the GLA no longer automatically inspects businesses when they first apply for a licence. The GLA’s own research suggests that as many as one in ten rogue gangmasters could be slipping through the net in this way.

Removing automatic inspections means there is no deterrent to stop unscrupulous employers previously penalised for bad practice returning to operate in sectors no longer monitored by the GLA, warns the TUC. 

By watering down checks on agencies and no longer making sure they are paying staff properly, abiding with basic employment law, or operating safe workplaces, the TUC fears the government is putting hundreds of thousands of vulnerable workers at risk of abuse, accident, injury – and even death.

Instead of reducing the scope of the GLA, its remit should be extended to other high-risk sectors including construction, hospitality and social care, says the TUC.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The horrible events of Morecambe Bay are etched in all of our memories. The tragedy showed how vital it is that there is someone to check on workers’ conditions, which is why having automatic inspections is so important.

“The GLA provides vital safeguards for people working in high-risk industries, it ensures that people are paid the minimum wage and makes sure apprentices are not exploited. It also increases consumer confidence that workers who help prepare their food are not being mistreated.

“Instead of reducing the GLA’s ability to protect workers, the biggest testament the government could pay to what happened at Morecambe Bay would be to extend the reach of the GLA so that rogue employers know that there is no hiding place for those who break the law.”