Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to protect workers rights in the gig economy.

Advances in technology and the rise of the gig economy have increased opportunities for people to work more flexibly. While we welcome these opportunities, they cannot be at the expense of workers’ rights.

That is why my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister commissioned Matthew Taylor to undertake his review of Modern Working Practices, and why we are taking the decisive action set out in the Good Work Plan to address his recommendations.

We have already made good progress. This Government have taken important steps to improve the transparency of information between workers and employers. Our research found that flexible workers, such as those in the gig economy, require stronger protections in terms of understanding the conditions of their employment before starting a job.

As such, we laid two statutory instruments in December that extends the right to a written statement to all workers and make access to a written statement a day one right.

Previously, an employee was entitled to a written statement after a month with the same employer. Our legislation means that from day one, workers in the gig economy have access to information such as maternity and paternity leave, specifics of when they are expected to work, whether the work is variable, and their eligibility for certain benefits.

This represents a significant step in the protection of workers rights in the gig economy and highlights our commitment to protecting the rights of workers across the country.