Back to the Future: Employment Law under the Coalition Government

Civil Governance in Work and Employment Relations: How Civil Society Organizations Contribute to Systems of Labour Governance

“…Moreover, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, which took office in May 2010, initiated a highly ambitious programme of austerity measures, involving drastic reductions in public expenditure in order to tackle the UK government's budget deficit. It also pursued an approach to work and employment relations which emphasizes the desirability of giving employers more flexibility and weakening statutory protections (Hepple 2013). We wanted to examine how economic recession and the politics of austerity had affected the activities of CSOs in work and employment relations.…”

“…The approach to work and employment relations taken by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government since 2010 has been dominated by the desirability of weakening the legal regulatory framework governing work and employment relations matters and promoting greater flexibility for employers (Hepple 2013). The impact of this policy agenda has had a major effect on some CSOs: ''policy work is really, really depressing at the moment, with the political context, you just don't feel like anybody's listening, even to organizations a lot bigger than us are being ignored…with this government, we're not going to make any progress, it's going to be all about holding the line and holding on to what rights we've got…and that's a massive challenge in itself…the whole government agenda about talking about red tape, talking about businesses wanting deregulation, businesses wanting to hire and fire workers, all those kinds of things, it's a really difficult context…we know this government is not really interested in talking about employment rights…'' [Homeworkers' Organization 2].…”

Devolution and disabled workers: the experiences of union equality representatives in Wales

“…The current UK Coalition Government has attempted to portray the EqA and particularly the PSED as a burden on employers and public authorities. In May 2012, a review of the PSED was announced as an outcome of what the Coalition termed a ‘Red Tape Challenge spotlight on equalities’ (Gov.UK, 2014), which Hepple (:1) argues was a form of ‘market fundamentalism’ aimed at turning the business case for equality on its head. Funding to advocacy organisations providing specialist discrimination case workers and the budget of the EHRC, the main ‘enforcement agency’ of the PSED, has also been cut (O'Brien, ).…”

Widening the ‘representation gap'? The implications of the ‘lobbying act’ for worker representation in the UK

“…Since 2010, however, the UK coalition government has pursued a highly ambitious deficit reduction programme, manifest in rapid restructuring and spending cuts with profound consequences for the delivery of welfare services (Taylor‐Gooby, ), often with adverse consequences for such groups (e.g. Conley, : 357; Grimshaw and Rubery, : 105; Hepple, : 207).…”

“…Along with profound austerity measures (e.g. Taylor‐Gooby, ) and the reform of employment law (Hepple, ), it constitutes a third, and hitherto neglected, dimension of the UK coalition government's efforts to shift the balance of power in work and employment relationships further towards employers.…”