CAB report: An Unequal Crisis

Publisher: 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Type: 

This report, from Citizens Advice Bureau, sets out evidence on three key areas of employment rights in the redundancy process: fair redundancy processes, automatically unfair reasons for redundancy, and discrimination.

The report found that 1 in 6 (17%) of the working population are facing redundancy. But the findings also show this crisis is being faced unequally:

  • 1 in 4 disabled people (27%) are facing redundancy, rising to 37% for those people whose disability has a substantial impact on their activities
  • 1 in 2 people who are extremely clinically vulnerable to coronavirus (48%) are facing redundancy
  • 2 in 5 people with caring responsibilities (39%), either for children or vulnerable adults, are facing redundancy
  • 3 in 10 people with children under 18 (31%) are facing redundancy, compared to less than 1 in 10 (7%) of those who don’t have children under 18.

The report argues that the enforcement system in the UK is in need of reform. Last year, the Government committed to ending the fragmentation by establishing a Single Enforcement Body for employment rights, giving people a single point of access where they can go and expect to have their rights enforced.

The report recommends that the government:

  • Fast track its plan for setting up a single enforcement body, with the powers and resources needed to act as an effective defender of people’s rights at work
  • While that body is set up, invest emergency funding into the existing enforcement bodies, to ensure people are treated fairly during this unprecedented crisis.