The zero hours consultation
It's ironic how many hours are being spent talking about zero-hours contracts! Today it was Vince Cable's turn. In his speech to the Liberal Democrat annual conference he wrestled some of the initiative away from Ed Miliband by stating that he:
"will act against abusive practices in zero hours contracts, like exclusivity arrangements which prevent workers seeking alternatives, even when they are given no work. I have secured agreement in government to launch a formal consultation on the best mechanism to tackle abuse."
We will return to this subject once the consultation is published, not least because many of you have expressed interest and concern about the issues this raises. We will be responding to the consultation and inviting contributions from our clients and contacts. In the meantime, the tone of Vince Cable's comments suggest that he is only contemplating minor regulatory changes to tackle abuse rather than anything too radical.