The government has announced that Britain’s lowest paid workers will be given the flexibility to boost their income through extra work. The proposals will widen the ban on exclusivity clauses, which restrict staff from working for multiple employers, to contracts where the guaranteed weekly income is on or below the Lower Earnings Limit of £123 a week. An estimated 1.5 million workers are earning on or below £123 a week and the new reforms will ensure that workers in this group that have exclusivity clauses are able to top up their income with extra work if they choose.
The reforms will give workers more flexibility over when and where they work to best suit their personal circumstances such as childcare or study, including the option of working multiple short-hours contracts.
As well as supporting workers to increase their income, the reforms will also benefit businesses by widening the talent pool of job applicants to those who may have been prevented from applying for roles due to an exclusivity clause with another employer, and also helps businesses to fill vacancies in key sectors like retail and hospitality. The reforms will allow low-paid workers to reskill and make the most of new opportunities in existing sectors with growing labour demand.
While not everyone will want a second job, the reforms will remove red tape that prevents those who want to do so – for example, gig economy workers, younger people, or those from disadvantaged backgrounds facing barriers to entering the labour market.
By giving more workers the option to take on additional work on short hours contracts, the reforms could also help increase businesses’ confidence to create jobs with contracts which suit them and their current circumstances.
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