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Times
7 minutes ago
- Times
Symbolic gestures won't prevent illegal working
T he Home Office's latest move to crack down on illegal working in the gig economy feels more like political theatre than a serious solution. Announcing a plan to share data with food delivery businesses such as Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats, specifically around asylum hotel locations, sounds bold on paper. But in reality, it is unlikely to achieve much. The government wants these companies to flag and cancel accounts repeatedly active in 'high-risk' areas. But this relies on the flawed assumption that such monitoring will deter or even detect illegal workers. It won't. The simple fact is that account sharing is incredibly easy to get around. More information will be shared with food delivery companies such as Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo ALAMY And the reality is that these companies do not have a genuine incentive to stop it. Unlike traditional employers, they are not subject to a penalty of up to £60,000 per illegal worker. So why would they invest in better checks or policing their own systems? The simple fact is that gig economy companies do not know who is using their apps, and who is engaging with their customers under their brand name, making illegal work easy, effortless and undetectable. If ministers were serious about tackling this issue, they would demand more — facial recognition or real-time identity verification every time a job is accepted could make a real difference. Illegal workers simply would not be able to operate. But until that's mandated, and until companies face real consequences, nothing will change. Worryingly, the issue does not end with gig economy firms. There is a troubling lack of understanding among traditional employers about their own compliance risks. Since 2022, businesses have been allowed to use digital verification services for right to work checks on British and Irish nationals. But many are using the same checks for foreign workers without realising that doing so leaves them legally exposed. Employers are surprised to learn that they are not establishing the all-important statutory excuse for their foreign workers. Large organisations — including NHS trusts, local authorities, universities and household organisations — are unknowingly putting themselves at risk. They believe using digital verification is enough — but it does not give them the legal protection they think it does. When foreign workers lose their right to work, or even exceed their permitted hours, employers are shocked to be slapped with penalties from the Home Office. Both the gig economy and traditional employment are riddled with loopholes. And while the government focuses on symbolic gestures such as data sharing, illegal work will continue, unchecked and undetected. If this crackdown is to mean anything, there needs to be more enforcement, starting with the government holding the platforms and third-party providers accountable. Emma Brooksbank is a partner at the law firm Freeths
Times
7 minutes ago
- Times
Samantha Yelland prosecuted Constance Marten and Mark Gordon
Samantha Yelland, a solicitor, was the senior crown prosecutor and reviewing lawyer in the prosecution of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon, who were convicted of the manslaughter of their baby daughter after a lengthy and chaotic retrial at the Old Bailey, which the judge accused them of trying to 'sabotage' and 'derail'. The first time this case was tried, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the most serious charge of manslaughter. Given there was no definitive cause of death or much of the usual evidence we rely on in homicide cases, we had to think creatively about what alternative evidence we could use. At the retrial, we were able to combine witness testimony and expert evidence, including analysis of weather data at the time of the offence. Becoming a trainee supervisor. I've experienced first-hand how the training you receive early on shapes your future career. It's important to me to help to give lawyers starting out in their careers the best start possible. All my fellow females striving to ensure equality in our profession. When I started there were hardly any female judges. Now, they make up half of all the judges at the Central Criminal Court. And most of my colleagues in the homicide unit are female. Read everything. I was once providing telephone advice to someone arrested for shoplifting. She was somewhat inebriated and, forgetting who she was speaking to, ended the call with 'bye, love you'. Ultimately this job is about victims of crime and their loved ones. The best and the worst bits of my day depend on whether they feel that justice has been achieved. A power for judges to impose extra time on top of a defendant's sentence if they were deemed to have unnecessarily wasted the court's time. • Read more law stories and insights from our experts I love a musical so it would have to be Times Law is taking a three-week break and returns on September 4
The Independent
9 minutes ago
- The Independent
Why ‘substandard' e-bike batteries pose life-threatening risks
A man died in a fire at his Bradford home, believed to be caused by a faulty lithium-ion battery from an e-bike conversion kit charging overnight. The coroner investigating the death of Mohsin Janjua, 28, concluded the fire was likely due to a "catastrophic failure" of a battery purchased from eBay. Test purchases revealed that batteries and chargers from online marketplaces often fail to meet UK safety standards, prompting the coroner to urge the government to reassess laws. The coroner also called for online marketplaces to be held jointly responsible for the safety and legal compliance of products sold by third parties on their sites. A charity, Electrical Safety First, has warned that substandard batteries sold online pose a significant risk, advocating for third-party certification for e-bikes and stricter rules on conversion kits.
