Government misled Lords on self-employment

The following details have been supplied by the TUC:

A Government Minister misled the Lords over plans to exempt most self-employed workers from the Health and Safety at Work Act, new information indicates.

Ministers have claimed consistently that their proposals stem from Professor Ragnar Löfstedt’s government-ordered review which recommended withdrawing safety duties from self-employed people “whose work activities pose no potential risk of harm to others”.

But the Government turned that on its head and instead proposed exempting all self-employed people unless they are on a list of prescribed activities.

According to TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson: “This, as the HSE has admitted, will mean that many self-employed people who do pose a risk to themselves or others will no longer be covered by the Act.” Professor Löfstedt has consistent and publicly said that this was not what he proposed. During a 21 October Lords debate on the Deregulation Bill, however, government minister Lord Curry said: “I was in contact with Professor Löfstedt in the past week. He has seen the wording of the Bill and appears to be very content with it."

The Lords then voted to support the self-employed exemption.

It has since come to light that Professor Löfstedt subsequently wrote to Lord Curry refuting his claims. “It is not correct to say that I was content with it,” he told Lord Curry. “I noted that it should be the other way around – that is we should be looking at exempting self-employed individuals who don’t pose risks to others such as novel writers, web designers and academics.” 

The Bill is expected to return to the Lords before the end of the year, where Labour’s Lord McKenzie will once again try to amend the Bill. “Let us see whether the government will put their hands up and admit they have got it wrong,” commented TUC’s Hugh Robertson, adding: “Somehow I doubt it.”