EHRC report: Progress on Socioeconomic Rights in Great Britain
12 March 2018
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has assessed the progress on socioeconomic rights in Great Britain since 2016.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has assessed the progress on socioeconomic rights in Great Britain since 2016.
Over a third of the entire working population state that they do not earn enough to keep up with the basic cost of living.
This from the February 2018 report (pdf) from the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) on the state of the UK labour market.
The report finds:
Amongst those aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 34, 39% and 44% respectively are struggling to make ends meet
Those earning £20,000 to £39,999 are more likely to think the economy is working badly and even among incomes in excess of £40,000, less than a third think the economy is working well
Over 50% of those employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing want more hours than their employer can currently offer.
Read the full report (PDF).
6 in 10 employers agree that a woman should have to disclose whether she is pregnant during the recruitment process.
This is according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) who have published the results of their survey on maternity discrimination in the workplace, in February 2018.
The aim of the survey was to understand managers’ attitudes around pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
Findings from the survey include:
44% of employers agree that women should work for an organisation for at least a year before deciding to have children
40% of employers claim to have seen at least one pregnant woman in their workplace ‘take advantage’ of their pregnancy
41% employers agreed that pregnancy in the workplace puts ‘an unnecessary cost burden’ on the workplace.
EHRC have also launched a February 2018 campaign to combat these negative perceptions and end discrimination against new parents. Working Forward asks businesses to join the campaign and make the pledge.
Read the research report.
Find out on the Working Forward campaign.
Our February 2018 report, Shared Prosperity, Shared Rights, makes the case for an effective replacement of EU funding that supports equality and human rights.
The true extent of underpayment is very difficult to estimate, but a range of 1 to 2 million underpaid workers is likely, or between 4% and 9% of employees aged 25 and above.
This is according to the February 2018 briefing paper (pdf) from the House of Commons Library, which looks at what is known about workers paid less than the minimum wage.
The paper finds:
HMRC found 98,150 underpaid workers in 2016/17. This was an increase of 69% from 2015/16, and the largest annual total on record
Data from the LFS indicates that 77% of those who usually do one or more hours of unpaid work per week are not paid a fixed hourly rate. In other words, most unpaid time is done by employees on a salary
For the same reason, ASHE does not capture the informal economy, for example, work paid cash in hand. Informal work is likely to have a higher rate of non-compliance with the minimum wage.
‘1 in 3 healthcare professionals think people with a learning disability receive worse quality healthcare than those without’. This is according to the February 2018 campaign
Human rights belong to everyone. We all have rights regardless of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age, income, gender, country of birth or belief.
This is from the February 2018 report from the Scottish Human Rights Commission on building a human rights culture in Scotland.
The research tested and identified the impact of different types of messages on people’s attitudes towards human rights
The report finds:
Demographic groups of women and 16-24 year olds were most likely to become more supportive and engaged with human rights when exposed to key human rights messages
When talking about human rights, organisations involved in human rights secured the greatest levels of trust amongst all those surveyed, with 58% of participants saying they would trust them a great deal or fair amount.
This compares to 17% for a famous singer, actor, sportsperson or musician who is well known for caring about human rights
Different spokespeople affected the impact of messages. For example across all those surveyed, a disability rights campaigner has more impact than the Chair of the National Human Rights Institution when discussing disability rights.
Read the full report (pdf).
‘Asylum-seeking children in several EU Member States had no or limited access to education’, says a February 2019 report (pdf) from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
Building on the findings of their October 2016 report (pdf), this report presents the most pressing fundamental rights concerns between October 2016 and December 2017.
The report finds:
Legal and practical obstacles to accessing legal aid, information and interpretation existed in all EU Member States covered
Sexual and gender-based violence in reception centres remains an issue in some EU Member States
Police and border guards reportedly ill-treated migrants, particularly on the Western Balkan route, and in Spain in certain locations.
Read the full report (pdf).
The hourly wages of female employees are currently about 20% lower than men’s on average, having been 23% lower in 2003 and 28% lower in 1993.
This is from the February 2018 report (pdf) from the Institute for Fiscal Studies on the gender wage gap.
The report finds:
The gender wage gap widens gradually but significantly from the late 20s and early 30s
Gender differences in rates of part-time and full-time paid work account for approximately half of the widening of the gender wage gap over the 20 years after the first child in a family is born
There is, on average, a wage gap of around 10% even shortly before the arrival of the first child.
Read the full report (pdf).
‘The vast majority (94%) of Muslims feel able to practice their religion freely in Britain, and most believe that Islam is compatible with the British way of life.’
This is from the February 2018 report review by Ipsos MORI on Muslims in Britain.