Becoming a fair work nation

Local authorities are ideally positioned to develop and promote fair work practices, both within the council and through supporting local businesses. They have developed unique relationships and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders who have the combined knowledge and expertise to support and enable fair work.

Some local authorities are considering ways in which they can use their own role as an employer in an area to support businesses to make positive changes to their practices in order to be Fair Work employers. This includes all areas of Fair Work, including recruitment and retention of staff, living wage, flexible working, diversity and inclusion, and progression pathways and staff development. Local authorities can also use their internal procurement processes to influence the decisions of potential suppliers. Parity of Esteem is essential to this, and local authorities will seek to ensure that everyone can access this support, through removing barriers and encourage Fair Work practices, rather than punishing businesses for not achieving this.

Embedding Fair Work principles will assist businesses to recruit and retain staff, particularly where they have been experiencing high volumes of unfilled vacancies. These will improve conditions, enhancing the profile of the employer and supporting long term stability and business growth. Local authorities can highlight these benefits and encourage contractors to embed Fair Work practices in their HR policies wherever possible. However, there is no mechanism to enforce this. To address this, they can implement policies such as not providing support to businesses who offer zero-hour contracts.

Some local authorities are working towards becoming accredited Real Living Wage employers which will set a standard and example for local businesses. To support this, they can offer promotions such as paying for the annual subscriptions of local businesses to become Real Living Wage accredited.

A supplier’s approach to fair work practices can have a positive impact on the quality of goods and services in a public contract. Local authorities therefore expect suppliers they work with to promote fair work in all relevant procurement processes, while ensuring an appropriate balance between cost and working conditions.

Local authorities pay the Real Living Wage and are accredited Living Wage Employers, which puts them in a strong position to lead and influence others to do the same. There also needs to be support for in-work progression for low income employees, as well as building the skills and capacity of those out of work to enable them to access good quality jobs. This will include identifying target groups, to understand their needs and any gaps in provision. It will also involve tackling employment gaps in terms of gender, disability, race etc. This is already being done through initiatives such as No One Left Behind, where services and support are targeted at those most vulnerable to insecure work or in-work poverty. In some areas people are facing additional barriers, such as rurality or an ageing population, and it is important to ensure that those who are furthest away from the job market receive the same support as others to access opportunities.

Partnership approaches across the public, private and third sectors will enable local authorities to influence others’ strategies, plans and activities to contribute to developing Fair Work practice. Fair Work needs to become an everyday consideration for policy and should be evident in all aspects of working practice. Ensuring that this is implemented is important, but maintaining and developing it once it has been implemented is key.

Improved data at a local level would help to progress this agenda. This will include working with employers to gain an in-depth understanding of what their current and future skills needs are, and using this to ensure the workforce has the necessary skills to equip them to successfully move into employment. This can also include engaging with families who have lived experience of poverty to help shape focus and actions around Fair Work and tackling root causes.

Local authorities can look at developing partnership approaches with local businesses to support a consistent approach to Fair Work across an area. This will include developing consistent messages to raise the profile of Fair Work and its significance in supporting business growth, and development of the labour market.

Local authorities have found that there are a number of challenges facing local employers in terms of safeguarding jobs and improving conditions, such as introducing the Real Living Wage, within the current challenging economic climate. While the economy is recovering from the economic crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation is volatile and grant support is still required by many local businesses. This means that initiatives such as Fair Work are not currently a priority. There is also a general lack of knowledge around Fair Work amongst businesses, and many are not aware of what is required of them.

Implementing any change effectively will take time, and may be met with resistance initially. There is therefore a role for local authorities to continually communicate the benefits of this approach and assist businesses in working through the challenges. This is particularly important as some of the benefits may not be experienced immediately and will take time to be realised. This will be even more challenging in areas where there is a higher proportion of small and micro businesses who often find it more difficult to implement Fair Work practices than larger organisations.

Businesses are recovering from the impact of the pandemic and also face further strain due to Brexit. Many are focused on survival and see Fair Work as an additional cost burden. Research carried out by the Carnegie Trust highlighted the vulnerability of Fair Work practice during the pandemic in terms of increased strain on workplace relationships, increases in unstable work, and a disproportionate impact on lower paid workers. The challenge will be to reverse this trend and support the recovery of a labour market built on Fair Work for all. Adopting Fair Work practices is likely to involve initial costs to employers at a particularly difficult time for many businesses’ finances, therefore a sensitive approach needs to be taken. SME's rarely have dedicated HR and training resources, presenting additional challenges and costs in developing a Fair Work approach. There is a role for local authorities in supporting employers to recognise that fair work is likely to improve their ability to attract and retain staff.

Local authorities should continue to promote the benefits of Fair Work practices to local businesses, such as employee satisfaction and retention and increased productivity. This might also include incentivising employers to adopt fair work practices and sharing good practice examples of businesses that have experienced positive outcomes from implementing Fair Work practices. Better connections need to be made between Fair Work, the potential for business growth, and the wider community and societal benefits. Local authorities can use Employer Recruitment Incentives and other funding as leverage to promote Fair Work practices and seek to introduce a national and/or local accreditation scheme.

Better connectivity is needed between the job market and education to ensure that people are developing the skills needed by employers. However, it is important to understand that this will not be a ‘one size fits all’ approach, and traditional avenues such as modern apprenticeships may not always be the most appropriate in every area.

Fair Work should be mainstreamed into all local authority day to day activity and strategies in a similar manner to the Community Wealth Building approach. There should also be exploration of the potential to provide financial support for local businesses to become accredited Living Wage employers.

One of the main barriers currently is the ongoing uncertainty resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as Brexit pressures. In addition, there is an increasing onus on business to become greener as a result of the climate emergency. There is general acceptance of the need for Fair Work, but the practicalities of achieving this are a challenge for many businesses in the current climate. The pressure of implementing this could be enough to lead to business closures, leading to negative outcomes such as loss of employment opportunities. Some local authorities feel that there has not been sufficient analysis around the reasons that some employers are not achieving fair working practices, therefore the extent of the challenge is not fully understood.

Funding opportunities should consider the wider picture in terms of what is realistic for a business to achieve, with funding opportunities allocated accordingly. For example, some small businesses cannot afford to pay the Living Wage, but removing the opportunity for grant funding could result in business closure and loss of employment opportunities. However, receiving a grant could support the business to work towards achieving Living Wage or Fair Work principles.

It would be beneficial for key business support agencies, such as the Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses, to collaborate with local authorities on developing some key messages around Fair Work. Communications are currently varied and confusing, and clarification and consistency is needed on what is actually meant by Fair Work. This will help to simplify the process for employers when dealing with a number of different agencies.

Some sectors have been hit harder than others as a result of the pandemic, and businesses in these sectors may not see Fair Work delivery as an immediate priority, focusing instead on short-term recruitment and competing for work-ready employees. For smaller businesses there is also a fear that the introduction of Fair Work practices will negatively impact on profit margins.

Fair Work measures should be linked into promoting sustainability and long-term growth in order to streamline the asks of employers. This will involve more training for SMEs, e.g. through SDP and Business Gateway, to make the procurement and grants processes more accessible. All public sector organisations need to be involved in taking this forward in partnership.

The covid-19 pandemic has presented a strong argument for implementing Fair Work, and has removed some of the barriers that existed previously. Employers have embraced more flexible ways of working which have become the norm, and the importance of employee wellbeing is appreciated more than before. This therefore needs to be harnessed and built upon.

There is an opportunity for employers to build Fair Work practice into their pandemic recovery plans, which will support the development of stronger and more resilient businesses. The key message should be that employers who invest in Fair Work and engage and value their employees are more likely to recruit and retain their workforce and achieve their business goals. Grant funding could be made available to provide positive opportunities for people to rebuild the economy and provide incentives for employers to implement Fair Work practices.

The Scottish Government should continue to resource the Scottish Living Wage team in the Poverty Alliance, as this has been a very helpful resource for organisations wishing to consider Living Wage Accreditation. There should be more national promotion of Fair Work, including enhancing awareness of issues such as the difference between the national minimum wage or living wage, and the Real Living Wage. Education is important to ensure that Fair Work becomes the norm, and schools should share the message that all jobs are equally important and valued. Teachers and parents should encourage young people to understand that there are a variety of career benefits over and above financial.

The government can also strengthen the requirements for Fair Work within procurement and grant programmes. Local authorities and partners can follow and support this, but the lead has to come from the Scottish and UK Governments. Adequate resources also need to be allocated to enable this. No One Left Behind is an important step forward in terms of spend being attached to local need, but more standardised multi-year funding is needed. Single-year funding is not useful to local authorities due to the short timescales for spending this, which often results in limited benefit.

The Scottish Government should commit to working with local authorities and Business Gateway as they have the knowledge of the local business base and employment needs. Support should be given to local authority economic development and employability services to carry out further assessment of local job markets to better understand the extent of the issue, any gaps in the business base, training and support needs etc. Sectoral analysis would also be beneficial in terms of identifying which sectors need to do the most work to develop Fair Work practices, and which are closer to achieving this.

It is important to remove the competitive element around employability, where agencies that are far removed from a local area are bidding for contracts that they cannot adequately fulfil due to not understanding the complexities.

The role of government agencies needs to be made clearer and these could assist local government in providing more analysis and evidence in terms of barriers faced. This would assist local authorities in closing some of these gaps. The Fair Work agenda must be widely promoted to employers at a national and local level, and a coordinated approach to employer engagement across partners is key. This includes consistent messaging of expectations around Fair Work practices for employers, as well as how to access funding and support and increasing awareness of the development of Fair Work.

It is important to ensure that every person is valued and paid fairly. Employers who treat employees negatively should face consequences. This might mean forming a national body which is impartial and can be used by any employee to address these issues. However, employers should be encouraged to achieve fair work due to the benefits, rather than being punished when they do not. The Scottish Government can lead on this by replacing the minimum wage with the Real Living Wage and consider legislation that seeks to minimise zero-hour contracts and ensure flexible working patterns are considered for all employees. There should also be development of clear career pathways for all.


Some form of guaranteed work for school leavers could be introduced for those who need this type of support. There should also be recognition that not everyone can cope in mainstream employment, with greater dignity and respect given to these individuals, and alternative routes explored.

Local authorities can use all available levers to champion Fair Work and integrate it into local programmes and plans. They can help to build confidence and knowledge of Fair Work principles through leading by example and maximising the potential of partnerships. They can also continue to work with local businesses to raise awareness and develop understanding of Fair Work aims and how these can be of benefit. Through this work, local authorities can also share best practice and case study examples to demonstrate how businesses can approach this.

The Scottish Government needs to be very mindful of the challenges that employers continue to face as a result of covid-19 and Brexit. While there have not been as many business closures and job losses as was initially anticipated, it is important to take a cautious approach. Fair Work could become one pressure too many for businesses already facing unprecedented challenges, therefore focus should be on incentivising and encouraging rather than punishing and excluding. Not allowing grants or limiting tenders to those who are not Living Wage employers could be seen as a punishment, and it would be better to work with those employers to seek to introduce more fair working practices, rather than them losing out on funding that could help them achieve these aims in the longer term.