Government to launch an exercise into modern slavery in nail salons

The Government has decided not to immediately implement a recommendation from the Labour Market Strategy to tackle modern slavery in non-standard nail salons.

Labour market enforcement director David Metcalf made the recommendation in a report in May this year. It stated that a licensing scheme should be piloted to tackle modern slavery in nail salons.

The Government’s Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) has instead said it will carry out a scoping exercise, likely to be in Greater Manchester, to measure the scale and threat of the problem and to determine whether a licensing scheme would help stop it.

However, in a response to the wider Labour Market Enforcement Strategy recommendations, the Government accepted other measures to crack down on employers who exploit and underpay workers.

These include a “naming and shaming” scheme whereby the names of employers will be published along with average arrears per worker and case studies to identify sector-specific reasons for under-payment.

In addition, as of April 2019, legislation will require all employers to provide payslips for each member of staff, with total hours worked and hourly rate of pay stated for hourly paid workers.

National Beauty Federation chief executive Hilary Hall commented: “It’s encouraging to see the Government calling on the enforcement agencies to provide more support for ‘good employers’, especially those who have asked for advice to ensure they comply with the law.”