Charge Rate Guidance April 2022

This guide, effective from April 2022, should be used to support calculation of sustainable charge rates by labour providers which include all of the statutory costs of employment required in the UK.

ALP Response to IASC ‘Operation Fort – Addressing the Underlying Causes’

ALP’s response to the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s recommendations to support ethical businesses to embed human rights due diligence into the DNA of their organisation and supply chain – so that worker exploitation is minimised wherever possible and remediated where identified.

Addressing Food Industry Labour Shortages

Labour supply in the UK has been tightening for a number of years. A challenging environment is now tipping into crisis with both labour providers and employers agreeing that the food industry will not have access to the labour it needs this year or in the foreseeable future.  This paper examines the causes and suggests actions to address.

IRIS Ethical Recruitment

IRIS: Ethical Recruitment is IOM's flagship initiative to promote ethical recruitment of migrant workers. It has been created by IOM and a coalition of partners from government, civil society and the private sector. IRIS is a global multi-stakeholder initiative that supports governments, civil society, the private sector and recruiters to establish ethical recruitment as a norm in cross-border labour migration.

The goal of IRIS is to make international recruitment fair for everyone involved: migrant workers, employers, recruiters and countries of origin and destination. It does this by:

• Promoting respect for the rights of migrant workers;
• Enhancing transparency and accountability in recruitment;
• Advancing the Employer Pays Principle; and
• Strengthening public policies, regulations and enforcement mechanisms.

IRIS is referred to under Objective 6 of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and a number of other inter-governmental frameworks.

IRIS priorities include: 1) awareness raising and capacity building, 2) migrant worker voice and empowerment, 3) the regulation of international recruitment, 4) voluntary certification of private recruitment agencies, and 5) stakeholder partnership and dialogue.

ITUC Economic Briefing: Ensuring Migrants’ Access to Social Protection

Social protection is a universal human right, providing people with security against poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion. It is moreover a catalyst for inclusive economic growth.

Despite numerous international commitments to extend social protection, nearly half of the world’s population lack any access to these critical benefits and services, and coverage gaps are especially acute in low and middle-income countries.

Migrants are disproportionately excluded from social protection schemes, and their economic vulnerability is compounded by their underrepresentation in the labor market, concentration in precarious and low-paid work, discriminatory laws and entrenched xenophobia.

Legal exclusions to accessing social protection benefits, insufficient build-up of social security contributions within destination countries, lack of possibilities to preserve or transfer social security contributions within destination countries, practical barriers to accessing benefits, and migrant’s labour market exclusion are some of the main reasons for their lack of access. Increased globalization, conflict, demographic change and climate change – and the resulting migration due to these trends – all raise concerns about how to better address migrants’ vulnerability.

This brief examines the reasons for migrants’ exclusion from social protection systems and reviews some ways for closing these coverage gaps. It moreover outlines existing international frameworks related to migration and social protection, as well as provides some selected good practices at national level. Finally, it sets out unions’ key demands for ensuring universal social protection systems that are inclusive of migrants.