Theresa May will promise to avoid piling any additional red tape on to companies at the launch of a major government-commissioned report into the world of work, which sets out new protections for workers in the gig economy.

The prime minister will use a speech – which is also about relaunching her premiership after losing her majority in the general election – to say her government will act to shore up the interests of those working in new insecure roles alongside traditional employees and the self-employed.

“At its best, a job can be a genuine vocation, providing the means to intellectual and personal fulfilment, as well as economic security,” she will say, alongside a call for opposition parties to help create policies.

However, she will promise that any action will avoid “overbearing regulation”.

The review, by the chief executive of the RSA, Matthew Taylor, will suggest measures to help boost the rights of workers for companies such as Uber and Deliveroo, in particular with regard to flexibility and pay. But, echoing the prime minister, he will also warn against any new “national regulation” and say that employers already face high, non-wage costs that should not be increased.

It is expected to recommend the government rewrites employment law so any self-employed worker who is under “control” and “supervision” should be given holiday pay, sick pay and, in most cases, receive the minimum wage. It will call for a new category of worker within the gig economy called “dependent contractor”, which would be clearly defined as different to the legitimately self-employed.

Tim Roache, the general secretary of GMB, said the aim of the Taylor review was laudable but that it was a “disappointing missed opportunity”.

“Everyone can pay lip service to wanting good quality, well-paid work but employers could offer that right here and now, they simply choose not to,” he said – claiming the exploitation of insecure workers was a deliberate part of company business models. “They won’t decide to do so just because they’re asked nicely.

“This isn’t a quirk of the system, this is the system – and without regulation this system will inevitably continue.”

Critics could also seize on the news that one of the four panel members involved in the review – Greg Marsh – was an investor in Deliveroo, one of the gig economy companies likely to be most affected by proposed changes to legislation. He sold his holding in the company before taking his place on the panel, according to the government, but a trade union representing gig economy workers has claimed that even his previous investment “undermines the entire integrity of this process”.

As well as additional protections for those workers, Taylor will suggest incentives on firms to treat them fairly.

But he will say the best way to achieve better work is through corporate governance, good management and strong employment relations – rather than regulations.

Laying out seven principles for good and quality work he will also push against red tape for employees. A briefing ahead of the publication said: “Although there are some things that can be done to improve working practices for employees, the ‘employment wedge’ [the additional, largely non-wage, costs associated with taking someone on as an employee] is already high and we should avoid increasing it further.”

Taylor concludes that dependent contractors’ are the group most likely to suffer from “unfair one-sided flexibility”, arguing that is why there is a need for better protections.

“Bad work – insecure, exploitative, controlling – is bad for health and wellbeing, something that generates cost for vulnerable individuals but also for wider society,” he will say at the launch.

Jeremy Corbyn mocked May’s invitation to the Labour party to help create policies for the UK’s future post-Brexit by offering to give her a copy of his election manifesto – and suggesting she call another general election.

Corbyn was responding to May’s parliamentary statement on the G20 meeting in Hamburg, which she attended on Friday and Saturday. He expressed surprise she had so much to contribute to the summit, claiming there was barely anything on international policy in the Conservative election manifesto. “Or indeed any policy – so much so that the government is now asking other parties for their policy ideas,” said Corbyn.

Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services, called the seven points, released in advance of the report, “weak and business-friendly”. He argued that it was no surprise given the report was commissioned by Conservatives who forced through the Trade Union Act.

“If they are representative of the full report, it will fall woefully short of being a serious attempt to improve workers’ rights and will offer nothing to the growing army of people exploited on zero hours contracts and in insecure work, and nothing to the millions living in poverty because of low wages.”



The CBI business group welcomed the seven principles of “decency and fairness”.

But the CBI’s managing director for people and infrastructure, Neil Carberry, warned: “Once the full review becomes available, businesses would be concerned by any proposals that risk creating unintended consequences, for example encouraging the creation of short-hour shift jobs by redrawing the rules on employment status and minimum wage.”

Dr Carole Easton OBE, the chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust, stressed the need to consider female workers. “The world of work is changing and employment rights must keep pace,” she said. “It is women who are more likely to be in insecure work and get stuck on low pay.

“Women too are turning to self-employment at a much faster rate than men. Yet they continue to be penalised financially in comparison to salaried workers, especially when they have babies.

“Many do not qualify for statutory maternity pay, and restrictions that prevent women working while claiming the less generous Maternity Allowance can make running a business and keeping clients impossible.”