The Department for Business and Trade has revealed the nine board members who will be a part of its inaugural Fair Work Agency advisory board.
The board will have an equal number of members with independent, employer and trade union backgrounds. This is to ensure the Fair Work Agency’s work focuses on the experience of businesses, workers and victims of labour exploitation.
The advisory board will work with chair Matthew Taylor and chief executive officer Lisa Pinney to provide advice to ministers and help set the direction and strategy of the Fair Work Agency.
The board appointments include Patricia Findlay, professor of work and employment relations and director of the Scottish Centre for employment research at the University of Strathclyde; Gavin Kelly, chief executive of the Nuffield Foundation; Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre; Diana Holland, senior trade union leader; and Neil Carberry, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.
Also joining the board are Mustafa Faruqi, employee relations director at BT Group, leading employee relations strategy for 60,000 employees; Joanne Young, a recruitment and workforce policy specialist; Mike Clancy, general secretary and chief executive of Prospect, representing 160,000 specialist workers; and Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union.
This precedes the launch of the Fair Work Agency on 7 April. The body will bring together existing enforcement bodies, the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority, the director of labour market enforcement, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and HM Revenue and Customs’ national minimum wage unit to create a single agency.
Kate Dearden, employment rights minister, said: “Every member of the board brings a wealth of experience from across the world of work, reflecting exactly the kind of broad expertise the Fair Work Agency needs to make a difference to the lives of workers across this country. I’m looking forward to working with them on how we can support businesses, strengthen enforcement and ensure that the rights of working people are upheld consistently and fairly across the country.”
