Protection of outsourced workers in the public sector

Provisions are included in the bill to amend the Procurement Act 2023 to protect workers in the public sector who are outsourced (contracted out) to a separate company to do the same work.

These protections, if approved, will apply where services provided by a public authority are, or are going to be, supplied by a contractor and the workers providing that service transfer to the supplier or its sub-contractor.

The bill allows for a minister to make regulations that:

• ensure that the transferring workers are treated no less favourably than they were when they were working for the public authority; and

• that workers already employed by the supplier are not treated less favourably than the transferring workers.

The minister will be required to produce a statutory code of practice giving guidance to public authorities.

The contracting authority will be responsible for taking “all reasonable steps” to ensure that the workers’ contracts contain appropriate provisions and that they are complied with.

If passed, these provisions will prevent two-tier workforces following public sector outsourcing.

Proposed amendments to the bill extend the powers and duties to the Scottish Ministers and Welsh Ministers and devolved Scottish and Welsh authorities.