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Advice to prevent poverty
CUTS IN FUNDING to the voluntary sector are placing the Government’s vision for a big society in jeopardy, according to researcher Dr Jane Holgate of Leeds University Business School. A three-year study of how ethnic minority workers deal with problems they have encountered at work finds evidence of an ‘advice desert’. Problems at work can have a serious impact on employees’ personal lives in terms of ill-health, unemployment and poverty. “The lack of support for employment problems is a serious issue,” argues Dr Holgate. “Current advice agencies are seriously under-funded and this is likely to get worse because of forthcoming cuts. If the big society is to be meaningful, then resources need to be directed at community level to provide the advice and support that is needed.” The study, conducted among Kurds
in Hackney, South Asians in Ealing and Black Caribbeans in Lambeth, was prompted by concerns about the lack of support for workers facing disciplinary and grievance issues ranging from bullying to failure to pay wages (including the National Minimum Wage). With over 70 per cent of workers in the UK labour market without union representation, researchers aimed to discover what
people do when they have a problem at work. Findings reveal a dearth of employment advice available, particularly for the most vulnerable workers, but also for most workers without trade union representation. Only 44 per cent of those interviewed
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from Citizens Advice Bureaux or Law Centres – there were problems with access, restricted opening hours and ineligibility for legal aid.
“The government appears not to realise the devastating impact that the cuts in funding to voluntary sector organisations will have on the most
What workers really wanted was to talk
through the specifics of their case and to find an advisor who would represent them in dealings with their employer
were trade union members. Of the non-trade union members, 45 per cent said they either did not have a union in their workplace, or that no-one had asked them to join. Finding timely, informative and
appropriate employment advice from sources other than trade unions was very difficult. While there are a number of government and voluntary sector advice websites and telephone helplines available to workers, very few of those interviewed knew about these. Moreover, what workers really wanted was to talk through the specifics of their case and to find an advisor who would represent them in dealings with their employer. When advice was available –
vulnerable in society,” Dr Holgate points out. “Recently, we heard how five Birmingham Citizens Advice offices were to close immediately. And this is only the start. Our research shows that if the government is serious about its big society agenda then we will need these types of services more than ever as hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs and are in need of help and advice to keep themselves and their children out of poverty.” n
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Contact Dr Jane Holgate, Leeds University Business School Email
j.holgate@leeds.ac.uk Telephone 07960 798399 ESRC Grant Number RES-062-23-0464
SPRING 2011 SOCIETY NOW 3
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