\u201cworrying\u201d rise in exploitation<\/a> on building sites, warning that migrant workers were vulnerable to unexplained deductions from wages, restricted access to mobile phones and unclear employment arrangements.<\/p>\nTo gain accreditation under the new scheme, contractors will be required to undergo a detailed third-party audit of their employment practices, including wages, worker wellbeing, terms of recruitment and employment, safeguards against modern slavery and compliance with tax laws.<\/p>\n
The certification is designed to standardise workforce practices in an industry that is heavily reliant on temporary labour, with 783,000 construction workers thought to be self-employed or employed via agencies and intermediaries\u200b.<\/p>\n
According to Doug Aris, managing director of Workforce Assured, there is currently no unified assurance that all employers uphold fair and legal practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis new accreditation fills that gap by providing an independent, contractor-backed audit of how organisations manage their people, from recruitment and employment terms to onsite working conditions and payment of wages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy attaining Workforce Assured certification, companies demonstrate that they meet rigorous standards for ethical employment, which in turn reduces risk in the labour supply chain and protects workers from exploitation\u200b.\u201d<\/p>\n
For major contractors, accreditation lets them mitigate risks in their supply chain and demonstrate leadership, while subcontractors will be able to prove their ethical credentials through a single audit process.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, the scheme levels the playing field by rewarding responsible businesses and discouraging exploitative operators,\u201d said Aris.<\/p>\n
While some contractors are applying the standard to their labour agencies, others are using it for certain types of subcontractors, particularly those whose delivery models rely on a large temporary workforce and are therefore seen as posing a higher risk, he added.<\/p>\n
The accreditation, which costs around \u00a31,500, will sit alongside the Common Assessment Standard, an industry-agreed set of questions designed to pre-qualify construction suppliers for projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, these standards provide clients and contractors with a comprehensive assurance of both a company\u2019s technical competence and its commitment to ethical workforce management,\u201d said Aris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Modern slavery, exploitation and tax evasion across the construction sector are to be tackled by a new ethical workforce standard backed by major contractors. Skanska, Keltbray, Careys and Lendlease Development are among the firms that founded and helped to develop the Workforce Assured scheme, which has been drawn up to raise standards in the recruitment, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130832,"featured_media":352057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[538,543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-521956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lendlease","category-skanska"],"yoast_head":"\n
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