Issue 48 – March 2025
Final Edition!
Starting May 2025, this newsletter will merge with Stronger Together email updates delivering valuable insights directly to your inbox!
Industry and Legislative News
- Business and Trade Committee report calls on Government to “Close loopholes that let rogue firms undercut the best of Britain’s employers by exploiting workers”
- Employment Rights Bill passes third reading
- Employment Rights Bill Key Dates – dashboard resource available!
- National Minimum Wage April 2025
Fast Forward News
- FORMAT CHANGE: Fast Forward Newsletter
- Ethical Maturity Framework – an assessment tool to evaluate Brand Members’ engagement with the Fast Forward Programme
- Supplier Forum – Minutes now available! (SEP only)
- Skilled Worker Visas: Mitigating Risks for Businesses and Workers – rewatch the webinar
- Supplier Training – book onto the next live session – 22 May!
- Online education for Member Brands and SEP subscribers!
- New for 2025: Easy-to-navigate webinars, available on your dashboard.
Are you a UK supplier and want to access the above content?
Share your feedback and requests for Newsletter inclusions.
The Fast Forward Team
Join us – Brand Member, Brand Associate,
Supplier Engagement Programme.
LEGISLATIVE AND INDUSTRY NEWS
Business and Trade Committee report calls on Government to “Close loopholes that let rogue firms undercut the best of Britain’s employers by exploiting workers”
The Parliamentary Business and Trade Committee published on 3rd March the report from its Inquiry – Make Work Pay: Employment Rights Bill. The Committee makes a series of five key recommendations to tighten up the Employment Rights Bill at Report Stage including the need to for ministers to:
- Be explicit in law about precise reforms to end exploitative zero-hours contracts.
- Accelerate, not slow down, reform of worker status and bogus self-employment.
- Set out a clear plans to adequately resource the Fair Work Agency. New rights must also be explained to employers. The Committee calls on Acas to lead an information campaign to do this.
- Modernise the ways unions are allowed to organise in the digital age to ensure appropriate rights of access for unions and equal time to present their case to workers.
- Review and update the Modern Slavery Act to make modern slavery statements mandatory, to introduce penalties and to “name and shame” for companies not disclosing action plans.
Read the press release and report in full here.
Employment Rights Bill – Third Reading
On 4 March, the Government tabled a range of amendments to the Employment Rights Bill following a period of consultation. The amendments come following responses to five Government consultations:
- Application of zero hours contracts measures to agency workers
- Strengthening remedies against abuse of rules on collective redundancy
- Creating a Modern Framework for Industrial Relations
- Strengthening Statutory Sick Pay
- Tackling non-compliance in the umbrella company market
Significantly, the amendments also announced extended powers for the Fair Work Agency including extending enforcement against non-payment of statutory pay to holiday pay and Statutory Sick Pay as well as National Minimum Wage.
The following week, the Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons and is now being considered in the House of Lords.
Employment Rights Bill – new resource available
Fast Forward has created a new resource to keep Member Brands and SEP subscribers informed with the progress of the Employment Rights Bill throughout 2025. Access this through your dedicated dashboards: The Employment Rights Bill – Summary and Key dates.
2025 National Minimum Wage
National Living Wage to increase to £12.21 from 1 April 2025. Read more.
FAST FORWARD NEWS
FORMAT CHANGE: Fast Forward Newsletter
Starting May 2025, the Fast Forward news and programme updates will be merging into Stronger Together updates with useful insights, straight to your inbox! There will be no April edition.
Ethical Maturity Framework – an assessment tool to evaluate Brand Members’ engagement with the Fast Forward Programme.
In 2023, we introduced our Ethical Maturity Framework—an assessment tool designed to evaluate how Brand Members engage with the Fast Forward Programme and their ongoing efforts to improve labour conditions within their UK supply chains.
The Ethical Maturity Framework currently consists of a set of foundational requirements for all Brand Members. As part of our commitment to increasing transparency across the industry, we encourage Member Brands to publicly share their Ethical Maturity Framework assessment results. At this stage, disclosure is voluntary, and Member Brands can choose to publish the total number of requirements they have fulfilled. You can find the results of those who have opted to disclose here.
Supplier Forum – Minutes now available!
If you are an SEP subscriber and were unable to attend the forum on 12 March 2025 the minutes are now available through your Dashboard. (SEP only)
Skilled Worker Visas: Mitigating Risks for Businesses and Workers – Rewatch the webinar!
Missed our webinar on the Skilled Worker Visa (SWV) and the potential risks for workers and businesses? Catch up now on this insightful session, hosted by Stronger Together in collaboration with Just Good Work (JGW), the Association of Labour Providers (ALP), and ABP. It covered:
- Overview of the SWV and associated risks for businesses and workers
- Key insights from ABP on the risks of recruiting through the SWV and the importance of JGW’s new module
- Demonstration of Just Good Work’s new SWV module, plus early trends from user data
- Policy perspectives on exploitation risks linked to immigration routes
Re-watch the full session now to stay informed and safeguard your business! If you have not signed up to S2G you can do so for free!
Supplier (SEP) Training Session
The Supplier Engagement Programme (SEP) training sessions are now available to book through your Dashboard, with the next live training being held on 22 May.
During this 2.5-hour training session, your business can gain essential insights on how to effectively navigate yourdashboard and self-paced Core Standards training modules, ensuring you remain well-informed about the latest features and and industry standards. Our training sessions are open to both SEP subscribers and Brand members.
If you are an SEP subscriber or Member Brand review the full agenda.
Free online education for Member Brands
and SEP subscribers!
Sign in to your dashboard anytime to access the Ethical Labour Standards in the UK Online Education Programme!
- Workers are eligible to work in the UK
- Workers are paid at least the national minimum wage
- Workers are treated fairly in accordance with employment law
- Workers are provided with a safe and hygienic working environment
- Workers are not subject to mistreatment and have access to remedy
- The business has an appropriate structure, overarching business and ethical policies, performs due diligence on its supply chain, and accurately calculates and pays tax in accordance with legislation.
New for 2025: Easy-to-navigate webinars,
available on your dashboard!
Need a refresher? Now all current and past webinars are provided to Suppliers and Brands in a user friendly format, accessible through your dashboard, making it simpler than ever to stay up to date. Whether you’re catching up or exploring new content, it’s all just a click away!
Are you a UK supplier and want access to the above content? Join our collaborative initiative!
Join the Fast Forward Supplier Engagement Programme to access the webinars above, learn how to achieve, implement and exceed legal and ethical standards in your business, build worker loyalty and engagement, enhance your reputation and access potential customers through visibility of your engagement to all Fast Forward Member Brands*.
Just Good Work
Just Good Work is a free, interactive mobile app giving jobseekers and workers from the UK or abroad critical information and advice on recruitment and employment. The Fast Forward audit requires businesses to display the Just Good Work poster.
Posters are available to download for free in nine languages from the Fast Forward website: Albanian, Bulgarian, English, Croatian, Gujarati, Polish, Romanian, Serbian and Ukrainian.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE
IN THIS NEWSLETTER?
Operated by the not-for-profit Stronger Together.
“A world where all workers are recruited responsibly and
have fair work free from exploitation.”
Camberley House
1 Portesbery Road
Camberley, Surrey, GU15 3SZ