In collaboration with the NUPIT-National Union of Professional Interpreters and Translators, I have prepared this letter for translators and interpreters who want to ask their MPs to take action on fair work and equality in publicly funded supply chains.

Public money should not fund exploitation.

Translators and interpreters working across the NHS, courts, police, local authorities and other public services are often several steps removed from the public bodies that ultimately fund their work. Outsourcing can make it remarkably difficult to see how much public money reaches the people actually delivering essential services — or what working conditions they experience.

This is not only an issue for translators and interpreters. It raises a much wider question: should government be able to spend taxpayers’ money on outsourced public services without knowing whether the workers delivering those services receive fair pay, decent working conditions and appropriate protections?

The letter asks MPs to press the Government for two practical measures: greater transparency about remuneration and working conditions throughout major public supply chains, and a government action plan to prevent labour exploitation within them.

Please feel free to copy the template below, adapt it to your circumstances and send it to your MP. Adding a few sentences about your own experience can make the case considerably more powerful.

Although this initiative begins with translators and interpreters, the principle extends far beyond our profession. Public procurement supports work across healthcare, justice, social care, education and other essential services. If work is ultimately funded by the public, the conditions under which that work is performed should not be invisible to the public.

Subject: Fair work and equality in public supply chains

Dear [MP’s name],

I am writing as your constituent and as a translator/interpreter to ask you to raise with the Government the treatment of workers delivering essential public services through outsourced contracts.

Many workers whose labour is ultimately funded by taxpayers fall outside the direct employment relationships through which employment protections and equality initiatives are most readily implemented.

Public-service translators and interpreters are one example. We work across the NHS, courts, police, local authorities and other public services, often through commercial intermediaries contracted by public bodies. Many of us are highly qualified and experienced professionals, yet concerns have repeatedly been raised about low and declining remuneration, insecure work, unpaid waiting and travel time, lack of employment protections, and inadequate health and safety protections.

These conditions also have important equality implications. Women and people from migrant backgrounds are strongly represented in interpreting. More broadly, outsourced public services include many occupations in which women and other groups experiencing labour-market disadvantage are disproportionately represented.

This raises a wider question of principle: should the Government use public money to purchase services without ensuring that the people actually delivering those services receive fair pay, decent working conditions and appropriate protections?

The Government cannot effectively pursue equality and fair-work objectives while leaving workers further down publicly funded supply chains largely invisible. There is evidence that government departments do not consistently monitor the pay and conditions of workers delivering outsourced public services. For example, correspondence from the Department of Health and Social Care indicated that:

Non-NHS organisations that are contracted to deliver NHS services are independent organisations. As such, they are not bound to the national terms and conditions, for example Agenda for Change, and can develop their terms and conditions as they see fit. This includes the pay scales they use and the extent to which pay awards are made. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model that they operate.

More significantly, the Government has itself acknowledged in correspondence that “the current legislative framework does not prevent worker exploitation and leaves vulnerable workers without core employment protections.”

If the Government recognises that its current framework leaves workers vulnerable to exploitation, there is a strong case for action.

I am therefore asking you, as my MP, to write to the Minister for Women and Equalities and the relevant government departments and urge the Government to take two concrete steps:

1. Require transparency on pay and working conditions in major public contracts

Public authorities and major contractors should be required to provide meaningful information about the remuneration, employment status and working conditions of the people who actually deliver publicly funded services, including workers engaged through subcontracting and self-employment arrangements. This would enable government, contracting authorities and the public to understand how public money is distributed through supply chains and how much ultimately reaches the workers delivering the service.

2. Publish a government action plan to prevent labour exploitation in public supply chains

The Government should set out how it intends to identify, prevent and address exploitative labour practices within publicly funded outsourcing arrangements. The action plan should establish clear responsibilities for government departments, contracting authorities and suppliers, and explain how fair pay, decent working conditions, equality and worker protections will be incorporated into procurement, contract management and oversight.

These are not simply matters of employment policy. They concern the standards attached to the expenditure of public money. Public authorities should be able to establish not only what a contracted service costs, but also whether the people delivering that service are being treated fairly.

I would therefore be grateful if you would raise these two requests with the Government and seek a substantive response on:

• whether it will introduce transparency requirements concerning worker remuneration and working conditions in major public contracts; and
• whether it will commit to publishing an action plan to prevent labour exploitation within public supply chains.

Please forward the Government’s response to me when you receive it.

This issue matters directly to translators and interpreters, but it extends far beyond our profession. Public procurement involves substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money and supports work across healthcare, justice, social care, education and other essential services. The Government has an opportunity to ensure that public expenditure contributes to decent work and equality rather than sustaining low pay, insecurity and exploitation.

Thank you for representing my concerns. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

[Name]

[Address/postcode, if required to confirm constituency]

Blog image by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash