Over the past decade, a team at the University of Hull has undertaken four separate but linked research projects investigating the working and living conditions of migrant workers in the United Kingdom (UK).1 Those studies drew on the experiences of a broad range of service providers – national and local, statutory and voluntary – all of whom had regular interaction with vulnerable workers or their advocates, together with the testimonies of several hundred migrant workers who had themselves experienced or witnessed employment (and related accommodation) exploitation in gangmaster UK. The findings, summarised here, are an indictment of British government indifference to the exploitation of the migrant workforce.
Third sector or civil society organisations are seen by many as important routes through which citizens contribute to the development and implementation of public policy and to the democratic process. This contribution has been acknowledged in the UK in the requirement for their participation across a range of new government policies and programmes. But how far are these claims justified? This paper explores, through a case study approach focusing on issues relating to older people, how voluntary and community organisations input to the policy process. It argues for a clearer balance between state and voluntary sector, based around 'creative tension'.
Presented here are the findings of a research study undertaken between 2015 and 2018 that focused on existing arrangements and mechanisms for front-line identification of the victims of forced labour in the UK. The study drew upon interviews with service professionals in enforcement and policing organisations together with workers in non-governmental victim support agencies. These findings reveal significant failings in current approaches, that suggest processes for the identification of victims remain, at best, uneven from service to service, location to location, at worst wholly inadequate. The study also exposed widespread stakeholder concerns around UK government regulatory guidance and immigration policies, suggesting that these were hindering rather than assisting them in the process of identification. Further, that the deregulated employment environment was one in which forced labour practices could both thrive and remain well-hidden amongst wider employer exploitation and abuse.
Presented here are the findings of a research study undertaken between 2015 and 2018 that focused on existing arrangements and mechanisms for front-line identification of the victims of forced labour in the UK. The study drew upon interviews with service professionals in en-forcement and policing organisations together with workers in non-governmental victim sup-port agencies. These findings reveal significant failings in current approaches, that suggest processes for the identification of victims remain, at best, uneven from service to service, lo-cation to location, at worst wholly inadequate. The study also exposed widespread stake-holder concerns around UK government regulatory guidance and immigration policies, suggesting that these were hindering rather than assisting them in the process of identification. Further, that the deregulated employment environment was one in which forced labour practices could both thrive and remain well-hidden amongst wider employer exploitation and abuse.
This article explores the relationship between value similarity and public trust in charitable organisations. Through a focus group interview and an empirical study based on a sample in the United Kingdom, findings show that value similarity between the public and charitable organisations is an important driver of trust in charities even when individuals lack in-depth knowledge of them. It is also an elemental domain of public trust in charities and makes the greatest contribution to explaining this concept. It is concluded that value similarity is the key to understanding and establishing public trust, which is essential for prosperity of the voluntary sector.