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Employment Bill [HL]

I support the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Wedderburn. He is entirely right that it raises concerns on which the citizens advice bureaux have strongly lobbied us. A number of us, including myself, mentioned it at Second Reading. Whether this is the best way of dealing with it is obviously a matter for the Government. I do not think that the noble Lord, Lord Wedderburn, will have any pride in his drafting. The problem is a straightforward one. Very often, according to Citizens Advice, individuals—usually at the bottom of the employment heap, as it were—get a judgment and, when a rogue employer does not pay it, they are faced with the problem of going through the normal judicial procedure of going to court to get it enforced. They quite often face the risk of putting down money that they do not actually have for court fees. There is wide concern across all sides of your Lordships’ House that the Government should take the opportunity to deal with this, so that employees who get an order have the ability to enforce it without putting further sums of money at risk against rogue employers. I am delighted that the noble Lord, Lord Wedderburn, has brought this up and am happy to support it.