ICESCR concluding observations 2025, paragraph 35
Plain English recommendation
Government should:
(a) Do more to fix insecure working conditions. This include self-employment as well as work that is part-time, temporary or based on zero-hour contracts. Government should create good job opportunities, especially for women from ethnic minority groups and disabled people, in line with the ‘UN advice‘ on fair and good work conditions at work;
(b) Ensure that the work and social security rights of workers in insecure jobs are fully protected by law and in practice. Unstable jobs include self employment, part-time work, temporary work and zero-hour contracts;
(c) Ensure migrant workers have the same rights as other workers, both in law and in practice. This includes on pay, job security, breaks and free time, social security and joining trade unions. Stop unfair treatment of migrant workers, especially those on the Health and Care Worker Visa, Overseas Domestic Worker Visa and the Seasonal Worker programme. This includes not allowing fees for recruitment, allowing workers to change employers freely, protecting their wages, protecting workers who speak up about abuse and giving them access to inspections, ways to report problems, translation services and legal help;
(d) Make labour rights enforcement bodies stronger by giving inspection and reporting agencies enough power, money, staff and expertise to properly check working conditions and ensure all workers, including migrant workers, can access remedies;
(e) Improve protections against discrimination in work, including discrimination based on ethnicity and gender identity. Do more work to stop harassment, including sexual harassment, by ensuring there are effective ways to report and remedy it.
Original UN recommendation
The Committee recommends that the State Party, along with the devolved government of Northern Ireland:
(a) Intensify efforts to address precarious working conditions, including part-time, temporary and zero-hour contracts and self-employment, and create decent work opportunities, with a particular focus on women from ethnic minority groups and persons with disabilities, guided by the Committee’s general comment No. 23 (2016) on the right to just and favourable conditions of work;
(b) Guarantee that labour and social security rights for workers in precarious employment, including part-time, temporary and zero-hour contracts and self-employment, are fully protected in law and practice;
(c) Ensure that migrant workers enjoy equal rights to other workers, in law and practice, in terms of wages, job security, rest and leisure, social security and trade union membership, and eliminate exploitative practices affecting migrant workers, particularly workers under such work visa arrangements as the Health and Care Worker, Overseas Domestic Worker and Seasonal Worker visa schemes, by banning recruitment fees, lifting restrictions on changing employers, extending wage protections, protecting workers who report abuse and guaranteeing access to inspection and reporting mechanisms, including interpretation services and legal aid;
(d) Strengthen enforcement bodies for labour rights, including labour inspection and reporting mechanisms, by allocating the necessary powers and adequate financial, human and technical resources to effectively monitor working conditions and ensure that all workers, including migrant workers, have access to effective remedies;
(e) Enhance protections against discrimination in employment and occupation, including based on ethnicity and gender identity, and reinforce measures against harassment, including sexual harassment, with effective reporting and redress mechanisms.
Date of UN examination
12/03/2025
Original UN document
Download the original ICESCR concluding observations 2025 on the UN website.
Last updated on 26/08/2025