Committee on the Engagement and Use of Labour in Construction (Phelps-Brown Committee)

LAB 92

1967-1969

Committee papers and evidence before the Phelps-Brown Committee on the Engagement and Use of Labour in Construction. These relate to the engagement and use of labour in building and civil engineering, with particular reference to labour-only sub-contracting ('the Lump'), and the problems of high levels of labour turnover and unemployment.

The committee papers include discussion papers prepared by members of the committee, and evidence presented to the committee by interested groups, organisations, and individuals.

Definitions of the various categories of workers will be found in committee paper LC 30 in piece 1.

Public Record(s)

English

131 file(s)

Open unless otherwise stated

Topics

Labour

Construction industries

Series is not accruing.

The Committee on the Engagement and Use of Labour in Construction was appointed jointly by the Ministers of Labour and of Public Building and Works in March 1967. It was chaired by Prof E H Phelps-Brown, formerly of the London School of Economics, and was created to inquire into the engagement and use of labour in building and civil engineering, with particular reference to labour-only sub-contracting.

Freelance or self-employed workers in the building industry were popularly known as 'the Lump' (referring to lump sum payments to ad hoc groups). The effect on revenue of such labour-only sub-contracting, with its unregulated finances, was concurrently investigated by the Public Accounts Committee.

The Phelps-Brown Committee also inquired into the problems of high levels of labour turnover and unemployment. Its report was published in August 1968 (Cmnd 3714), and made specific recommendations for improvements, including registration of employers and bona-fide self-employed tradesmen, and statutory regulation of employers' responsibilities for workers.

Legislation for registration of workers and the imposition of a levy on employers of unregistered workers, was subsequently proposed in the Construction Industry Contracts Bill 1970, which failed to be enacted due to the change in government in that year.