Contractors and post-employment right-to-work checks

Tancredi made this Freedom of Information request to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,

BACKGROUND:
In November 2020 your contractor for the CES service, Medequip Assistive Technology, unlawfully decided to conduct a post-employment right-to-work check on all its workforce holding EEA/EU or Swiss citizenship, claiming that it was a requirement to carry out that verification, and warning the identified employees that failure or refusal to provide information about their application for EU Settled Status by 15.01.2021 could put their continuous employment at risk, and this in spite of the deadline for those application already being set at 30.06.2021, five months and a half later.

As HM Government had never required UK Employers to conduct such a verification, and as it had, on the contrary, regularly provided guidance advising them that this would be a form of discrimination;
and as we cannot think about any other Authority that would have required Medequip to draw a proscription list of EU/EEA/Swiss Employees to subject to such a discriminatory process, may you, as the Commissioner that had tendered Medequip your contract of service, provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:

1. Did Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council ever ask Medequip to verify that its workforce that might have been impacted by the Brexit process had applied for EUSS or the outcome of those applications?

2. Did Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council ever ask Medequip to make sure that these workers or employees would provide the requested information by 15.01.2021?

3. How many of Medequip’s Bromborough depot’s workers or employees involved in the provision of medical equipment in the community on your behalf at the time of that request held EU/EEA/Swiss citizenship?

4. How many of those staff failed or refused to provide information about their eventual application for Settled/Pre-Settled Status?

5. How many of the EU/EEA/Swiss citizens identified and requested to provide that information ended being dismissed/made redundant as a consequence of that failure or refusal?

6. How many of the EU/EEA/Swiss citizens working at that depot resigned, or left their job, on the wrong assumption that, from 16.01.2021, the day after the time limit provided by Medequip, their employment would have been terminated?

7. If Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council had indeed asked Medequip to carry out those post-employment right-to-work checks, was the same requirement communicated to any other of the Council’s contractors?

Should you need me to clarify or provide more details in regard of these requests, please don’t hesitate and I’ll promptly oblige.

Should you decide that some or all of my requests meet the criteria for some exemptions, I’d appreciate if you could make reference to specific parts of the FOIA or relative amendments and integrations.

Your Sincerely
Tancredi Tamponi

InfoMgr, FinDMT, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Tancredi Tamponi

 

Please see below Wirral Council's response to your recent Freedom of
Information enquiry.

 

1. Did Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council ever ask Medequip to verify
that its workforce that might have been impacted by the Brexit process had
applied for EUSS or the outcome of those applications?

No

 

2. Did Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council ever ask Medequip to make sure
that these workers or employees would provide the requested information by
15.01.2021?

No

 

3. How many of Medequip’s Bromborough depot’s workers or employees
involved in the provision of medical equipment in the community on your
behalf at the time of that request held EU/EEA/Swiss citizenship?

None

 

4. How many of those staff failed or refused to provide information about
their eventual application for Settled/Pre-Settled Status?

N/A

 

5. How many of the EU/EEA/Swiss citizens identified and requested to
provide that information ended being dismissed/made redundant as a
consequence of that failure or refusal?

N/A

 

6. How many of the EU/EEA/Swiss citizens working at that depot resigned,
or left their job, on the wrong assumption that, from 16.01.2021, the day
after the time limit provided by Medequip, their employment would have
been terminated?

N/A

 

7. If Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council had indeed asked Medequip to
carry out those post-employment right-to-work checks, was the same
requirement communicated to any other of the Council’s contractors?

No request was sent.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Lynette Paterson

Principal Information Management Officer

Resources – Digital and Improvement

Wirral Council

PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ

 

Email: [1][Wirral Borough Council request email]

 

Visit our website: [2]www.wirral.gov.uk

 

 

 

 

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Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough,

many thanks for your response, I have no complaint and no review is needed.

Yours sincerely,

Tancredi Tamponi