Recruitment industry leaders have termed the situation “hugely concerning” and “unthinkable”.

Communicating on social media channel Twitter, Taylor, author of the eponymous ‘Taylor Report (Review of Modern Working Practices)’, said his contract had not been renewed. He said he had offered to continue “(unpaid if necessary) ’til someone else started” but his offer was refused “apparently as part of a Whitehall policy of leaving appointments unfilled rather than allowing ad hoc continuations.

“So, the Office now has no director and is as a result not allowed to say anything publicly, engage stakeholders or produce reports.”

The director’s role is intended to oversee the various government agencies looking after workers’ rights under the Single Enforcement strategy decided by government. The agencies include the GLAA and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate among others. Also currently vacant is the permanent top role at the GLAA, which former CEO Michael Rich left last year.

On Twitter, Taylor said he had applied for the permanent director role at LME “because – although I am clearly not to ministers’ liking I thought applying might give me some insight into what is happening. So it has proved…”

The timing of Taylor’s departure followed a U-turn by government about a review of UK workers’ rights following the UK’s departure from the European Union. The review had raised fears that the government intended to diminish a number of workers’ rights that had originally come into force while the UK was part of the EU. However, last week newly-appointed business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said there were no plans to curtail workers’ rights. 

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) responded to Recruiter’s enquiry about the director’s role, saying: “Cracking down on non-compliance in the labour market is a priority for the new business secretary [Kwarteng] and a new director for Labour Market Enforcement will be appointed as soon as possible. Recruitment for the role is ongoing and a successful candidate will be announced in due course.”

Asked by Recruiter to respond to the lack of a director at LME, REC CEO Neil Carberry said: “Good enforcement protects workers – but it also protects compliant businesses who do things the right way. Leaving [Matthew Taylor’s] position vacant is hugely concerning, especially as the office can do little without a director in place. 

“With a new approach to enforcement coming, via the proposed Single Enforcement Body, and huge changes to immigration rules affecting some key sectors, the leadership provided by the director of Labour Market Enforcement is crucial to protecting good businesses and workers’ rights.”

Julia Kermode, CEO and founder of self-employed online resource service IWORK, said: “We are very aware of the increase in exploitation of vulnerable jobseekers whose identities are stolen and used to obtain finance, scams where they may end up paying for training in relation to non-existent jobs, and worryingly, an increasing trend of employers forcing their staff to work self-employed with zero statutory rights. 

“The government is also aware of this exploitation,” Kermode continued, “so it is unthinkable to consciously decide on having no director of Labour Market Enforcement in post to lead the enforcement agencies that are responsible for stamping out such unethical behaviour.”

Crawford Temple, CEO of Professional Passport, praised Taylor’s “very good understanding” of the sector and raised concerns that the lag between Taylor’s departure and the appointment of a successor will “surely mean a delay to… put much needed legislation in place to protect workers from exploitation”.

Dave Chaplin, CEO of Contractor Calculator and IR35 Shield, said that Taylor’s departure along with the decision to not undertake a post-Brexit workers’ rights review “suggests that we cannot expect the zero rights employment problem created by the Off-Payroll reformers [IR35] to be solved quickly”.

Taylor tweeted he had learned from BEIS that applications for the role are open until 28 February.

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