[UK] Legal fight over ethnicity pay gaps at historic London parks

Outsourced cleaning staff at some of London’s most famous historic parks are bringing a landmark legal case, alleging that their lower-paid contracts amount to racial discrimination, HR Grapevine reports.

Cleaners at Royal Parks - a charity managing iconic London green spaces such as Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Regent’s Park - were being paid below the UK minimum wage until 2019, when they went on strike.

By contrast, the in-house workforce at Royal Parks was paid at least the London living wage, according to reporting from The Guardian. 

The London living wage was £10.75 an hour in 2019, compared to the minimum wage of £8.72.

According to employment figures, approximately 50 people worked as outsourced toilet maintenance and cleaners for the Royal Parks in 2019. Around 90 per cent of these workers were black or ethnic minority. At this time an estimated 87 per cent of Royal Parks’ 160 direct employees were white.

It is therefore argued that Royal Parks committed indirect racial discrimination by paying the outsourced foreign workers less for the five years from 2014. The contract was created by the Royal Parks Agency at that time, the entity responsible for the parks' upkeep before the Royal Parks charity was formed.

The legal case has reportedly been traversing the tribunal system for several years. It was first submitted in 2021 by the United Voices of the World (UVW), a union representing primarily migrant workers. The Guardian said its latest submission is the third attempt to push the case ahead. 

An anonymous employee who was paid the minimum wage while working at Kensington Gardens, reportedly told The Guardian, “Most of the [Royal Parks staff] are white and then those of us who are brown and black, most of us are the people who do the most dirty jobs, difficult jobs, but then we are being employed by outsourced organisations.

“We’re living in London where the rate is very high … It’s very difficult to live with that little money that we had. We all have family members to think about, to put food on the table for,” they said.

Petros Elia - the UVW general secretary - said, “Outsourcing by its very nature is almost guaranteed to ensure that millions and millions of workers continue to toil on the absolute legally worst terms and conditions that an employer can provide.

“It’s absolutely inevitable that that will be the case for as long as outsourcing continues.”

The UVW legal case was reportedly the first of its kind to cite equality legislation to challenge staff outsourcing. It was victorious in a 2021 employment tribunal however, the decision was later overturned after Royal Parks argued that the employment judge had not considered other outsourced workers when reaching a decision.

In August 2023, the UVW won the right to appeal the decision.

At the time Mr Elia said, ”This is a highly political case that could ring the death knell of outsourcing as we know it and redistribute billions of pounds to low paid workers across the country! We can expect a battle all the way to the Supreme Court (the final court of appeal in the UK) no matter who wins this third round, and we in UVW are ready for it, because if we win, everybody wins. A small union of migrants and low-paid, precarious workers could have changed our world for good.”

In a statement following the original decision, Royal Parks reportedly welcomed the court’s decision that the charity “did not indirectly discriminate against the contractor’s employees”. 

The statement said, “We take all matters of equality, diversity and inclusion very seriously.

“We ensure that all qualifying workers employed by our contractors to work in the parks are paid the London living wage and we are immensely grateful to all the cleaning staff who work so hard to keep the parks looking their best.”

Source: HR Grapevine

(Quotes via original reporting)

Outsourced cleaning staff at some of London’s most famous historic parks are bringing a landmark legal case, alleging that their lower-paid contracts amount to racial discrimination, HR Grapevine reports.

Cleaners at Royal Parks - a charity managing iconic London green spaces such as Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and Regent’s Park - were being paid below the UK minimum wage until 2019, when they went on strike.

By contrast, the in-house workforce at Royal Parks was paid at least the London living wage, according to reporting from The Guardian. 

The London living wage was £10.75 an hour in 2019, compared to the minimum wage of £8.72.

According to employment figures, approximately 50 people worked as outsourced toilet maintenance and cleaners for the Royal Parks in 2019. Around 90 per cent of these workers were black or ethnic minority. At this time an estimated 87 per cent of Royal Parks’ 160 direct employees were white.

It is therefore argued that Royal Parks committed indirect racial discrimination by paying the outsourced foreign workers less for the five years from 2014. The contract was created by the Royal Parks Agency at that time, the entity responsible for the parks' upkeep before the Royal Parks charity was formed.

The legal case has reportedly been traversing the tribunal system for several years. It was first submitted in 2021 by the United Voices of the World (UVW), a union representing primarily migrant workers. The Guardian said its latest submission is the third attempt to push the case ahead. 

An anonymous employee who was paid the minimum wage while working at Kensington Gardens, reportedly told The Guardian, “Most of the [Royal Parks staff] are white and then those of us who are brown and black, most of us are the people who do the most dirty jobs, difficult jobs, but then we are being employed by outsourced organisations.

“We’re living in London where the rate is very high … It’s very difficult to live with that little money that we had. We all have family members to think about, to put food on the table for,” they said.

Petros Elia - the UVW general secretary - said, “Outsourcing by its very nature is almost guaranteed to ensure that millions and millions of workers continue to toil on the absolute legally worst terms and conditions that an employer can provide.

“It’s absolutely inevitable that that will be the case for as long as outsourcing continues.”

The UVW legal case was reportedly the first of its kind to cite equality legislation to challenge staff outsourcing. It was victorious in a 2021 employment tribunal however, the decision was later overturned after Royal Parks argued that the employment judge had not considered other outsourced workers when reaching a decision.

In August 2023, the UVW won the right to appeal the decision.

At the time Mr Elia said, ”This is a highly political case that could ring the death knell of outsourcing as we know it and redistribute billions of pounds to low paid workers across the country! We can expect a battle all the way to the Supreme Court (the final court of appeal in the UK) no matter who wins this third round, and we in UVW are ready for it, because if we win, everybody wins. A small union of migrants and low-paid, precarious workers could have changed our world for good.”

In a statement following the original decision, Royal Parks reportedly welcomed the court’s decision that the charity “did not indirectly discriminate against the contractor’s employees”. 

The statement said, “We take all matters of equality, diversity and inclusion very seriously.

“We ensure that all qualifying workers employed by our contractors to work in the parks are paid the London living wage and we are immensely grateful to all the cleaning staff who work so hard to keep the parks looking their best.”

Source: HR Grapevine

(Quotes via original reporting)