FEATURE / REGULATION
DAYLIGHT ROBBERY Illustrations: Adam Gale
Rogue training firms and people smugglers are taking advantage of vulnerable people. It’s time to fight back
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ecessions hit the most vulnerable hardest, making them targets for ruthless criminals who know how to exploit them. Sadly, there is a growing number of people in the UK in hardship. With more than 1.3 million people now unemployed, the UK labour market has never been tougher. The Bank of England has forecast that the economy will have shrunk by 9.5% by the end of 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. And the global downturn has created a vulnerable migrant labour force. These two significant problems have
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created opportunities for criminals at the fringes of the HVAC industry. They are targeting people who have lost their jobs and are desperate to provide for their families and some firms are prepared to turn a blind eye to cut costs. Bogus training course operators are fleecing people who want to join the industry and human traffickers are providing sub-contractors with illegal labour to cut costs.
Recurring problem So, what’s actually happening and what can be done to tackle the criminals?
The CIPHE has been monitoring both issues and is now urging members to take action to stop criminals profiting from misery. It’s not the first time job seekers have been targeted with the offer of very short courses that cost between £4,500 and £8,000. But furlough, recession and the chancellor urging people to retrain has brought the problem back. CIPHE chief executive officer Kevin Wellman says: “We have been voicing our concerns for many years now, probably for three decades or more. Sadly not enough has been done to
www.ciphe.org.uk
