During the COVID-19 pandemic, only urgent ad-hoc inspections on employers suspected of serious breaches were maintained due to social distancing restrictions. TPR states that this latest ‘compliance drive’ will mark a return to larger scale in-person inspections following the lifting of COVID restrictions earlier this year.
TPR explains that, as well as detecting and confirming non-compliance, the spot checks will also allow its inspectors to gather valuable insight into employer behaviour including, for example, identifying common administrative errors in relation to ongoing duties. In most cases, inspectors would work on site with employers found to be non-complaint to help get them back on track.