Back in spring we asked you to help us investigate what we suspected was a pretty massive violation of people’s rights.

We’d heard anecdotally that workers were being denied access to justice through employment tribunals. Well, you got in touch and we got digging.

Through Freedom of Information requests we’ve found that thousands of people who actually win their employment tribunal claims never see any of the money. There’s a government enforcement scheme that’s meant to put the screws on companies that don’t pay – but even when they get involved, only a fifth of the cash is recovered.

On the ropes in opinion polls, Labour is desperate to show that it can make the country work better for ordinary people. The Employment Rights Bill currently working its way through parliament is supposed to be key evidence in its case.

But a law can’t do much good when it’s not enforceable.

Right now, rogue bosses can just bluff their way through the system without paying out a penny and get away with it. They pull the same trick with the government too – while the enforcement scheme can dole out penalties, only 2% of the fines are ever paid.

The investigation has already made a massive splash, running prominently on the BBC this week.

Lord John Hendy KC, one of the UK’s leading employment barristers and the chair of the Institute of Employment Rights, said the findings were shocking and had profound implications for employment law. He said it should be a wake-up call for the government.

He said the Employment Rights Bill relies heavily on tribunals working. “The whole system of enforcement of rights, the whole system of remedies for rights in employment tribunals, is completely undermined,” he told us.

We’re always trying to make this complicated world a little easier to understand, so we designed a game that puts you in the shoes of someone trying to chase their tribunal money. You’ll see how infuriating it is.

You can make it through the game in a couple of minutes; in reality, the process takes months. Take Nadine Fallone, who was fired from a south London events company after blowing the whistle on her colleagues’ drug use and safety breaches. She was awarded £65,000 for unfair dismissal. But preparing for the tribunal had taken its toll – and then she faced the hurdle of getting her money from a company that all of a sudden didn’t exist any more.

Factchecked!

Each week we reveal a fascinating fact from our reporting…

Did you know?

One in every five pairs of trainers in the world is made in a single port city in China.

Find out more

Of the thousands of workers who enter Jinjiang’s densely packed shoe factories every day, many are Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. Often they have been brought there under duress.

We’ve found new evidence that suggests some companies are dodging the laws designed to block the import of goods tainted by the use of forced labour.

Our recent report connects another dozen footwear factories to the programme, including some directly owned by famous sportswear brands.

Read more here. 

History repeats itself, but we’re ready for it

It’s been impossible to ignore the flags going up in many parts of England as the polls tilt heavily to the right and thousands march with Tommy Robinson.

On the afternoon of that march, I collected my son from a party. The kids had been in central London and saw some of the marchers. “We’ve been here before,” the mum muttered to me. “We’re back in the 70s now.”

It was both scary and reassuring at once. We know what we’re facing. We can get through it. That’s what I took away from the exchange.

That’s also what I felt reading this story from my colleague Gareth Davies. Twenty years ago, when Tony Blair’s government wanted to set up a centre to house asylum seekers in Lee-on-the-Solent, many in the community started putting up xenophobic banners. But overnight, they’d disappear. The people putting them up were tearing their hair out, trying to figure out who it could be.

Well, after two decades, we can reveal the truth.

Gareth’s story is moving and inspiring.

We’re going to do more work like this — uplifting the voices of those behind the headlines, telling the real story of immigration in this country and providing an alternative to those who are shouting the loudest right now.

If this story moved you, then please become a Bureau Insider today and support our work:

The latest from Gaza’s drug-strapped wards

We were privileged this week to speak with Wael al-Dahdouh, the Palestinian journalist who lost his wife and two children when the IDF bombed the Israeli-designated safe zone where they were sheltering. Dahdouh carried on reporting. I’ll be able to share more about the conversation Dahdouh had with me and my colleagues next week.

For now, though, we reported this week on how injured Palestinians are suffering because Israel is blocking vital medical supplies, including painkillers.

The only purpose of these drugs – from morphine to paracetamol – is to alleviate pain, so restricting them looks like an act of cruelty. The Israeli blockade isn’t the only reason the drugs don’t get there, Tania Hary, director of the legal centre Gisha, told us. But the other reasons are all linked to how Israel has conducted this war, she said.

Our report takes us into life in Gaza once more.

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