Developing a holistic integrated strategic approach towards undeclared work: a toolkit

In many economies, a fragmented and uncoordinated approach exists across the multifarious government bodies responsible for tackling undeclared work and limited integration of social partners, as well as an incomplete range of policy measures used. The aim of this toolkit is to set out the steps required to develop a holistic integrated strategic approach towards undeclared work. A holistic integrated strategic approach is:

where governments use a whole government approach to tackle undeclared work, by joining-up on the policy and enforcement level of both strategy and operations the fields of labour, tax and social security law, and involve and cooperate with social partners and other stakeholders. This approach involves using the full range of direct and indirect policy measures available to enhance the power of, and trust in, authorities respectively. The objective is to transform undeclared work into declared work in an effective manner.

Therefore, breaking this definition down into its component parts, there are three major components:

• The strategic objective of transforming undeclared work into declared work; • Developing a whole government coordinated approach, and • Implementing the full range of direct and indirect tools.

This toolkit addresses each component in turn.