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29
Outworkers
Many firms arrange for some work to be undertaken as outwork
either under contract by other factories or by homeworkers and in
order to check the spread of vermin or infectious disease, information
as to such outwork must be supplied in relation to certain classes of
work. Because smallpox and scarlet fever, the two diseases considered
most likely to be spread in this way, are no longer of serious concern
and verminous premises only infrequently discovered, the supervision
of outwork has become of less importance than heretofore. Nevertheless,
the information supplied, which it must be remembered does not
embrace all forms of outwork is still of use in that it enables some
supervision of the home circumstances.
A proportion of the homes have been visited each year and the
conditions are on the whole satisfactory and no evidence has been found
of children being required to spend long hours on this type of work or
of it being carried out by groups of persons working in unhygienic ill
ventilated and ill lit rooms as occurred frequently at one time. The
rate of pay for outwork may not be good but it often provides occupation
for those who for one reason or another are unable to go out to
work and eases financial stresses.
The number of firms employing outworkers in
1956 was 184
The number of Finsbury outworkers employed by
them was 430
The number of non Finsbury outworkers employed by
them was 4,496
The number of Finsbury outworkers employed by firms
outside the Borough was 151
The total number of Finsbury outworkers employed by
firms in or outside the Borough was 581
Of these 137 were firms and 444 homeworkers.
Number of visits paid to homes 421
The registers of outworkers which firms are required to maintain
are inspected as part of the routine during the inspection of the
factories concerned.