AS OF 1st OCTOBER 2011 THE AWR WILL BE IMPLEMENTED.

What are the Agency Worker Regulations?
The new regulations derive from European legislation designed to give temporary agency workers parity in pay and employment conditions as they would have been entitled to had they been recruited by the hirer directly to do the same job. Whilst in other parts of the EU, this entitlement comes into effect from day one of an assignment, the UK has a derogation period of 12 weeks. This means the agency worker needs be engaged for 12 weeks’ of service with the same hirer, in the same role, in order to qualify.

Will agency workers be entitled to the same rights and benefits of employees?
The new regulations will not change the employment status of agency workers who will still not have the rights to claim unfair dismissal, redundancy pay or maternity leave. Nor will agency workers be entitled to the same benefits such as occupational sick pay, company pension schemes, financial participation schemes and bonus payments based upon organisational or company performance. These are considered a reflection of the long term relationship between an employee and an employer. Agency workers will therefore remain a flexible labour resource for hirers.

What will the agency worker be entitled to after 12 weeks?
Agency workers will be entitled to the same basic pay and working conditions. This includes the basic hourly rate and any additional entitlements that are linked to the work done by the agency worker during an assignment. It will include the same overtime and shift allowances, unsocial hours premiums, payments for difficult or dangerous duties and lunch vouchers. Bonuses which are directly attributable to the quality and quantity of work done by an agency worker will also be included. Agency workers will also be entitled to the same rest breaks and annual leave allowance. Whilst the other benefits are only given after 12 weeks, there are some benefits which agency workers will be entitled to from day one of an assignment. Firstly, you will need to ensure that agency workers are made aware of vacancies that arise in your organisation. Secondly, agency workers will also be entitled to access a number of collective facilities including crèche and childcare facilities, canteen facilities and the provision of transport services but access to these can be refused if there are ‘objective grounds’ for doing so. ‘Amenities’ e.g. subsidised gym membership, season ticket loans and childcare vouchers are out of scope.

Who will be protected?
The Regulations apply to all temporary agency workers regardless of whether they are on a contract of employment or contract for services. PAYE workers who are employed via an umbrella company will also be within scope. Workers who are genuinely in business on their own account, e.g. self employed or working through a corporate vehicle, will not be within scope. Managed service contracts (i.e. those where the supplier rather than the hirer, manages or directs staff) are not expressly excluded, but they will be outside of scope unless in reality, the user, rather than the manager service, supervises and directs the staff.

How will I establish equal treatment?
In some workplaces, for example a factory production line, the agency worker may be working next to a worker recruited directly who could serve as a ‘flesh and blood’ comparator to establish parity in pay and working conditions. In these circumstances the hirer and the agency will be deemed compliant with the regulations. If a ‘flesh and blood’ comparator cannot be found, then there may be an identifiable pay scale or a starting rate which could be used as a reference point. In other workplaces, the agency worker may be a unique hire and there may be no easily identifiable comparator, pay scales or starting rates. In these circumstance, parity does not need to be established. However, in all scenarios agency workers will be entitled to benefits which ‘apply generally’ in the workplace. Benefits outlined in company handbooks, employment contracts and collective agreements will be taken into account by the courts in determining parity in pay and working conditions. Your recruitment agency suppliers should be able to help you with this once the Government guidance has been published in 2010.

How will the 12 week qualifying period work?
The provisions will apply after the worker has been engaged for 12 weeks regardless of their working pattern (e.g. full time or part time). A new qualifying period will only begin if a new assignment with the same hirer is substantively different, or if there is a break of more than six weeks between assignments in the same role. The 12 weeks qualifying period can be paused if the worker takes annual leave, takes certified sick leave or takes time off for public duties. The regulations include a complex set of anti-avoidance provisions designed to make it difficult for hirers to circumvent the qualifying period.

Who is liable for establishing equal treatment?
It is envisaged that most cases will be effectively dealt with via a recruitment agency’s grievance procedure. Where this fails, a pre-conciliation service will be available via Acas to minimise the number of claims that end up in an employment tribunal. The agency will be liable for any breach of a right in relation to equal treatment for which they are responsible. However, they will have a defence if they have taken ‘reasonable steps’ to obtain the necessary information from the hirer. This will mean the hirer and the agency will need to work together closely to share appropriate information to ensure the agency worker is receiving equal treatment. A professional recruitment agency should already be working closely with you so that they have a good understanding of your business and can supply candidates to match your recruitment needs. The new regulations will mean that this close relationship will be become even more important. Some of the agency workers I engage get paid more than my own employees. Will I have to lower their rate of pay to match the rate paid to permanent workers?
No. If the agency worker you are supplied with are on a higher rate of pay than your own employees then their pay does not need to be lowered. However you may need to show the steps you put in place to decide on the temp’s rate of pay.

Can I circumvent the Directive by employing temporary workers directly?
Unlike workers employed directly, agency workers do not have rights to claim unfair dismissal, request maternity or paternity leave or claim redundancy pay. This makes them a flexible resource for employers to meet unexpected peaks in demand and cover for absences. Employing workers directly, even on zero hour contracts, means workers may qualify for those additional rights. The regulations will not change the employment status of agency workers who will continue to be a more flexible resource than permanent workers employed directly.

Are there legitimate ways to derogate from the regulations?
Agencies that have a contract of employment with their workers and pay them in between assignments do not need to establish equal treatment for those workers when they are placed with hirers. However the workers must be paid at least 50% of what they were being paid in their previous assignment when out of work and no less than National Minimum Wage. They must be paid for an accrued four weeks whilst between assignments before the contract can be terminated.

Timescales
The regulations have now been laid before Parliament and should be passed into UK law before the general election in 2010. Despite considerable pressure from trade unions, REC strongly argued the case that recruitment agencies and hirers need time to prepare for the change and that the availability of a temporary workforce will be crucial for businesses emerging from the recession. Taking these arguments on board, the Government has decided to delay the implementation of these regulations to 1st October 2011.


Please contact Vane Recruitment for further details: 023 9236 1115
REC Website

Secret Santa

The day has come......... the anticipation is increasing and the office ambience is becoming more intense. What little secret parcels have been delivered?!

Claire's Work Experience Diary

Claire has returned home to visit her family for the Christmas holidays. She will be back in the Vane Recruitment office in January. Pop back then to read her 'Work Experience Diary'.

Networking

80% of all vacancies are not formally advertised – networking is often the best route to use to connect with potential employers.

Do you use LinkedIn or another professional network? You should aim to connect with well connected people. According to recent figures 33% of job hunters who used professional networks were successful in achieving a new position. Identify target companies, join specific groups, ask mutual friends to introduce you.

Use your personal status updates on micro-blogging sites such as Twitter to remind people that you're seeking new employment. Twitter is a public network, therefore there is an incredible rate of traffic, you could be viewed by any one of the 190 million account users.


Follow us on Twitter for recruitment news and updates
Vane Recruitment

Fewer Brits Leaving To Find Work Abroad

via Recruiter.co.uk - 25 Nov 2010

Emigration from the UK declined in 2009, according to long-term migration figures released today from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The number of British people leaving the country for work-related reasons has fallen 40% since 2008. An estimated 368,000 people emigrated in 2009, which is similar to levels of emigration seen before 2008, where it reached 427,000

Court decision deals agency workers a blow

Via Recruter.co.uk

The Court of Appeal has dealt a blow to agency workers seeking to secure employment rights with their end-user client, says Richard Brown, partner at Osborne Clarke.

Mr Tilson, a contractor, claimed he was unfairly dismissed when Alstom Transport (‘Alstom’), the end-user client he was working for, terminated his appointment. Mr Tilson’s engagement with Alstom was via a series of contractual relationships – his service company contracted with a staffing company which in turn contracted with Alstom.

Mr Tilson was fully integrated into the Alstom business. For example, he worked Monday to Friday each week, his line manager had to approve his requests for annual leave, Alstom employees reported to him and he was authorised to discipline, dismiss and recruit permanent employees.

An Employment Tribunal initially found he was an employee of Alstom and hence could proceed with his claim for unfair dismissal. However, the Court of Appeal has held that Mr Tilson was not an employee. Whilst Mr Tilson looked like, was treated as and acted like an employee of Alstom, this was not inconsistent with a finding that he was an independent contractor.

The chain of contracts setting out the arrangements in place and Mr Tilson’s decision to reject offers of employment from Alstom, supported the position that he was an independent contractor engaged to work for Alstom via a service company and staffing company.

Any inconsistency in the contractual terms between his service company and the staffing company (which provided that Mr Tilson would not work under the control of an end-user client) and what happened in practice did not break that chain. There was no need to imply an employment contract to make business sense of the relationships in place.

In light of this decision, staffing companies should review their arrangements with service provider companies and make clear that the worker engaged through that company has no intention of entering into an employment relationship with the staffing company or any end-user.

Staffing companies should also be wary of falling into the trap of dressing up contacts just to suit the tax status of suppliers - so far as possible, such contracts should accurately reflect the realities of the potential relationship the worker may have with any end-user he/she is assigned to

Next October heralds the controversial right for an agency worker, after 12 weeks in an assignment, to receive equal treatment to a comparable permanent employee in some aspects of their engagement, such as pay. However, they will still be denied the benefit of the protection of employment status with their end-user client, including the right not to be unfairly dismissed.

The issue of employment status may therefore still be one that agency workers and contractors will seek to secure through the courts. However, this case should hopefully provide a practical deterrent to such challenges, given the prospect of legal costs and where services are provided via a service company, the prospect of HMRC scrutinising a contractor’s stated self-employed tax status.

Tilson v Alstom Transport (CA)

S.N.O.W

As Portsmouth woke up to a blanket of snow this morning and many chose to stay in bed, our office was fully staffed and buzzing!

The Southcoast is partial to a light dusting of the white stuff, however fortunately for us that is few and far between. David Price, a Met Office forecaster, said “up to five inches of snow had fallen on lower ground in the Portsmouth area, while up to 15 inches has fallen on higher ground.”

Being in the recruitment industry we were aware last night when the snowfall began that we would wake to face a hectic morning of calls from candidates stranded and unable to get into work. It would seem though that some of our most remote jobs are infact fully staffed as our temps have made the journey in to work!

Sitting here now looking out of the office window it looks like a pretty Winter Wonderland; the snow is still tumbling from the heavy skies.

'TURN THE WORLD RED' - World Aids Day 2010

http://www.joinred.com/

Join us in Lighting Global Landmarks (RED) this World AIDS Day - December 1st

December 1st is World AIDS Day and we’re illuminating the world’s most iconic landmarks (RED) to raise awareness of the goal of an AIDS Free Generation due in 2015. Last year nearly half a million babies were born with HIV. But with access to medication a pregnant mother can stop the transmission of HIV to her child. With continued funding to organizations like the Global Fund, the number of babies born with HIV could be zero by 2015 – creating the first AIDS Free Generation in 30 years.

This World AIDS Day, cities around the world will light their most distinctive landmarks (RED). From the Sydney Opera House, to Paris' City Hall & Fountains, from the London Eye, to Cape Town’s Table Mountain, from Niagara Falls, to the Seattle Space Needle - the world will turn red to highlight the goal that by 2015 we can have a world where virtually no child is born with HIV.

Be sure to check and see if landmarks in your city are turning red.

Australia
•Sydney (Sydney Opera House & Sydney Harbour Bridge)Bermuda
•Hamilton (City Hall)
France
•Paris (City Hall & Fountains)
Ireland
•Dublin (Convention Center)
Netherlands
•Amsterdam (Paradiso)
South Africa
•Cape Town (Table Mountain)
Spain
•Madrid (Puerta de Alcala)
United Kingdom
England
Portsmouth, Spinnaker Tower
•London (London Eye, BT Tower, Trafalgar Square Fountain, Alexandra Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral)
•Manchester (Manchester Town Hall, The Wheel of Manchester, Spinningfields Ice Rink)
Scotland
•Glasgow (The Glasgow Science Center)
United States
New York
•Brooklyn (Brooklyn Borough Hall)
•New York (Empire State Building, The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, JFK Control Tower, New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ MarketSite Tower in Times Square)
•Niagara Falls (Niagara Falls)Texas
•Fort Worth (Lancaster Ave lights)
Washington
•Seattle (The Space Needle)

Claire's Work Experience Diary

Our morning started with a motivational video, the key speaker being Gavin Ingham. I’ve had a look at his website where he has his own blog, on which he talks about The Apprentice, detailing the events of the episode pointing out where they went wrong and giving sales tips. On the topic of The Apprentice it’s getting nearer the final and there is more discussion into who is going to win it. Personally, I would like to see Liz win because she hasn’t really messed up at all during the series so far and has just got on with things rather than making an argument.

It’s been another busy day at Vane with lots of people coming in enquiring about jobs despite the freezing weather and snow!