AWR News

Adrian Marlowe, Chairman of the Association of Recruitment Consultancies, launching ARC’s new campaign, explained “Agency workers are able to bring claims against hirers for employment rights even though current legal authorities indicate that these rights do not generally exist. The threat of this kind of action is of concern to both hirers and agencies alike, […]

For once this is not an article about a derogation of the Swedish variety! Norway’s largest workers’ organisation, The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) has announced that it will not support the implementation of the EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive which intends to offer agency workers more protection and make it easier for employers […]

The Association of Recruitment Consultancies has welcomed the decision by the REC not to include a prohibition on supply teacher agencies from using the ‘professions’ exemption within the Agency Workers Regulations. Adrian Marlowe, chairman of the ARC, said “Having pursued the issue with both the Department for Education and the REC for a number of […]

More and more recruiters are finding themselves forced to sign up to contracts for recruitment services that have been drafted by hirers, often including wide-reaching and sometimes onerous indemnities. With the AWR rights in force, the trend is likely to continue and indemnities are likely to become all the more risky. But not all recruiters […]

With the Agency Workers Regulations in their infancy, we still await the tribunal cases that will address the significant number of unknowns. One area in which the Association of Recruitment Consultancies has pushed for clarification from the department of Business Innovation and Skills is Regulation 10, the ‘Swedish Derogation’. Specifically, under what conditions could a […]

In a time of economic struggle where employers are risk adverse; a time of high unemployment and low confidence; there is real opportunity for recruitment companies. Temporary workers may present a solution during difficult times, and having more candidates to choose from may be beneficial to clients. That is of course, unless the traditional pros […]

Since the AWR came into force, much has been written on R.10 ‘Pay between assignments’ contracts, commonly called the Swedish Derogation (SD), the one available derogation from the basic principle under the regulations, whereby the right to equal pay falls away in return for the employer paying the agency worker for periods when they are […]

Historically recruiters have tended to shy away from supplying workers engaged on a self employed basis, largely due to the potential tax issues that may arise. There has reportedly been a recent surge in the popularity of self employment arrangements in order to avoid the AWR. So should self employment be embraced as a solution […]

10. The AWR does not apply if the contract started before 1st October 2011 Fact or fiction? Fiction – the AWR applies to all supply after 1st October 2011. It does not matter when the supply began. The weeks worked by an agency worker before this time however, do not contribute to the twelve weeks […]

AWR Myths 1-9 1.    Personal Service Company (PSC) contractors are automatically outside of the scope of the AWR Fact or fiction? Fiction – an individual working through a PSC is not automatically outside the scope of the AWR. However, if the individual is ‘carrying on a business undertaking’ and is supplied under the right form […]

The Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) has received a response from the Department for Education (DfE) clarifying the department’s interpretation of R.3(2) of the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR), which allows professionals to be exempted from scope of the AWR. This follows the publication of amended guidance for teachers on the 18th November and inclusion of […]

The Department for Education has revised its Agency Workers Regulations guidance, first issued in August 2011, to state its view that teachers cannot be outside the scope of the AWR using the professions exclusion at R.3(2). This view is made on the basis that “the relationship between hirers and agency teachers is not a ‘business […]

The weekly countdown to Christmas is already underway, and with it comes the annual headache of planning the staff Christmas party. With the AWR in force, hirers want to know whether or not they will have to hand out invitations to their agency workers.     Under the AWR agency workers are granted equal access to […]

The Agency Workers Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011 have now been published, completing implementation of the Agency Workers Regulations (“AWR”) across the United Kingdom. Unlike mainland UK, the Regulations will be introduced in Northern Ireland on 5th December 2011, the deadline for implementation required by the Directive. Given that the AWR represents one of the most […]