Over nearly three decades specialising exclusively in recruitment law and contracts, I have seen almost every way an agency can lose a fee. What I have not seen – until recently – is the speed with which some businesses are now willing to put their entire commercial protection into the hands of an algorithm. I […]
On top of all the consultations issued this year, the government has now published a consultation on employment status reform. Since employment status is at the heart of recruitment supply the big question is, could it impact agencies. For most recruitment businesses the short answer is probably not: PAYE agency workers already have worker status […]
From 1 October 2026, agencies who have not checked that an agency worker has the right to work in the UK could be liable for significant penalties. The new law applies to most supply arrangements including agency workers, umbrella company staff, subcontractors, personal service companies (‘PSCs’) and platform-engaged workers. Read more… What recruitment businesses that […]
Since 7th April 2026 the EAS was imported into the Fair Work Agency (FWA), so we now refer to EAS inspections as FWA inspections. However the FWA’s role to inspect employment agencies and employment businesses and investigate breaches of compliance rules remains as it was prior to April. Scope of FWA inspection Although scope of […]
As currently proposed the government plans to extend obligations on hirers to offer direct guaranteed hours contracts to agency workers after 12 weeks. ARC argues that the industry must push back on this. Read more here.
ARC are pleased to announce that the next meeting for members and guests will take place on 25th August 2026 at 2.30pm. For a change, this will be a Microsoft Teams meeting rather than face-to-face. The subject of the meeting will be: “AI for recruitment: What’s real? What’s hype? And what’s worth your time?” Whether or […]
On 2nd June, the government launched its consultation on guaranteed hours, officially (and confusingly) titled “Ending one-sided flexibility: reforms of zero hours and similar contracts.” Despite the zero-hours-sounding name, this targets all businesses that engage temporary or agency workers – not just those on zero hours contracts – with implementation due in 2027 and the […]
Yesterday Lawspeed held a face to face seminar to discuss the current consultation on modernising the agency work regulatory framework. Joined by two policy representatives from the Department of Business and Trade the meeting rapidly developed into a broader discussion. “We had anticipated strong comments, but the depth of feeling in the room was staggering” […]
HMRC has warned of new fraudulent models emerging in the market, claiming to reduce employment costs through ‘tax credits’ offset through acquired third-party businesses. Disguised as payroll providers, intermediaries, umbrella solutions, or back-office providers, they assert to use tax credits to offset employment taxes such as PAYE and National Insurance by operating the payroll thereby, […]
The industry’s been rightly focused on the joint and several liability risks under Chapter 11 of the Finance Bill, but there’s another serious consequence baked into this legislation, and it’s flying under the radar. We’re talking about TUPE transfers. At first glance, it may not look like much. But for agencies who’ve historically used umbrella […]
