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Ravi Murphy, director of Lawspeed said “the new laws are very complex, with severe penalties for non-compliance. The law will apply from May 2018, but it is essential for recruiters to prepare early. The seminars will deal with “the what, the why and the how”, with attendees learning about the areas of operation affected, processes […]

Now called ‘Service Provider Accreditation’, Lawspeed’s new SPA service provides assurance to anyone wishing to use a service provider or umbrella company as its payment provider. In announcing the updated service, first launched in 2009, Lawspeed director Ravi Murphy said “tax regulation and rights such as under the AWR can prove a minefield for the […]

A recent ruling in the High Court serves as a reminder to all business owners, especially recruiters, of how important it is to ensure that contracts of engagement with employees and other personnel include strong provisions protecting your confidential information. For those in the recruitment sector this means your databases of candidates and clients – […]

Lawspeed has read and analysed the Taylor review published this week. It is an aspirational document full of recommendations, but as it is only advisory its impact will only really be known if and when the government adopts any of the proposals.    Furthermore, the recommendations could be adopted wholesale, with a light touch, or […]

Where a hirer or RPO sends its own form of contract to an agency for signature, it is important to have the contract independently reviewed by experts to ensure that it does not include onerous clauses, exposing the agency to risk. Ravi Murphy, director at the recruitment law and compliance specialists Lawspeed, explains the common […]

Since the onset of the new IR35 rules, it appears that many contractor jobs are now being advertised as ‘outside IR35’. At the same time, assessments of the application of the new tax law rely upon HMRC’s controversial online Employment Status Service (ESS) tool. Are public sector hirers mistaken to rely on the tool, and […]

The new IR35 rules effective from 6th April 2017 were predicted by some to harbour disaster for public sector hirers, as key contractors were set either to walk out or increase their rates. However with hundreds of jobs now advertised as ‘outside IR35’, has HMRC strategy been defeated already, or is the ground set for […]

On Friday last week the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) was told that its critique of the proposed new IR35 rules was to be published by the Treasury Select Committee. “The critique was based upon advice we provided to ARC” says Ravi Murphy, client services director of Lawspeed, the specialist legal and compliance consultancy to […]

The changes to IR35 in the public sector may be hogging the headlines, but recruiters should not overlook the other important changes this month, including the Apprenticeship Levy, Gender Pay Gap (GPG) reporting, increases in the national minimum wages, changes to statutory payment rates, and the modern slavery disclosure duty all starting to kick in. […]

Since April 2016 all businesses with an annual turnover above £36m are obliged by the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) to publish Slavery and Human Trafficking statements (SHTs), setting out the steps that they have taken to combat modern slavery within their businesses and supply chains (including the recruitment agencies they use). However, as Ravi […]

Changes to the IR35 rules relating to the supply of contractors in the public sector will apply from 6 April 2017, meaning that, where IR35 applies, a recruiter will be responsible for accounting to HMRC for PAYE and NICs, including employers NICs, on payments it makes to a personal service company. Whilst there are a […]

Recruiters often find that they have nowhere to go for help with navigating the contractual and legal minefield of fee recovery, with the result that some clients think that they can simply ignore or refuse to pay agency fees. As a response to growing concerns from recruitment agencies, Lawspeed has developed a fixed price Agency […]

There is much concern about the new public sector IR35 rules, which are proposed to apply from 6th April 2017, for a host of reasons. One such reason is that where an agency or third party is to be the fee payer, there is no provision for the hirer to be liable if the fee […]

As we warned some time ago, proposed changes in the law mean that even recruitment agencies with modest turnovers could now be affected by the modern slavery legislation (click here for previous article). The modern slavery reporting obligation currently only applies to businesses with a UK turnover in excess of £36m. Any requirement involving turnover […]