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29/09/2009

Recruitment agencies want to delay fines from the ISA

Filed under: recruitment agencies — admin @ 10:13

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) an organisation set up to get more than 11 million people checked before they can work with children or vulnerable adults was questioned by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation as what recruitment agencies directives should be when referring suspicions on individuals.

The REC has written to ministers to ask that the £5000 fine is not introduced until employers have had enough time to comply with the new regulations. Recruitment agencies are especially concerned as they are deemed the employers when it comes to temporary staff and as is would face criminal charges if all sanctions are not adhere to by the 12th of October.

The reason the ISA came to fruition is so to prevent a repeat of the Soham murders, by ensuring that all who want to work with children and vulnerable adults have been screened properly. A problem that exists by doing this is how intricate do you go, the scheme at the moment would mean that even parents organising lifts home from football matches would have to pay £64 to register with the ISA and be screened, this seems slightly excessive.

There are fears that this can sway so far into the overprotective category that every little suspicion is reported and so in turn ruining potentially many innocent peoples’ livelihood. The fact also that you will have to pay £64 to the ISA to get this screening done, would also mean that many workers such as cleaners would be hesitant to pay this and so choose other types of establishments to go to.

The REC believes these directives were rushed through and not thought about how they would work in the real world. It needs time to get employers to understand how ISA will operate and hopes the ISA will be lenient with implementing the fines in early stages.

From my point of view I agree with most things the ISA is trying to do and would find it hard for anyone to disagree with this, but as with many things the government tries to implement it seems to be rushed and have a lack of understanding by employers especially Recruitment Agencies. I hope these teething problems are sorted out quickly and efficiently

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04/09/2009

Public Sector helps support Hays Recruitment

Filed under: recruitment agency — admin @ 09:36

Hays recruitment, one of Britain’s largest recruitment companies, announced that they expect Public Sector jobs to grow and help support their business over the next year.

Over the last 12 months up to the end of June, Hays has billed £670.8m for placed candidates, this is a drop of 18%. Pre-tax profit dropped by 43%, to £151m. Hays were forced to cut 1250 staff and close 43 offices during the economic downturn.

The recruitment agency has now said that the shortage of staff in education and healthcare sectors has meant that there will be a strong need for temps and perms in these sectors over the next year. This statement is a stark contrast to a report issued by the Department of Health, which claimed that the health service needs to cut 10% of its jobs over the next 5 years to meet the £20bn efficiency savings plan. This is undoubtedly a tall order, which hopefully will not compromise service levels within the NHS.

Alistair Cox, chief executive at Hays added that the market was stabilising including the City, but that unemployment will continue to rise over the coming the year.

Hays also reported that the number of British workers looking to work overseas had increased by 20%, which is quite a large increase. Many seem to be going to Australia and New Zealand, which may be a sign of much of the younger worker force deciding to use this economic downturn as a chance to look for work and life experiences elsewhere.

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