Recruitment agencies are more confused than ever about which workers are classed out side the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) and it has caused 2 recruitment bodies to disagree with how to best solve this indecisiveness.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation has called for a checklist, that recruitment agencies can use to distinguish if a worker is classed as self employed or not. However the Association of Recruitment Consultancies argued that although the checklist may make it easier for recruitment agencies, it will in fact increase their exposure to the AWR.
The current guidelines states that a worker paid through a limited company does not automatically mean that the person is self employed and that a series of checks would need to be carried out to see what relationship the worker has with the recruitment agency and the hirer. If it is deemed that the worker is acting under the supervision and direction of the hirer then this person may very well be classed as acting within the AWR. It is this kind of detail that would be required to ascertain where the worker lies and clever recruitment agencies have been warned clever wording of contracts will not suffice in analysing the workers status.
To me it all seems rather confusing, a simple checklist does seem quite logical but of course not at the detriment of the worker, hirer and recruitment agency. It is quite clear such as in the construction industry that all 3 parties are happy with the arrangement that currently exists and to have new regulations that make it harder for the hirer to get the job done is something we should of course not advocate especially in this sensitive economic climate.
