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REC called on the Government to harmonise the proposed changes to the Employment Agencies Act (EAA) with the proposed Agency Workers Directive (AWD) to prevent what it said would amount to 'a double whammy of regulations over the next few years.'
The Confederation's call to merge and delay the introduction of the EAA until the AWD is finalised follows the recent announcement of the final draft of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2002 (the EAA's full title), before it is laid before Parliament later this year.
REC said the recruitment industry had gained 'significant ground' from earlier consultations over the planned EAA regulations and that many of the industry's concerns had been taken on board. However, it warned some of the new administrative and other measures announced will require further discussion in order to become practicable.
REC made the following points:
- Temp-to-temp/temp-to-third party
Under the revised regulations, temp-to-temp and temp-to-third party will be brought under the same eight to 14-week sliding scale as temp-to-perm. The previous draft of regulations indicated that temp-to-temp and temp-to-third party would only warrant only a four-week exclusion period.
- Administration procedures
The deadlines faced for issuing administration to clients and workers has been made more practical but the red tape still remains and the previous requirements relating to dissemination of terms and conditions and an extension of the deadline to issues certain documents to clients and workers still remains to be looked at.
- Extended implementation period
New legislation usually has a compulsory three-month implementation period. For EAA an extended period of time to put compliance measures in place has been granted. On the Government's present timetable, EAA becomes effective in May/June 2003.
Recruiters will have six months to absorb additional administrative and legal processes, (although this will be little comfort if it found that more changes will be required to comply with the Agency Workers Directive).
Tim Nicholson, Chief Executive of REC, said: "The industry has been operating in an uncertain regulatory environment for nearly three years, and this has been an unwelcome constraint. The revisions in this latest and probably last draft again move these regulations in the right direction. Once again we are pleased to see that many of our concerns have been taken into account, and I acknowledge the willingness of Ministers and Officials to listen, and in some cases to change direction, during this protracted process.
"We remain concerned at the accumulation of employment-related regulations but overall are reassured that the EAA, which started so disastrously for our industry, has been considerably revised and is subject to further consultation. Our approach has been to put forward arguments, strongly supported by facts, and pro-active, albeit often criticised, co-operation with Government, which has clearly paid off.
"However, under the weight of current consultation on both EAA and the Agency Workers Directive, it must make sense to harmonise consideration of these major pieces of legislation, to avoid the industry been forced to make wholesale and costly changes twice in as many years."
Ann Swain, Chief Executive of ATSCo, the agency representative body, said: "ATSCo welcomes receipt of the long-awaited Draft Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2002, and is pleased the DTI has listened and noted the concerns of the various industry bodies and individual businesses with regard to these regulations. There has been some simplification of terms for the sake of clarity, but I must say that the wording is still complex and at times difficult to decipher.
"I am grateful to the DTI for the proposed change in quarantine period on ‘temp to temp’ and ‘temp to third party’ transfers from four to eight weeks as I feel this is above the time threshold to discourage abuse of the system. I am also highly interested in the outcome of the suggested cost/benefit analysis on the exclusion of personal services businesses from the legislation. ATSCo plans to co-operate with the PCG in pursuing this because we would certainly welcome their omission.
"The staffing sector has had a difficult time recently from the point of deteriorating market conditions and legislative threat, but I feel that these regulations although not helpful are workable."
The PCG, which had lobbied the Government on this issue, issued the following statement: 'PCG welcomes the fact that the DTI has recognised some of our concerns, and has noted our position that Limited Company Contractors are businesses engaged on business-to-business contracts, they do not need the protections provided by the legislation.
'We welcome the exclusion of limited companies from the restrictions on charging a fee to a work-seeker.
'We are pleased the DTI is prepared to reconsider the application of the regulations to Limited Companies.
'PCG will study the new regulations carefully, will consult again with its members, and will make a detailed response to the DTI in due course.'
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Richard Powell, © Shout99.com 2002
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