Industry on front foot ahead of Agency Bill Committee meeting

The Committee stages of the Private Members Bill on Agency Workers will start next Wednesday (May 7th).

The Bill aims to impose equal treatment provisions between temporary workers and permanent employees which employers and recruiters fear could have a negative impact on the UK’s agency work model.

Commenting ahead of next week’s first Committee meeting, REC Director of External Relations Tom Hadley says:

“The equal treatment proposals in the Bill are extremely vague and are simply unworkable in practice due to the bureaucracy and uncertainty that would be created as well as the fact that pay for the vast majority of workers in the UK is individually negotiated. In addition, the overwhelmingly bleak picture of agency work that is painted by the Trade Unions to justify the need for more regulation is not one that the vast majority of agencies or even workers would recognise. Yes, there are examples of worker exploitation and bad practice but the regulations are already in place to address these instances”.

Any national legislation would be superseded by the proposed EU Directive on Agency Work which is why the REC has called for the focus to remain on finding a workable solution on a European level.

The External Relations team has been in contact with all the MPs represented on the Committee and regular updates from the discussions will be made available to REC members. In addition, the number of agencies now signed up as “recruitment champions” is now nearly 600. This has resulted in a number of REC members taking the initiative to contact their local MPs and actively support the industry’s lobbying priorities.

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For further information, please call Alison Henderson, Press Manager, the REC, 020 7009 2157.

02.05.08

E-mail: administrator@recruitmenttimes.co.uk