Agency Workers Regulations Audit

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 came into force on 1 October 2011, giving agency workers or ‘temps’ rights that they have never had before.  This audit will help you to identify whether your business will be caught by the Regulations. 

IS IT RELEVANT TO ME?

Yes if your business either supplies or uses agency workers.  Organisations who supply and use agency workers can fall foul of the Regulations and some will find themselves on the receiving end of an Employment Tribunal Judgment - including the requirement to pay compensation.

BEFORE YOU START...

A few things to keep in mind before you start the audit:

• Do you need help completing the audit?  If so, email contact@employmentbuddy.com and we can arrange for someone to spend a day with you to complete the audit for £750 plus VAT.
• Multiple agencies: It is the individual worker who is important, not the agency who supplies them.   The Regulations cannot be avoided by using the same worker but changing the agency who supplies that worker.
• What is an ‘agency worker’? An agency worker is someone who has a contract with a ‘Temporary Work Agency’ but who works temporarily for and under the supervision of a hirer/end-user.  The audit below will help you to identify whether individuals in your organisation are protected by the Regulations.  An individual who is genuinely in business on their own account will not be an agency worker.
• What is a ‘Temporary Work Agency (TWA)’?  A TWA supplies agency workers to work temporarily for a third party (a hirer).  Under the Regulations this can be:
  • a ‘high street’ agency
  • an intermediary, such as an umbrella company (a limited company who supplies individuals to a hirer or to agencies where those individuals later carry out temporary work for the/a hirer) or a master or neutral vendor such as a management company who is involved in facilitating the supply of agency workers.
  • there can be more than one TWA in a temporary worker supply chain and all will be caught by the Regulations.  For example, in a situation where the hirer engages workers via a ‘high street’ agency but that agency sources its workers via umbrella organisation, both the high street agency and the umbrella company will be acting as TWAs and both could have liabilities under the Regulations.
  • What about placing a worker in a permanent job? The Regulations do not cover employment agencies where the introduce workers to employers for direct or permanent employment

WHAT NEXT?

We can provide tailored help, advice and solutions.  If your business is caught by the Regulations and you concerned by the impact it could have email contact@employmentbuddy.com