IRS conference on agency workers and the law

The IRS one-day conference on Agency workers and the law - brought to you by the XpertHR Group - will help you prepare for the forthcoming Agency Workers Directive. Issues to be discussed include: the objectives and premise of the Directive; the principle of equal treatment and which terms and conditions are covered; and the impact on the use of migrant and non-EU workers. 

To help you make the most of the conference, we highlight just some of the material on this subject available on XpertHR - ranging from a survey of employers' use of employment agencies and recruitment agencies in 2009 to a series of articles on the Agency Workers Directive. 

 

Training to get the most out of XpertHR

Are you getting the most out of XpertHR? If not, we can provide training to help you understand XpertHR’s content, functions and capabilities. Training sessions can be tailored to suit your specific needs and there are a number of ways in which we provide this service:

  • One to one (via telephone)
  • A conference call for your team
  • Group presentations
  • Attending HR meetings

To request training for yourself or a colleague please email: training@xperthr.co.uk. 

 

The law on agency workers

Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) (Amendment) Regulations 2008
The Regulations amended the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 so that agency workers on contracts of less than three months are no longer excluded from statutory sick pay. The Regulations can be viewed on the OPSI website. 

From the XpertHR legal timetable archive. Use the legal timetable to view summaries of forthcoming and recently implemented legislation, with effective dates. Browse the archive for details of older changes. Visit the consultation pages for summaries of open, closed and future consultations on legislative change. 

How to employ agency temps as permanent members of staff An end-user company might wish to retain a temp as a permanent member of its staff, either because the temp has proved to be exceptionally competent or because the company always intended to offer a permanent position but wanted to assess the temp's performance first without the complexities involved in giving employee status from the outset. The XpertHR "how to" section provides practical guidance on the issues involved. 

Temp to perm transfer fees - worked examples
Following the implementation of the conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, there are restrictions on how "temp to perm" fees can be used, but the charging of transfer fees is not actually prevented. The XpertHR worked examples section demonstrates how the rules work in practice. Each XpertHR worked example sets out a scenario and the necessary action in the circumstances, and follows this with a concise explanation. 

Legal Q&A: Changes in VAT on temps
Alan Brooks, senior tax manager, and Stephen Chaffey, solicitor, Dundas & Wilson, discuss how employers are affected by the change on 1 April 2009 to the VAT charged by employment businesses who supply temporary staff. 

Remember, if you come across any article on XpertHR that you want to draw to the attention of a colleague, every article has a link to the right of the screen enabling you to "email this item to a colleague". Click on the link, enter the email address of your colleague, and press send. Your colleague will receive the document in full, making this an ideal tool when delegating work. Alternatively, you can email the article to yourself as a reminder. 

XpertHR employment law manual
The XpertHR employment law manual provides accessible and up-to-date guidance on the law on employing temporary workers. It also alerts you to forthcoming changes to the law, via the "future developments" subsection, a feature of all the employment law manual sections. 

Line manager briefings
Our line manager briefing on agency temps looks at the law and best practice on managing agency temps. It aims to help managers understand their legal obligations when engaging agency temps and the possible employment law risks in such temporary arrangements. It also provides advice on liaising with employment agencies. 

Agency worker FAQs from the XpertHR FAQs section
The XpertHR FAQs section provides answers to commonly asked questions on a wide range of topics. Questions on agency workers include:

We are always interested to hear your feedback on our resources, and welcome suggestions for further articles that could be added to XpertHR. If there's a question that you would like to see answered on the site, use the Suggest tab in the FAQs section to submit your idea. 

 

The Agency Workers Directive

EU Directive gives temporary agency workers new rights
European Employment Review Editor, Mark Carley, examines the provisions of the Temporary Agency Workers Directive, and looks briefly at the history of efforts to protect temporary agency workers across the European Union. 

Agency Workers Directive: have the arguments just begun? 
Employment Law Bulletin consultant editor, Darren Newman, asks if the employer and union sides are really clear about the benefits to be excluded from the concept of equality in the Directive. 

HR to bypass Agency Workers Directive with internal temps
HR professionals are preparing to sidestep the Agency Workers Directive by creating their own banks of temporary staff to recruit from, Personnel Today has learnt. 

Run this saved search on the Agency Workers Directive for further articles on XpertHR relating to this subject. 

The XpertHR forthcoming law section provide guidance, commentary, resources and links on important impending changes to employment law, including implementation of the Agency Workers Directive. 

 

Employing agency workers

Survey: Employers' use of employment agencies and recruitment agencies 2009
Employers' practices in using employment agencies and recruitment agencies are investigated in this 2009 IRS survey, which examines their reasons for using agencies and the criteria applied when selecting them, together with the most popular services, satisfaction levels and other factors. 

Agencies, employers and the regulations: four case studies
This case study examines four diverse employers' experience of using agency workers. It looks at Emap, St Mungo's, Stroud and Swindon Building Society and Mersey TV. 

 

Agency workers case law

Keep up with the latest developments in employment case law and check key legal precedents. Case law on agency workers includes: 

For up-to-the-minute news on key cases that have not yet been reported elsewhere on XpertHR, see the XpertHR stop press section.