Changes to regulations governing employment agencies come into effect

The changes to the Employment Agencies Act (EAA) come into effect on the 6th April after years of intense lobbying by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

The new regulations aim to provide added protection for job seekers and impose a number of new obligations on recruitment agencies - for example written confirmation is needed for certain workers with regard to the statutory background checks.

In some areas the new regulations simply bring the law into line with the REC’s own code of conduct. However, the REC has lobbied relentlessly on a number of specific issues to ensure that that the regulations do not impose unnecessary and unworkable obligations on recruitment agencies.

Initial lobbying successes included securing an individual right to opt out for limited companies and a lessening of the administrative burden for repeat assignments. Lobbying by the REC ensured that agencies are still entitled to charge client companies temp to perm fees when they take an agency worker on permanently, although there are now some restrictions in terms of when a fee can be charged.

There are still a number of interpretation issues which REC members have highlighted and which will need to be resolved. In particular, what is the extent of an agency’s obligation to check the information on candidates’ CVs and does the need to provide written confirmation for every assignment extend to even very short postings? Overall the DTI has assured the REC that a pragmatic and common sense approach would be taken in interpreting and enforcing the new regulations.

The REC will continue to take forward the comments and concerns of members regarding specific problem areas that emerge once the regulations come into force.
There are also a few major issues that will need resolving and the REC will continue to argue that online job boards should not be covered by the regulations if they do not perform the normal function of a recruitment business. Following recent meetings with the DTI it was agreed that there should be further consultation on this issue and we will be working with members of the Association of Online Recruiters (a division of REC) to press our case. Another area on ongoing lobbying is the need to ensure that there is a level playing field between private sector agencies and public sector labour providers. In particular, the REC will be continuing to argue that publicly funded organisations such as NHS Professionals and LEA’s should have to comply to the regulations in the same way as private recruitment agencies.

Commenting on the new regulations, Gareth Osborne, Managing Director, of the REC said:

Finally the new version of the EAA has come into effect after years of campaigning by the REC and we are generally happy with the new regulations. Our lobbying efforts will continue to focus on the European agenda and seeking to ensure that Brussels does not impose a regulatory framework which is damaging and undoes all our efforts over the past four years on the domestic front.