Government plans to implement the Agency Workers Directive go far beyond the intention of the EU Parliament, warned ARC (Association of Recruitment Consultancies) today (25 June).
At a seminar held by the association Adrian Marlowe, Chair of ARC said: “In common with most others, we had thought that the Directive requires the government to implement the legislation in the way proposed. However, closer inspection shows the government has disregarded the definitions and principles in the Directive that limit the scope of equal treatment.
“The impression that the government is only acting in accordance with the Directive is a myth. The Directive does not apply to agency workers on assignment with the vast majority of average hirers, yet the government would have us believe that it does, in order to justify a more burdensome UK implementation that will apply to all assignments. Everyone seems to have fallen for this hook, line and sinker.”
Jonathan Djanogly, Conservative Shadow Minister for BIS (formerly BERR), criticised the way the Directive is being implemented in his address to the seminar and echoed ARC’s concern that the government is rushing through this piece of legislation unnecessarily.
He said” the cost of the directive is immense and on the Government own figures it is estimated that the cost to both the public and private sector will represent 0.6% of the total UK pay bill The Directive will seriously undermine the flexibility of our labour market”
Kieran Rossiter, CFO of international recruitment firm Morgan McKinley Group, a keynote speaker at the seminar called for the industry to support the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC), in their campaign to limit the effect of the legislation.
It was clear that delegates at the seminar were unaware of the disparity between the government’s proposals and the Directive. A recruitment consultant who attended both the REC summit and the government’s own consultation event said “I had not heard this anywhere before and this was not mentioned at either event. I was lead to believe that the government was following the Directive. I now know they are taking it far further and am left wondering why this was not disclosed by anyone. Surely we all needed to know this crucial point?”
