The announcement that the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee will be holding an inquiry focussing on the “rapidly changing nature of work, and the status and rights of agency workers, the self-employed, and those working in the ‘gig economy’” should be welcomed as an excellent opportunity to highlight numerous issues regarding worker status, according to the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC). “Many of these issues are addressed within ARC’s Manifesto 2016” (please see detail here), comments Adrian Marlowe, ARC’s chairman.
The terms of reference for the inquiry were announced on 26 October 2016 and can be viewed here. Whilst welcoming their scope and subject matter, ARC has concerns that the terms do not sufficiently distinguish between agency workers and those operating in the so-called ‘gig economy’.
Adrian Marlowe continues: “It is wrong to lump agency workers into the same mould as ‘gig workers’, who should be perceived as a different category. ‘Gig’ is clearly open to abuse as the model relies on an individual having a self-employed status that somehow allows gross payment to the individual whilst not affording any rights or protections. We question whether that is legally correct.”
Marlowe adds, “Agency workers have well defined rights under the Agency Worker Regulations and are protected by the compliance requirements of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. Hirers generally use agency workers for shorter term work and it is wrong to say, as the terms of reference suggest, that they use them just to avoid employment rights, which in any event, largely accrue only after two years’ service.
“Hirers who falsely claim that someone is self-employed for tax purposes should be open to investigation, so why has HMRC not already investigated? Following the Uber decision last week, is it now going to enforce breaches of the National Minimum Wage and address failures to pay statutory benefits?
“ARC does not call for regulation of ‘gig workers’; we call for HMRC to stamp out what is clearly an abuse of the tax system and worker rights. This area does demand modernisation to avoid confusion in the future. Our Manifesto addresses the issues comprehensively and we are working in conjunction with other representation groups to press for change.”
