IT agency contracts unchanged by AWR amendments – REC

Changes to the Agency Workers Regulations do not affect the contents of contracts that IT staffing firms with the Recruitment and Employment Confederation are handing out to genuinely self-employed people on their books.

Reassuring its member agents, the REC said its recently issued AWR-compliant documents, including contracts for the self-employed, the Swedish derogation model and client terms for supply of contract staff, were unaffected by the formal amendments.

Made last week by officials at the business department, the amendments correct drafting errors in the incoming legislation, but are “minor” and “do not represent any changes in government policy,” the REC said.

So while recruiters will still have to assess on a “case by case basis” whether the worker is genuinely self-employed, the REC’s written agreement for such an individual, like its eight other model contracts, remain AWR-compliant, despite being issued before the amendments.  

“One of the amendments clarifies that the pay between assignments obligation (contained within Regulation 10 (the "Swedish Derogation")) does not apply until after the first assignment under a Regulation 10 contract has been completed,” the REC said.

“Therefore the obligation does not apply where someone has been employed on that contract but has not yet been supplied to a hirer.”

Head of professional services at REC Lewina Farrell added: “The other amendments are a clarification that the agency worker just has to perform the serviced personally (but not for the supplying agency) and an amendment to the statutory defence contained in Regulation 14."