Steps an agency must follow before supplying a workseeker
Employment agencies and businesses must comply with the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (the Conduct Regulations) when supplying a workseeker to clients (except where introducing or supplying a limited company contractor who has opted out of those Regulations. Where you have a temporary or permanent position that you wish to put to an agency, there are basic steps which the agency must follow:
1. Obtain information about the position(s)
2. Pass the information to the work-seeker
3. Obtain information from you (client) of any legal or professional requirements you need checking for the suitable work-seeker before they can take up the position
4. Confirmation that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that neither the work-seeker nor the client will suffer a detriment if the work-seeker takes up a position with the client
5. The agency will obtain information about the work-seeker including their willingness to work in the position which in turn will be provided to you the client
Information gathering about the role:
Conduct Regulation 18 requires that the agency obtain certain information from the you (client) about the position they seek to fill. This information includes:
a) Your identity and the nature of your business;
b) the commencement date and the duration or likely duration of the work (the duration of the work is also relevant for Agency Workers Regulations 2010 purposes);
c) the position and the type of work a work-seeker would be required to do;
d) the location and the hours of work;
e) any risks to health and safety known to the you (client) and any steps taken to prevent or control those risks in relation to that position;
f) any experience, training, qualifications and any authorisation considered necessary or required by law or a professional body for the worker (or the person supplied to do the work if the work seeker is a limited company) to work in such a position;
g) any expenses payable to or by the work seeker; and
h) where the work seeker is to be employed by the client:
– the minimum rate of remuneration and other benefits and intervals of payment; and
– where applicable, the length of any period of notice for termination of employment.
* When giving information in writing, you can give it either on paper or electronically.
The information gathered must be given to the work-seeker within a certain time period
If the information is given verbally to the work-seeker at the time of offering him/her the position, the agency must confirm such information in writing as soon as possible, and in any event no later than the end of the third business day following the day on which the agency previously gave the information to him/ her subject to the circumstances set out in paragraphs (a) to (c) below.
(a) The same assignment?
If the agency is introducing or supplying a work-seeker into an assignment where the same work-seeker has been placed in the same assignment within the last 5 business days and none of the information about that assignment has changed, they agency does not have to give the information about the you (client) to the work-seeker again unless the work-seeker requests it.
(b) Length of assignments:
If the role is for 5 consecutive business days or less, and you have already provided all the essential information set out at Step 1 above, and that information remains the same as when it was first provided, they agency only need to provide the work-seeker with the identity of the client, the nature of the client’s business, the date on which the work-seeker must start work and the duration or likely duration of the work.
However, where an assignment is extended beyond 5 days, the outstanding information must be given to the work-seeker in writing within 8 business days of the start of the assignment, or where the assignment ends sooner, before the end of that assignment.
