Seven out of ten members of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) say “the jury’s still out” on whether government plans to re-organise the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate will have a positive or negative impact on the recruitment industry.

Most recruiters (70{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) taking part in an REC webinar to discuss the government’s review of the Conduct Regulations last week felt that the splitting of responsibilities between HMRC and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) “could prove effective” but that it would depend on how the arrangement “works on the ground”.

Another key finding was that the vast majority of recruiters polled (79{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) felt that the new regulatory framework should cover umbrellas and intermediaries. This reflects the fact that recruiters judge the use of umbrellas and intermediaries to be the single biggest change to the recruitment market over the past decade (33{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}); greater than online jobs boards (27{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}), new in-house structures and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (20{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}) or social media (20{6060b2de664e4eaa3e7b7e86961ce2c4bbd7a29b6c1097abf8257a4e5b07383e}).

Commenting on the survey results, Director of Policy and Professional Services at the REC, Tom Hadley says:

“Our members are very clear that their two big concerns about the government’s plans for reform are that any enforcement regime must be genuinely effective and that new legislation should reflect the role played by umbrellas and other intermediaries.

“This feedback gives us very strong messages to take to Ministers as we continue our work to ensure that the future regulatory landscape facilitates industry growth and enables compliant businesses to thrive.”
Credit: rec.uk.com