ARC welcomes government plan to end “gold-plating”
The Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) welcomes the Government’s commitment to end “gold plating” announced by the Business Secretary Vince Cable on 15th December.
Adrian Marlowe, Chairman of the ARC commented “This is a very welcome move by the Government. No one is asking for favours, all that is needed is for the Government to help British business compete fairly. That is the route to creating greater employment and prosperity for all.
“It makes sense that, in future, Directives will be directly copied into UK law rather than adding on an interpretation that many may disagree with.”
The ARC believes that the direct copying principle would address to a large extent one of the problems of implementing Regulations following an EU Directive. They are not subject to the same open debate as UK led legislation. Thus, as with the Agency Workers Regulations, the rules pass into law without a Parliamentary vote.
Marlowe continued “We seem to have a history of shooting off our own feet. As an example, the implementation of the Agency Workers Directive is a classic case of gold plating. The UK Regulations contain measures that are not strictly required by the corresponding Directive and that put employers and recruiters at a disadvantage.”
“Another area of concern is the use of agreements between social partners. This gives disproportionate authority to a few organisations without checks and balances or necessary majority support for any measure, again as in the case of the Agency Workers Directive. If this device has to be used in future we urge Mr. Cable to ensure that the process from beginning to end is full, open and transparent.”
Adrian, a highly experienced lawyer, founded Lawspeed in 1997. He is responsible for developing our extensive portfolio of products and services, including the widely used Lawspeed contract templates. Adrian is an expert on “recruitment law” and specialises in contracts, regulatory compliance, employment status and dispute handling. He is chair of the trade body the Association of Recruitment Consultancies, the only lawyer lead recruitment trade body in the UK. Adrian and his co-director Ravi devised Standards in Recruitment as a vehicle for helping drive up standards and compliance in the industry.
Adrian is our lead in discussions with the government over regulatory evolution. Apart from assisting with client support, Adrian’s primary role is research and development into methods of business delivery, our latest service Proterms being his most recent project. Adrian heads our IR35 lawyers team.