The Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC) has commented on the budget as follows: Commenting on the latest budget statement, Adrian Marlowe, Chairman of the Association, said: “The Chancellor’s statement on 16th March is largely to be welcomed. In particular we welcome all the measures to bring more people into work, whether younger or older, not only given the scale of the labour shortages in the UK but also for our collective social well being. This should benefit the employment sector as well as those currently out of work.

For many years recruitment businesses have supplied company contractors to their clients and in many cases have obtained opt outs from them. This has meant that both the agency regulations and tax obligations on supplying businesses were largely irrelevant. Inevitably understanding those regulations and others, such as the Agency Worker Regulations, has not been seen as important.

The debate regarding holiday pay continues as a consultation is launched with regard to the calculation of holiday entitlement for workers with irregular hours and pay.