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‘Opt out’ refers to a pivotal choice made by both a limited company and the individual working through it when working with a contractor supply agency. In effect it’s an agreement that regulations designed to protect agency workers don’t apply to the contracts put in place. The regulations are the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (the “Conduct Regulations”), which impose various obligations on supply agencies to ensure that agency workers are not exploited.

IR35 is the common name given to tax legislation which affects how individuals working through PSCs or other intermediaries are taxed. The actual legislation can be found in Chapters 8 & 10 of Part 2 of the Income Tax earnings and pensions act 2003.

They are the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003, it is a bit of a mouthful so often shortened to the conduct regulations. They can also be known as the agency conduct regulations or the EAA regulations, this being because they flow from the employment agencies act of 1973.

There is an ongoing consultation on the regulation of the umbrella industry. Proposals within this could have a significant effect on an employment business’s operations and potential liabilities. These include proposals for mandatory due diligence, the transfer of umbrella tax debts and even employment businesses operating as the employer of umbrella workers for tax purposes.

The High Court has today ruled that the 2022 repeal of R.7 of the Conduct Regulations, which banned the supply of temporary workers to replace those on official strike action, was unlawful.

The name of the current consultation ‘Tackling non-compliance in the umbrella company market’ suggests that the subject is the regulation of umbrella companies. However, the proposals, if adopted, will directly impact the operations of recruitment supply businesses. Do recruitment businesses want more rules and risks?

At the beginning of June, the government published the long-awaited consultation on the regulation of the umbrella industry. However, there is concern that the proposals target employment businesses and hirers rather than umbrella companies, which could negatively affect a vibrant recruitment and contractor supply industry.

The government’s consultation on the regulation of the umbrella company market is a current hot topic for supply businesses. The proposals put forward are aimed at regulation of the industry, to address employment rights abuses and tax non-compliance.

Recent government proposals indicate an intention to make changes to the holiday pay regime including bringing back rolled up holiday pay.
Rolled up holiday pay is the name given to the arrangement whereby an individual receives an element of holiday pay with every payment they receive for work performed, rather than receiving payment at the point holiday is taken. This is common in short term, ad hoc and casual arrangements, including where individuals work through recruitment companies and umbrellas.

The government has published the long awaited consultation on regulation of the umbrella industry. Entitled “Tackling non compliance in the umbrella company market” the consultation seeks to address both employment rights abuses and tax non compliance by umbrella companies.

There have been a few cases in the public eye recently relating to employment status such as the Amazon drivers case which we discussed in April (see article here). This indicates that the ground on which status is based could be shifting, so why is that important for recruiters?

Last week it was reported that UK Research and Innovation, a public sector body, was required to pay £36m to HMRC for unpaid levels of IR35 tax. This is reported to have followed an investigation into 285 contractors engaged by UKRI as monitoring and assessment officers, and it follows a string of reports of government bodies being caught for not addressing IR35 correctly.

Non-compete clauses are those which prevents an individual from setting up, or having an interest in a competing business, or going to work for someone who is a competing business.

The Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) were introduced over ten years ago, and even now are still regularly overlooked. There may have been indications that these regulations may not last, but a government announcement last Friday shows that AWR is here to stay, with no proposals to change.