News

From 1st October 2009, the national minimum wage will increase from £5.73 to £5.80 per hour.  A recruiter or umbrella company whose rates fall below such levels will be advised to address these matters with clients, unless there is already clear provision within contracts for an increase in rates to account for such costs. Payment […]

The position regarding holiday pay for those on long term sick leave has recently been clarified by the European courts. The UK courts had suggested that workers on long terms sick leave should not accrue holiday entitlement, on the basis that they are already on leave. However this has been overruled by the European Court […]

As has been seen in the recent case involving the massive fines imposed on a consortium of recruitment businesses called ” the Construction Industry Forum”, the penalties for engaging in anti competitive behaviour can be severe . Apart from fines, they can extend in certain circumstances to the disqualification of directors. So what effect could this have on your business? Most of […]

HMRC has last week announced a consultation on the self employed status of construction workers. It is common within the construction industry for workers to operate via the CIS scheme, which allows for  self employed workers to have  certain level of tax deducted at source, which depending upon their registration status with HMRC can be […]

After weeks of hard work with the Institute of Directors (IOD) the message that we have been attempting to publish that the government intends to massively gold plate the Agency Workers Directive has finally hit the national press. In an article on 23rd July the FT reported on concerns that the government intends to go […]

The Swine flu pandemic is currently major headline news and having an increasing impact upon the population, there has been a natural increase in the levels of sickness absence and concern. However, the pandemic is leaving both employers and recruiters with a number of questions, for example are you obliged to pay a worker during […]

After a huge battle with recruiters in the middle of this decade the government finally settled on a formula for limiting temp to perm, temp to temp and temp to third party fees (“transfer fees”). You will all no doubt be aware that the rules are set out in Regulation 10 of the Conduct of […]

The Financial Times has today reported on concerns by the Institute of Directors (IoD) that the government is proposing to gold plate the Agency Workers Directive. See article Business warns on agency workers directive. This follows work undertaken by Lawspeed, with the Association of Recruitment Consultancies and the IoD. The orginal article submitted by the IoD to the […]

Government plans to implement the Agency Workers Directive go far beyond the intention of the EU Parliament, warned ARC (Association of Recruitment Consultancies) today (25 June). At a seminar held by the association Adrian Marlowe, Chair of ARC said: “In common with most others, we had thought that the Directive requires the government to implement […]

1.     Government proposes to gold plate Agency Worker Directive 2.     ARC calls for delay in considering the Agency Workers Directive 3.     ARC membership 1.     Government proposes to gold plate Agency Worker Directive At Lawspeed’s seminar on 24th June Adrian Marlowe, Managing Director, explained that Government plans to implement the Agency Workers Directive go far beyond […]

Lawspeed Seminar London – Agency Workers Directive First Consultation  To accommodate recruiters pressed for time and to reflect current economic constraints we have reduced the costs of this Agency Workers Directive seminar and it will also only be an afternoon session. Please see below for details. Speakers at this seminar will include: Jonathan Djanogly- Shadow […]

HMRC have recently released Business Brief (50/09) announcing that they will be clamping down on expenses dispensations. Expenses benefits schemes are commonly used by umbrella companies or employment businesses to legitimately allow a worker to claim travel and subsistence whilst on assignment. However, it is feared such schemes are being abused. HMRC have indicated that […]

The government has finally published (8th May 2009) its long awaited consultation on new rights for agency workers, following the Agency Worker’s Directive enacted in Europe in December 2008. Click here to view the consultation document and see subsequent articles in left hand column. The proposal is that agency workers should have “at least” the same […]

Clients are becoming increasingly concerned about possible claims for employment rights from limited company contractors and temporary workers supplied through agencies. Evidence of this may be seen in agreements issued by clients that require the agency to provide indemnities against such claims. These indemnities are designed to cover all awards and costs incurred in the […]