Reviewing your contracts properly

Clients regularly come to us with their client’s terms and say ‘I’ve had a look through, largely it’s fine but can you just check I haven’t missed anything?’ Whilst we applaud the attempts at getting involved in the more gritty aspects of your contracts, often these contracts are anything but fine.

We thought we would give you some pointers to highlight the importance of looking at each contract in detail before agreeing to provide your services. You can watch out for these before seeking legal advice.

• FEES: When can you charge a fee, are there transfer fees for all situations and are these Regulations compliant? Some contracts can appear to cover certain situations, but in fact do not.
• LIABILITIES:  Are you liable for the work your candidates are doing on site or just for your work as a recruitment business? This can be disguised, with some horrible consequences if things go wrong.
  e.g. ‘You shall fully indemnify us against all losses arising out of the performance of the Services’
  Liabilities arising from this clause will depend on the definition of Services and whether they are limited to the recruitment services. If they include the work to be performed by the Candidates, alarm bells should be ringing. Beware other clauses in the terms that create liability too.
• INSURANCE: What does your insurance actually cover? Some PI cover does not, for example, cater for work done by your supplied workers and this is an area that requires careful checking.
• OBLIGATIONS: What can be passed onto your candidates or contractors? Some obligations clearly cannot be passed on, and others may not be realistically acceptable.
• Other issues that can have a large impact on your relationship with the client include acceptance and termination provisions, who is responsible for directing and supervising the candidate, and the process to follow where a candidate is unsuitable. 

Lawspeed offers a range of contractual review services, from giving you verbal feedback after an initial scan to completing a review and amendments to give it maximum commercial strength. We have particular expertise on the insurance side and ‘managing risk’ is our skill set.

We also offer a complete process outsourcing service where we familiarise ourselves with your business, your capabilities and your insurances to best advise you of the risks. Following this, we can negotiate any areas of concern with your clients and mirror any necessary provisions into your candidate terms. This reduces the administrative burden on you, freeing up time to allow you to do what you do best – developing your business and selling your product.

If you have any questions about the services on offer, or have a contract for review, please contact one of our consultants on 01273 236236