AWR First Year Only Seen Limited Issues

With the Agency Workers Regulations now in place for a year, following their implementation last October, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation have analysed its impact, on both recruitment agencies activities and employers hiring intentions.

The REC found that only 4% of employers had reduced their use of agency workers as a direct result of the AWR. Looking at general trends regarding the use of temporary staff, the survey also found that 1 in 10 employers had stopped or significantly decreased their use of temporary staff between last October and April this year, with a further 18% saying that had marginally reduced agency staff.

However, the REC reported that two thirds of those who had reduced their temporary workforce said it was due to economic uncertainly and weak growth, rather than as a direct result of the AWR. In fact, employee satisfaction amongst temporary workers rose in the seven month period after the AWR was introduced.

The REC’s CEO Kevin Green said; “One year in it’s clear to us that there have been only limited problems for businesses” adding that it was recruiters who had absorbed the administrative burden and costs associated with the implementation of the new rules.

This correlates with ICS’ own AWR contractor survey, which ran in the build up to the first anniversary of the AWR. The survey found that more than three quarters of contractors had experienced no problems with their contract, with only 7% reporting that they had to make a change due to the AWR. Further to this only 11% of contractors reported a problem in dealing with their agency, with 61% saying they’d had no problem at all.

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