Although the Agency Workers Regulations have been with us for some months now, I was surprised recently that even some in the recruitment sector were not fully conversant with them.
Assignments can exceed 12 weeks but there are certain provisions to be met. There will be cases where it does not make sense to extend an assignment beyond twelve weeks for a variety of reasons, without including the additional expense involved in meeting the Regulations.
But there will be other cases that are more marginal and the additional expenses will need to be weighed against other factors such as familiarity with the organisation and with the job in hand.
In assessing the additional expense of continuing an assignment beyond the twelve week “limit”, the internal comparator for wage and benefits purposes is crucial. Here, careful documentation of job descriptions, particularly in respect of duties and responsibilities, mean the additional costs may not need to be as great as they might first appear.
Before allowing the Regulations to inhibit what would otherwise be a sensible course of action it would be worth talking to us.