Four months after the AWR were implemented there is still an area of uncertainty surrounding the position of limited company contractors.
The AWR summit last week discovered that the recruitment sector is divided as to whether or not limited company contractors are inside the scope of the Regulations. About 100 delegates attended the summit and the split was roughly 50:50 when the question arose.
Even members of the panel appeared to have differing views on the subject. Tim Johnson, head of Tim Johnson Law, told attendees that workers need to have an employment contract, or agree to work personally with an agency, before they come under Agency Workers Regulations. However, company contractors do not enter into such a contract, nor do they personally agree to carry out the work, and therefore they are not affected by AWR.
Kevin Green, the REC’s chief executive, on the other hand said that limited company contractors are not automatically outside AWR, although their status was good evidence to suggest that they might be.
Other members of the panel believed that the acid test was whether a worker was outwith IR35. If so, they were likely to also be outside AWR.
Some recruiters have complained that temporary staff are having their contracts terminated before the qualifying twelve week period is up whereas prior to AWR the contract would have continued. One recruiter has suggested that temps either be allowed to opt out of AWR, or the 12 week qualifying period is extended, so that they can remain in employment.
© 2012 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Image: Confusion by QuinnDombrowski
