Lord Mandelson is today expected to delay implementation of the Agency Workers Directive (AWD) until 2011. The business secretary says this delay is part of a series of wider measures designed to help businesses emerge from the recession.
This will be good news for thousands of contractors and freelancers within the marketplace. The AWD, when implemented, will provide agency workers with the same pay, conditions and employment rights as permanent employees after 12 weeks. In response to the consultation held by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), industry bodies including contractor organisations have called for the implementation process to be delayed.
Contractor Calculator said the AWD would impact contractors in different ways. They said that until the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills releases the draft legislation for consultation, the exact impact on contractors is unclear. However, a close reading of the consultation document suggests that the effect of the new laws on contractors is likely to be mixed.
They believe that limited company contractors are thought to be excluded by the AWD, as they fall outside the definitions of ‘workers’ used by BIS in its consultation. Umbrella contractors, however, would almost certainly fall inside any new laws and qualify for equal treatment.
Only last week, the Conservatives said at their party conference in Manchester, that they would delay implementation of the Agency Workers Directive. They were concerned that at a time when unemployment is increasing and business is demanding less regulation, it is an inappropriate time to be increasing regulation.
