The Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s Legal Services Team is today (Wednesday May 5) re-launching its library of revised model contracts for Corporate Members.
The documents that have been used industry-wide for 15 years have assisted in the start-ups of many recruitment businesses and have also helped many more agencies to be fully compliant with the ever-changing laws and regulations that impact on recruitment.
Commenting on the re-launch of the documents, Fiona Coombe, the REC’s Director of Professional Services, said:
“Our philosophy has always been to help members conduct their business by supporting with contract documentation which is fair and reasonable to both clients and candidates, while at the same time protecting members’ interests within the legal framework of the recruitment environment.”
The documents originally comprised three basic sets of terms for temporary and permanent business when they were launched in 1995 and the UK recruitment industry was worth £3 billion to the UK economy. Since then, they have grown to reflect the need for more complex and commercial terms because of the massive expansion of the industry which is now worth £22.5 billion annually.
They were last overhauled to meet the legislative changes included in the Conduct Regulations 2003 and have regularly been updated to keep pace with changes such as the increase in statutory annual leave entitlement.
Fiona Coombe added:
“We also needed to make organic changes so that the contracts are clearer and more user-friendly, and to keep a close eye on the commercial needs of our members and the various organisations and work-seekers with whom they do business.”
The changes include the following:
- Simplifying the clauses relating to transfer and introduction fees;
- Standardising the wording and the order of clauses across the whole suite of documents;
- Reflecting changes to the vetting and checking of workers and issues highlighted by members;
- Clarifying the differences between IR35 ‘Friendly’ documents and those for contractors operating within IR35;
- Removing minor ambiguities in the contracts;
- Identifying clauses that are optional depending on the circumstances of the services supplied;
- Setting out detailed notes at the back of the contracts to help members personalise them;
- Identifying related contracts and any additional documents that may be appropriate e.g. a Conduct Regulations opt-out notice.
For more information about the REC’s Legal Services team and model documents, visit the website, http://www.rec.uk.com/legal_guide/model-docs
