Department of Trade and Industry has proposed that a fee may not be charged if the temp terminates the assignment with the hirer but returns as a permanent employee only 4 weeks later. The industry argues that this provides a cheap alternative to permanent recruitment, where many employers already have to wait at least 4 weeks, whilst a new employee works out notice with their previous employer.
This places a great financial strain on smaller recruitment businesses, which are less able to absorb loss of revenue from these fees. Finding temporary staff and preparing them for assignment is expensive and time consuming and many small firms have said that the move could put them out of business.
The Recruitment & Employment Confederation have made employers aware of the impact of this legislation. The majority of employers said that if a 4 week limit was placed on the charging of a temp-to-perm fee, they would be likely to use recruitment agencies as a free and convenient way to source staff.
www.rec.uk.com
Recruitment agencies draw the short straw - 12/2000
Flaws in DTI recruitment proposals
