Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) has responded to news that agency workers will be included in the Government’s legislation on her hours contracts. The organisation has called the move disappointing and potentially damaging for skills short remits.
“This news means that highly skilled and highly paid agency workers that are often required at the last minute will be more difficult to place in temporary positions,” said Tania Bowers Global Public Policy Director at APSCo. “Schools, for example, cannot guarantee the hours that a supply teacher will be needed, which puts them in a difficult situation where they risk simply not having access to the people they need last minute. The same can be said in health and social care. This will have a detrimental impact on the public who rely on these resources.
“Highly skilled professional contractors are critical to the Government growth plans set out in the Industrial Strategy across technology, engineering, life sciences and net zero targets,” she adds. “The extension of the zero-hours legislation across the whole temporary workforce is over-regulation, primarily to close off loopholes that could be exploited rather than the actual risk of exploitation in the professional sector.” Bowers suggests other solutions should be found to the loophole risk to ensure that critical segments of the highly skilled flexible workforce can be excluded to avoid dampening impacts on flexible labour and growth.
“This move will put greater pressure on staffing firms to be the guarantor of workers’ hours which simply isn’t feasible and puts them in a difficult financial position should they be unable to secure the hours agreed,” concludes Bowers, who adds that the agency worker sector is already well-regulated and will be in an even better position with the introduction of the Fair Work Agency in the legislation.
