Agency Workers Regulations cause employers to cut short umbrella contractors contracts

As of October 2011, Agency Workers Regulations stated that temporary workers and contractors are entitled to equal employment rights as those in permanent contracts with the company after they have worked for the company for 12 weeks. This means they must come in line with permanent employees when it comes to pay and working conditions but also means that they are allowed to work overtime and take the same breaks and holidays as permanent staff.

Since these regulations were changed, employers have already begun to cut short the temporary contracts of their freelancers and contractors to ensure that they do not work past the 12 week cut off which could lead to problems for temporary workers who rely on longer term contracts to keep their financial situation stable.

Contractors who have already been in a position for a long time may find that their employer decides to offer them a permanent position to bring them into the permanent staff, however, a number of contractors have just found their contracts have been ended after only a brief time working.

Basically, when an employer hires a temporary worker to work on a project they benefit from a skilled professional who is only paid for the work they do and can be relied upon to work odd hours and days. After the 12 week limit, these workers are then entitled to work the same hours for the same pay as permanent staff with the extra benefit of being in charge of themselves. It thus makes more sense for the company to hire contractors for only a short period of time, or just to hire a member of permanent staff in the first place.

There are, however, measures employers can take to ensure than valued contractors may remain with the company for a longer period of time without costing the company any extra money and this is something that the Recruitment and Employment Confederation insists is a priority in teaching to employers as a whole to prevent people that don’t need to from losing their jobs.

As it stands, however, contractors may be in for a tough time as both employers and employees adjust to the change in conditions and work out what this means for them in the long run. They should remain confident, though, as research has consistently revealed that contractors are amongst the most highly prized employees as they are well known for being skilled, efficient and good value for money.