Does SDS change contract ?

[malvolio]

Oh, I see. I guess the client has more leverage with policing the lower contract than the contractor with the higher one, but I wouldn't expect them to routinely see this. What matters to them is the higher contract because that is legally enforceable. They are not party to the lower contract.

But the whole point is using an agency is that they find the best person to fill your requirement for you. How that person is engaged by the agency is irrelevant; indeed most companies have no idea what the relationship actually is. Look at any decent agency website and they are selling "their" resources when they are nothing of the sort. That the agency is merely a broker of independent suppliers is ignored, since that is not such an attractive USP. Also remember that in many cases the best agents only work with the clients, leaving the workers in the hands of the juniors.

The whole hiring model for contractors is badly broken, but nobody is going to fix it.

[jamesbrown]

But the whole point is using an agency is that they find the best person to fill your requirement for you. How that person is engaged by the agency is irrelevant; indeed most companies have no idea what the relationship actually is. Look at any decent agency website and they are selling "their" resources when they are nothing of the sort. That the agency is merely a broker of independent suppliers is ignored, since that is not such an attractive USP. Also remember that in many cases the best agents only work with the clients, leaving the workers in the hands of the juniors.

The whole hiring model for contractors is badly broken, but nobody is going to fix it.

I'm not sure we're saying anything different, but nice rant.

[Lance]

The whole hiring model for contractors is badly broken.

Hold my beer.

FTFY

[malvolio]

FTFY

That's a NotFTFY, sorry. If the hiring model worked that way we would want it to, HMRC wouldn't have a case to answer...

[SueEllen]

As an off-topic aside, I'd be interested to know if the client ever sees the contract between the agency and the worker.

Surely the client needs to be aware of what's in it, especially around things like substitution.

The agent is suppose to explain to the client why particular clauses need to be in their contract with them and then copy those specific clauses from the contact with the client into the contractor's contact. So this covers things like substitution.

I've had my reviewers catch out a couple of agencies in the past as agents don't expect people to read and understand contract clauses. I've been directed to ask the agency to reissues the contract with the full clauses as certain clauses seemed to have bits missing. (Oddly it wasn't the substitution clause it was things like notice, data processing and third party rights.)