Originally posted by Denny
We published this originally in 2004 but I would think that many new IT Contractors (and some older ones) would not be aware of this.
Dodgy Practices
Agents could face prison sentences for such practices as falsely acquiring leads, advertising fake jobs, and failing to pay contractors on time.
The department of Trade and Industry published regulations in 2004 that will put an end to many of the ethically challenged practices that some agencies use in, for example, what is called ‘spamming references’.
The Government has been watching for some times to see if current codes of conduct by recruitment company representative bodies were effective.
Now it has decided to act.
Outlawed
Amongst those practices that it has outlawed are:-
1. Agents telling IT contractors that they have IT contracts for them when they, in fact don’t, and just want to find fresh leads to use for themselves. This will, in future, be deemed as fraud and the agency can be prosecuted under existing Fraud laws.
2. It will now be an offence to advertise jobs that the agency does not have. This will be now be considered a criminal offence with fines of up to £5,000 for first offences and a prison sentence of up to 2 years for persistent offenders
3. IT Contractors will now have to be paid within the time stipulated by their contracts. Before this was a civil offence and the contractor had to instigate legal action. Now, this will be considered a criminal offence. There will be fines of up to double the amount outstanding and up to 5 years in prison for persistent offenders
Interview Results
Also, agencies will now have to inform IT contractors, who have been for an interview through them, of the results of the interview within 48 hours of the agency hearing about the results from the client.
In another clause, agency margins will now have to be fixed, i.e. they cannot have a different rate for one contractor than they have for another. Their margins will have to be displayed in their offices and on their web site. They will also have to give this information on request.
Failure to do so may result in a fine or a prison sentence for persistent offenders.
Major Effect
A spokesman for one agency said:-
“This will definitely have a major effect on the industry and it will be contractors who will be worst hit if we are not able to find job leads effectively.”
According to a spokesperson for Atsco, “It won’t affect us very much as none of our members adopt these practices anyway. It will be mainly some of the smaller cowboy agencies who will be hit”.
According to Simon Judiths of the Professional Contractors Group:-
“This should help clean up the industry. We have been using our contacts with the Government to push for these measures for some time”.
Dodgy Practices
Agents could face prison sentences for such practices as falsely acquiring leads, advertising fake jobs, and failing to pay contractors on time.
The department of Trade and Industry published regulations in 2004 that will put an end to many of the ethically challenged practices that some agencies use in, for example, what is called ‘spamming references’.
The Government has been watching for some times to see if current codes of conduct by recruitment company representative bodies were effective.
Now it has decided to act.
Outlawed
Amongst those practices that it has outlawed are:-
1. Agents telling IT contractors that they have IT contracts for them when they, in fact don’t, and just want to find fresh leads to use for themselves. This will, in future, be deemed as fraud and the agency can be prosecuted under existing Fraud laws.
2. It will now be an offence to advertise jobs that the agency does not have. This will be now be considered a criminal offence with fines of up to £5,000 for first offences and a prison sentence of up to 2 years for persistent offenders
3. IT Contractors will now have to be paid within the time stipulated by their contracts. Before this was a civil offence and the contractor had to instigate legal action. Now, this will be considered a criminal offence. There will be fines of up to double the amount outstanding and up to 5 years in prison for persistent offenders
Interview Results
Also, agencies will now have to inform IT contractors, who have been for an interview through them, of the results of the interview within 48 hours of the agency hearing about the results from the client.
In another clause, agency margins will now have to be fixed, i.e. they cannot have a different rate for one contractor than they have for another. Their margins will have to be displayed in their offices and on their web site. They will also have to give this information on request.
Failure to do so may result in a fine or a prison sentence for persistent offenders.
Major Effect
A spokesman for one agency said:-
“This will definitely have a major effect on the industry and it will be contractors who will be worst hit if we are not able to find job leads effectively.”
According to a spokesperson for Atsco, “It won’t affect us very much as none of our members adopt these practices anyway. It will be mainly some of the smaller cowboy agencies who will be hit”.
According to Simon Judiths of the Professional Contractors Group:-
“This should help clean up the industry. We have been using our contacts with the Government to push for these measures for some time”.
tim
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