Employers using recruitment firms to find short-lived or irreversible employees have specific responsibilities.

Recruitment companies that discover personnel for other businesses, however pay the personnel themselves, are referred to as 'em ployment services'.

If you handle workers through an employment organization, they're responsible for making sure the employees' rights under working time and minimum wage guidelines.

Recruitment companies supplying workers for agriculture, food processing, horticultural and shellfish-gathering markets are called 'gangmasters' - if you utilize one, you need to ensure they are certified gangmasters.

Employers' obligations

As an employer, you're responsible for:

- company employees' health and security
- ensuring they have the same access to shared facilities as other workers
- letting them know about pertinent task vacancies in your company

However, you can stop providing work to a company employee, as long as they're not employed by you.

Additional rights after 12 weeks

After 12 weeks in the very same job, agency employees are entitled to the exact same conditions as workers doing the exact same or similar work. This includes:

- pay
- working time, pause and breaks
- night work
- yearly leave
- time off for antenatal appointments for pregnant workers

For more information, see guidance on agency employee policies.

Transfer costs

Recruitment firms can charge a transfer cost if you use a worker directly, or a worker is supplied to you through another recruitment firm after their initial contract. Recruitment companies should inform you in your contract if they plan to charge you move fees.

When a firm worker starts work with you, a recruitment company can just charge a transfer fee if you take the worker on within either of the following durations, whichever ends later on:

- 8 weeks of completion of their last assignment with you
- 14 weeks of the start of their very first task with you

If there has actually been a break of 42 days in between the employee's projects with you, the 14 weeks will begin from the start date of the most recent project.

The recruitment company might also charge you a transfer cost if:

- you present an employee to a third party who then employs them during this period
- you use a worker introduced to you by a recruitment firm before they have actually begun their task with you through the firm

Extended hire period

If you employ an employee provided to you by a recruitment company, the company must use you a prolonged hire period instead of charging you a transfer charge. This implies they would continue to supply the employee to you for a predetermined duration without changing the regards to the task. Once the predetermined period ends, you would use the employee directly without any transfer charge.

A recruitment company might charge you a transfer charge if they introduce an employee to you and you employ them:

- before they begin overcome the recruitment agency
- through a different firm, before they start work through the introducing recruitment company

In both cases, the introducing agency must offer the option of a hire period rather of charging you a transfer fee. The regards to this hire duration should be set out in your contract with the recruitment firm.