Impending draft guidance for implementing the long-dreaded Agency Workers Regulations later this year could go far toward easing recruiters’ concerns if a preview of the guidance unveiled yesterday at an Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) members’ meeting serves as any indication.

Sam Hurley, external affairs, APSCo, outlined details of liability responsibility, information flow requirements, pay between assignments and qualifying periods to more than 200 attendees. It is understood that the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) yesterday was still “tweaking” the draft guidance, which is expected to be published either today or Monday (4 April). Once published, interested parties will have two weeks to comment on the draft guidance.

As outlined yesterday, the draft guidance “would give us margins of error”, Caroline Hudson, director, Argyll Scott told Recruiter after the meeting. “Everything seems to be as clear as it can be.”

Also speaking to Recruiter after the meeting, Hurley said that a key lesson from the draft guidance for recruiters was “they need to understand the client’s pay structure and get educated to the level of risk they’re taking”.

For recruiters, one of the most reassuring aspects of the draft guidance was the emphasis on shared responsibility for information flow, “for everyone in the supply chain”, Hurley said. “It’s very clear, it’s not just for the temporary worker agency, it’s up to everyone in the chain, including RPOs [recruitment process outsourcing providers], MSPs [managed service providers], MVs [master vendors] and the hirer.”

While recruiters have worried about technical points in the AWR, Hurley said a practical approach to understanding and implementing the legislation was more appropriate. “Actually, a lot of the time, it’s just common sense,” she said.

Hurley was joined at the lectern by Frances Lewis of law firm Osborne Clarke, APSCo chair Ann Swain and Lisa Moses of BIS.

Swain reassured the audience that a year down the line, recruiters would be taking the AWR in their stride, although such legislation was “a pain in the backside” to wrestle with early on. “It’s not that complicated, really. We will deal with it, we will communicate with our clients and we will get used to it. It does not signal the end of the recruitment industry.”