Proposed amendment to make overseas-exclusive recruitment illegal
Current legislation does not regulate where employment agencies and businesses place advertisements.
The proposed amendment to the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (as amended) would require all employment agencies and businesses in England, Scotland and Wales to ensure that all jobs based in Great Britain are advertised in Great Britain, and that they are advertised in English before or at the same time as they are advertised in another European Economic Area (EEA) state.
It would only apply to vacancies advertised by employment agencies and businesses but the Equality and Human Rights Commission will soon begin looking more widely at potential discriminatory recruitment practices by employers as well as agencies and businesses, the consultation document says.
The rule would not apply if the vacancy was first advertised on a website accessible both in Great Britain and another EEA country.
In some cases it may be justifiable for a recruiter to advertise solely in another EEA country and the regulation will include a defence. Justification will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The proposed amendment is open for consultation on a government website, email or post until 2 September. The amendment has, so far, received some support from recruiters.
Tempo, an alliance of temporary recruitment agencies, was supportive of the government’s aims, chair Keith Faulkner CBE said, speaking exclusively to Recruiter.
However, it was important that the ability of UK businesses to grow as the economy recovered was not hampered by an inability to access workers, he adds.
“The government has acknowledged the need to ensure young people don’t actively choose benefits over earning a living so it follows that if certain jobs cannot attract applications locally, despite continuing unemployment in that area, this needs to be addressed. Whilst Tempo members are keen to encourage young people to use temporary assignments … they also have a responsibility to meet the workforce needs of their clients, advertising in Europe as well as locally.”
Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) chief executive Kevin Green was also supportive of the move but said there was no evidence to suggest agencies were recruiting exclusively overseas.
His comments came after Prime Minister David Cameron claimed in a column in the Daily Telegraph that some recruitment agencies were bypassing British workers by advertising exclusively overseas.
“Any discriminatory practice in this area must be stopped and we will work with BIS [the Department for Business Innovation and Skills] on this consultation and with all government departments and political parties to uncover and address any evidence of such behaviour,” Green said.
He also said advertising exclusively overseas was already prohibited under the Equality Act and while the REC had not seen any evidence of it occurring, if it was, he would like to know so it could be investigated.
The proposal’s impact assessment states the UK has one of the most lightly regulated labour markets in the developed world. It also says the recruitment sector places about 1.7m people into work each year and contributes around £25bn to the economy annually.
According to the Labour Force Survey for the fourth quarter of 2013 over 12% of temporary agency workers came from EU accession countries, though they could have found their work while in the UK.
The policy would be reviewed in 2020.
