The HVCA and the Building Services Engineering Employment Agency Alliance have jointly produced a practical guide to the agency workers regulations.
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010, which come into effect on 1 October, provide agency workers (following a 12-week qualifying period) with an entitlement to the same basic working and employment conditions they would enjoy if directly employed by the hirer.

'The provisions of the Agency Workers Regulations will have very significant implications for our sector,' said Peter Rimmer, HVCA head of employment affairs. 'In particular, they will impose additional responsibilities on both the hirer of labour and the agency providing that labour to share relevant workforce information, and to reflect this obligation in the terms and conditions enjoyed by individual workers and in the contractual arrangement between the agency and the hirer.'

Mr Rimmer added that Agency Alliance members were being encouraged to use the guidance in explaining to their clients the key elements of the regulations.

The guidance, Hiring Agency Workers was launched at the third annual general meeting of the Agency Alliance, which took place in London on 13 July. Speaking at the event, independent chairman Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan confirmed that, during the past 12 months, the Agency Alliance 'had been able to deliver on its promises in a number of key areas'.

He outlined how progress had been made, such as via a series of positive discussions, on development of the 'key commitment' that will oblige Agency Alliance members to make a 'tangible contribution' to the training efforts of the sector.

It was also worth noting, said Lord O'Neill, that these achievements had been brought about via strategic working relationships which the Agency Alliance had developed, maintained and enhanced with other organisations across the sector.

He continued: 'I believe that the status of the Building Services Engineering Employment Agency Alliance has yet again been considerably enhanced, and that the organisation is increasingly being seen as playing a valuable and central role in representing the interests of the sector as a whole'

Copies of the Hiring Agency Workers guidance document are available free to HVCA and Agency Alliance members from HVCA Publications on 01768 860405 (hvcapublications@welpan.co.uk), and at www.hvcapublications.co.uk