AWR could have unforeseen financial implication for temp agencies
Industry research shows that the vast majority of temporary agency workers do not have personal accident insurance or life assurance. With the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) due for implementation on the 1 October this issue could have a significant unforeseen financial implication for temporary work agencies and should be addressed quickly.
The lack of insurance will be a particularly pertinent issue for temporary work agencies that supply labour to any sector and not just high risk, accident prone industries. For instance, in the past 12 months there have been 3,095 major injuries, 13 fatalities and 16,593 minor injuries within the logistics sector alone.
AWR, in its current form, is very unclear which party will be responsible for ensuring all insurance requirements are met, but it is likely that in the absence of appropriate insurance the temporary work agencies will attempt to resist the assumption of risk where possible. However, it remains to be seen how these matters will be addressed in practice and agencies should be prepared for the potential cost implications that could follow.
The need for temporary work insurance is just one of the issues to arise from AWR that could potentially affect temporary work agencies and we are urging agencies to seek professional, specialist advice on the new regulations as soon as possible in order to avoid being caught out.
Currently Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance is in discussion with our insurance brokers regarding providing a range of corporate and, potentially, personal policies that might be available to recruitment businesses.