Recruiters will be given the opportunity to question the senior civil servants responsible for producing guidance notes for the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) at a special meeting of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) on 31 March.

The meeting, held at the headquarters of the British Medical Association in Central London, will see Lisa Moses and Karen Wilshaw from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) discuss the content of the guidance notes in detail, as well as take questions from APSCo members.

The members’ meeting begins with an overview of the AWR and the process of developing the guidance notes by Samantha Hurley of Reviewpoint Consulting, who designed the AWR toolkit for APSCo members, and Frances Lewis of Osborne Clarke, both of whom have been heavily involved in talks with BIS.

Ann Swain, chief executive of APSCo, says: “The guidance notes for the AWR will be essential to helping recruiters and their clients comply with the Regulations. The notes have been in gestation for a long time and this meeting will be the first opportunity recruiters will have to put questions directly to the people responsible for drafting them.”

She adds: “Recruiters can add real value if they can demonstrate to their clients that they are ahead of the curve on the AWR. This meeting will provide the perfect opportunity for them to do just that.”