Royal Mail hits back over in-house agency
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Royal Mail has hit back against union claims that it has deliberately set up its own recruitment agency to “get around” the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR).
Earlier this week, The Daily Mirror reported the Communication Workers Union’s slamming Royal Mail’s decision to set up its own agency — Angard Staffing Solutions, with CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward calling the launch of the agency a “deliberate attempt to get around the agency regulations” and “a clear sign of Royal Mail preparing to casualise the industry”.
In a statement released to Recruiter, Royal Mail Group spokesman David Simpson said: “In common with other large companies, Royal Mail Group recruits temporary workers through an in-house recruitment agency — Angard Staffing Solutions – as well as through other employment providers.
“This is standard practice in UK industry and it enables us to keep a tight grip on our costs, which is what the taxpayer would expect. Through Angard, our costs are lower than the fees we would otherwise pay to external recruitment agencies.
“Royal Mail’s use of temporary workers has not changed in recent years and the company remains committed to a flexible, predominantly full-time workforce supported, as has long been the case, by part-time employees.
“The company is fully compliant with UK employment law and any suggestion that Angard Staffing Solutions has been set up to, in some way, get round the new Agency Workers Regulations is nonsense.
“Angard Staffing Solution’s biggest role by far is to manage the recruitment of temporary Christmas workers who, this year, will boost the Royal Mail workforce by 18,000 to help sort the nation’s festive mailbag.”
UPDATE 11 November: The Royal Mail has responded to Recruiter and comments on this story, see Royal Mail remains very confident in Angard.
