The recently launched governmental review of the Conduct Regulations has been welcomed – with certain caveats – by recruitment industry bodies who are now calling their members to action.

Earlier this month, the much-anticipated ‘Consultation on reforming the regulatory framework for employment agencies and employment businesses' was published and delivered to several recruitment and employment industry trade bodies and other business organisations – with responses invited via letter, fax, email or online survey service SurveyMonkey.com.

While these organisations will submit responses themselves, they are consulting with members as to what their response shall be, and individual members may choose to respond independently.

Broadly, recruitment bodies have welcomed the possibility of less red tape and a decreased regulatory burden, as well as moves to see the simplification and clarification of certain elements.

However, certain aspects have proved more divisive, and a major concern is ensuring that the new regulations allow for the differences between different types of employment agencies – of which recruitment agencies are only one – and indeed different types of recruitment agency.

Speaking to Recruiter, Samantha Hurley, head of external affairs at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) says she is “very pleased with the comments that the legislation should be simplified and minimised”. In particular, she reads that is a potential for rules to “acknowledge that not all jobseekers are vulnerable” – with the candidates at APSCo firms less in need of the protections currently afford, and an opportunity to aid a government that “always struggles with looking at the staffing industry as one thing”.

Meanwhile, Adrian Marlowe, chairman of the Association of Recruitment Consultancies, argues that it is important that any eventual rule change “avoids unfairness which favours larger businesses over small and medium-sized enterprises”.

Marlowe also warns against an excessive overhaul, saying: “The current rules do underpin and promote professionalism within the industry. Since 2003, when the regulations were introduced, professionalism has increased and statistics show that the number of successful complaints have steadily decreased to a very low level… They certainly help to keep cowboy operators, who can damage the reputation of the industry as a whole, at bay.”

A spokesperson for the Institute of Recruiters (IOR) tells Recruiter it broadly supports the proposals, with one caution: “We agree that agency workers should have confidence to use the recruitment sector and must be able to assert their rights. Having said that, the route to achieve this is not so straight forward and will observe closely the government’s willingness to take on board industry views.”

Simon Garbett, the chair of The Employment Agents Movement (TEAM), also said he was “a bit concerned” about this area, saying: “I wonder whether the government doesn’t quite realise how many tribunal claims they would be in receipt of.”

Both Garbett and Hurley at APSCo did welcome simplification of the temp-to-perm clarification, respectively calling the current wording “crazy” and “incredibly complicated”.

However, the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s chief executive Kevin Green feared that it could “cause real issues for the industry” if this and “a drive to move the onus of enforcement away from government inspections to a greater reliance on employment tribunals” were to be implemented.

Green also notes: “To create a new fit for purpose regulatory framework the government must recognise that the environment under which temporary workers are supplied has changed significantly since the current legislation was enacted. For example, it is imperative that the role of umbrella companies, which didn’t exist when the current legislation was enacted, is addressed in this exercise.”

In addition to membership bodies calling for their affiliates to become involved either directly or through their wider organisation, IOR director general Azmat Mohammed also sees the opportunity as “a great opportunity for industry bodies to work together”, extending an “open invitation for industry heads to work collaboratively and ensure we get the most from this opportunity”.

Sean O’Donoghue, founder of the Independent Recruitment Group, which was not sent the consultation, says it has “never been our intention to get involved with politics as we believe that no membership organisation can speak on behalf of its entire base of members”, but will be “actively encouraging our membership to put themselves forward for the consultation should they wish”. O’Donoghue adds that he hopes that other trade bodies do the same.