Recruiters call on Patel to postpone in-person checks

Much of the recruitment industry has joined forces to urge home secretary Priti Patel to rethink the re-introduction of in-person ‘Right to Work’ checks on 17 May, sending the message to Patel in a strongly worded letter.

The 6 May letter, written on the stationery of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), is signed by representatives of the Association of Professional Staffing Companies, the RL 100 [representing in-house recruiters] and 16 recruitment companies, including Acacium Group, Adecco Group, Cordant Group, GI Group, Hays, Impellam Group, JobandTalent Works, KHR Recruitment Specialists, nGAGE, PageGroup, Pertemps Network Group, Randstad, Reed, Staffline and TPP Recruitment.

“We write to urge you, as a minimum, to delay those changes at least until 21 June. Following separate letters sent to your office, as representatives of the wider recruitment sector, we reiterate that requiring a physical check to take place whilst there are still restrictions on gatherings seems at odds with the government’s advice to work from home where possible,” the letter says.

“Such short notice for these significant changes is not only unreasonable but also unrealistic from an operational point of view. There are safety compliance procedures that take time and investment to put in place, both sparse at the moment.

“The collective experience of all of our organisations and members is that the current digital system works best for maintaining compliance and speed in placing people into work.

“With that in mind,” the letter continues, “we urgently ask government to delay these changes at least until the lockdown is fully over, and preferably to maintain digital checks on a permanent basis. We remain available to engagement with government in an evidence-based consultation process to achieve this.

“The government has an opportunity to work with the employment industry to ensure right to work checks are fair, robust and support the recovery of the labour market.”

Image credit: iStock

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