Press Releases
November 2009
A fair COP for Contractors
Professional Passport has launched The Contractors’ Opinion Poll (COP), a comprehensive survey that enables contractors to express their opinions on all aspects of the contracting marketplace. The quick and simple online survey gathers significant information from contractors on an anonymous basis and the results will be used to convey an accurate picture of the realities of contracting in the current market to key decision makers and government departments. COP will enable contractors’ collective voices to be heard above the din of commercial lobbying and vested interest – giving contractors a real opportunity to influence service provision and legislation. We will publish a summary of results to our readers once the survey is complete.
Crawford Temple, Professional Passport’s COO, said at the launch of the survey “Professional Passport works with many Government Departments and is in a position to influence decisions and provide real workable solutions to the issues faced by contractors. We are continually hampered by the lack of hard fact evidence available on contractors and we are finding that new regulation is being introduced based on little more than perceptions and anecdotal evidence. The results from the survey will provide us with the tangible data we need to support contractors’ views to Government and enable us to argue for less burdensome regulation.”
The most recent example that will affect contractors is the draft regulations for the Agency Workers Directive. The underlying objective of the AWD is to protect the rights of vulnerable workers, however the draft proposals go far beyond this and could pose a real threat to all contractors.
He went on to say: “There is clear evidence that the Government views the contracting market as a whole with no segmentation or differentiation between low paid vulnerable temporary workers (eg cockle pickers and agricultural workers) and those that most people consider to be professional contractors. In our experience professional contractors are certainly not seeking the protection this bill proposes. Without the evidence from the survey there is a real possibility that many professional contractors could become collateral damage of well intentioned but heavy-handed legislation.”
The Agency Workers Directive has a consultation period that expires on 11th December 2009 so a short window of opportunity exists to influence thinking and protect the position of the professional contractor.
Professional Passport will be meeting with BIS to discuss the proposals and hopes the results from the survey will provide clear evidence to support the arguments.
As with any survey, the more people who complete it, the more weight the results will have. This is your opportunity to influence legislation that will have a direct impact on your business and income. The survey can be completed anonymously in just a few minutes at https://www.professionalpassport.com/Contractors/595
Make sure your views are known before it is too late.
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For further details, please contact Danbro: 01253 600141, General Enquiries: 01253 600140, London Office: 020 7836 8400 or email enquiries@danbro.co.uk or send an enquiry.
