Empowering Agency Workers

Looking the part is helpful when it comes to getting a job, but what if your circumstances prevent you from having anything suitable to wear for an interview?  This happens to more people than you might imagine, and fortunately there are support services that can help.  Today, we’re talking to a fantastic charity, Smart Works, about empowering women by giving them the clothes, practical skills and confidence they need to succeed.

In short, Smart Works supports their clients to secure a job.  But it’s more than that.  Gaining financial independence is transformative, improving individual lives, the lives of their families and communities.  Jan Iceton, Chair of Smart Works Manchester, tells us more and these are just a few insights from our chat:

It seems to us that Smart Works clients get such a confidence boost that they’re almost a different person afterwards.  In Jan’s words, “It’s not a hand out, it’s a hand held.”  Truly inspirational stuff!

Smart Works is a UK charity that uses the power of clothes and coaching to transform a woman’s confidence.  Their service is carefully designed, with kindness and respect at the heart of everything they do.  It is about much more than the clothes their clients are gifted: it is about what the clothes allow each woman to become.  When she looks in the mirror, she begins to see hope and possibility for a better future.  Over 20,000 women have been empowered through Smart Works to date.  After their appointment, 95% feel more confident about succeeding in their next interview, 97% feel more confident in their new outfit and 93% are more aware of their strengths and skills.  Importantly, 62% secure a job within a month.

Smart Works services are available throughout the UK and via centres in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Reading.

For more information:          

Warning, this episode might make you angry!  The pandemic disproportionately affected disabled people – 60% of people who died of COVID were disabled in some way.  Whilst this statistic is outside our control, inclusion is within our control.  But disability is often at the bottom of the agenda when it comes to equality.  So today, on International Day of Disabled Persons 2021, we’re talking to the brilliant Jane Hatton of Evenbreak about difficulties faced by disabled job seekers.  We were surprised by how institutionalised the issues are and how easily they could be overcome.

Some of the many important takeaways from our chat are:

There are 14.1 million disabled people in the UK, and 19% of working age adults are disabled – that’s a lot of talent that employers are unwittingly missing out on.  Just a little bit of thought and consideration by recruiters and employers can unlock this potential and bring huge benefits to everyone.

Making assumptions is wrong.  Things like “Oh we can’t employ disabled people as we don’t have any ramps” just show a lack of understanding.

Listen to this brilliant episode and prepare to have your eyes opened to the institutional unfairness faced by disabled people.  Whilst it isn’t deliberate discrimination, it certainly is not okay.

Jane knew that employers struggled to attract disabled candidates, and that disabled candidates couldn’t tell which employers were inclusive, so she decided to connect the two!  Jane created an exciting award-winning social enterprise called Evenbreak which is run by and for disabled people.  The employers who advertise on Evenbreak are actively aiming to attract disabled candidates and the registered candidates want to work for inclusive companies.  In addition, Evenbreak supports disabled candidates through their Career Hive which provides specific and relevant advice and guidance from careers professionals with lived experience of disability.

For more information:       

Many temporary and agency workers are financially excluded, an issue that is not well known so we’re highlighting it in today’s episode.  So what exactly is it, and why does it matter?  To help answer these questions, we’re talking to Matt Oldham of Unizest, who tells us:

There is not enough awareness about financial exclusion which particularly affects workers from overseas who come to UK for critical, and often precarious roles.  In the worst cases of financial exclusion there can be modern slavery which means that these excluded people have no basic rights and might not even be aware of their plight.

We all need to do more to tackle the problem, so start now by listening to this episode and increasing your own awareness of the issue.

With an established fintech background and expertise in payment technology, Matt co-founded Unizest in 2021 in order to help newcomers to the UK get on with their life by providing a hassle-free e-current bank account.  Through their innovative approach Unizest aims to smooth peoples transition to the UK by removing one of the biggest hurdles they face – setting up banking services.

For more information:         

Following the off-payroll legislation that came into effect in April 2021, there has been an increase in the use of Statements of Work as a mechanism to engage contractors, and much talk about whether this ‘new’ type of contract is valid or not.  To shed some light on the subject, we chat to Carla Roberts, Director of Legal Services at WTT Legal Ltd who updates us on what is currently happening, and how to ensure that your Statement of Work is compliant.

Some key takeaways are:

Please note that the content discussed in this podcast episode involves complex legal issues and is intended to be used for general informational purposes only. Seeking specialist legal advice for your particular circumstances is strongly recommended.

Carla is a dual qualified lawyer (US/UK) and has extensive experience in employment law, IR35 advice, commercial contracts, data protection and insurance law issues.  Prior to joining WTT, Carla was Senior Legal Counsel at Alexander Mann Solutions Ltd, Head of Legal at Gattaca PLC and Compliance Manager at Capita Group PLC.  In her role at WTT, Carla is committed to ensuring that clients have access to a “one-stop shop” for all their legal needs, including employment, contracts, wills, estate and tax planning and insurance.

You can find out more about Carla and WTT Legal here:

The TUC recently proposed that umbrella companies should be banned and published an accompanying report detailing their research and analysis of the umbrella sector.  Today we’re chatting with Matthew Creagh, TUC policy officer, about what led to their position and proposed ban.

Join us to find out more about:

It’s a wide ranging conversation covering the TUC’s and their members’ perspective on the umbrella sector, and the issues that need to be resolved.

Link to the TUC’s report on the umbrella sector:

Link to enforcement report that is mentioned in the discussion:

Matthew Creagh is policy officer at the TUC with responsibility for employment rights and related issues.  Matthew has a law degree and a masters in labour law, plus some 15 years experience supporting worker rights and legal issues.  The TUC is a democratic organisation which brings together more than 5.5 million working people who make up their 48 member unions.

This podcast builds on the earlier podcast done with Paul Chamberlain of JMW Solicitors looking at holiday for agency workers.  Today we are joined by Lewina Farrell, a specialist legal advisor to the recruitment sector, to specifically look at the issue of whether agency workers were entitled to holiday pay whilst on furlough.  We cover everything you need to know, including:

We also briefly discuss holiday accrual for workers who were employed by umbrellas and subsequently furloughed.  Lewina simplifies a very complicated topic into just 30 minutes, well worth a listen if you aren’t sure!

Lewina qualified as a solicitor in 2004 and worked at a leading trade body in the recruitment sector for 12 years including 10 years as Head of Legal Services.  During that time she advised on lots of new legislation including in particular the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, GDPR and changes to IR35/ the Off-Payroll Rules in both the public and private sectors.  Lewina is very well respected and has worked with government departments, including HMRC and BEIS.  She has advised recruiters across a wide range of sectors such as construction, healthcare, logistics. IT, the GLAA sector and others.

Find out more on Lewina’s website:

Today we are delighted to chat to Connor Heaney, MD of CXC EMEA, about the international opportunities for temporary workers and contractors currently.  Connor is very positive about the market currently from a workers perspective, and there are a lot of opportunities available depending on your exact sector and skillset.  On a global scale skills shortages mean that firms are hiring and increasingly need temporary and contingent talent.

Some key insights from our chat are:

Connor is MD of CXC EMEA, a global HR outsourcer that connects businesses with contingent workers, bringing them the talent they need when they need it.  Connor has spent the majority of his career in recruitment and has significant experience in supporting clients achieve their talent requirements.  Connor’s focus is on solving CXC clients’ contingent workforce requirements, and is very busy!

For more information:           

This is the second of our two-part special chatting about the unregulated umbrella sector with industry expert Crawford Temple.  We rejoin the conversation discussing the lack of enforcement in the sector and the detrimental impact this is having.  We go on to discuss some quick-wins that HMRC could easily implement which would support and empower workers whilst also raising standards in the sector.

Here are some of the key takeaways from part 2:

Part 1 of our conversation, episode 026 is available here

The report “The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly” is available here

The factsheet “Working through an umbrella company” is available here

Crawford has some 25 years experience in the umbrella sector and is owner of Professional Passport, the largest independent assessor of payment intermediary compliance.  He is an expert in compliance and risk management across all sectors of the temporary workers market including contractors, recruitment companies, end clients and providers.

For more information:     

There have been many calls for the umbrella sector to be regulated by the government, so we chat to industry expert Crawford Temple to find out his thoughts on the subject.  His answer is very interesting: implement a system similar to financial services which has a track record of success and could achieve the same within the umbrella sector.

We discussed about so many umbrella-related issues that this is actually the first of TWO episodes with Crawford.  Here are some of the key takeaways from part 1:

The report “The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly” is available here

Crawford has some 25 years experience in the umbrella sector and is owner of Professional Passport, the largest independent assessor of payment intermediary compliance.  He is an expert in compliance and risk management across all sectors of the temporary workers market including contractors, recruitment companies, end clients and providers.

For more information:     

No doubt you will have heard about the Uber case, and several others that have cropped up recently in the gig economy.  These all centre around the common theme of workers disputing their employment status and seeking certain statutory rights.  If you are a temporary worker, do you know what your employment status is?  Do you know that it might differ depending on whether a recruitment agency engages you, or whether you work through an umbrella?

It’s important because your employment status confers certain statutory rights that you are entitled to receive.  To demystify this subject, we brought in employment law expert Paul Chamberlain, who very kindly talked us through employment status and why it matters.   It’s well worth a listen to find out:

Let us simplify quite a complex subject – just 20 minutes of your time could prevent you being ripped off!

Paul is head of JMW Solicitors employment team in Manchester, and he has some 30 years employment law experience.  He has a particular interest in, and nationally recognised expertise in, the law relating to the recruitment industry.  Paul has significant experience in advising and providing training in employment status issues, Agency Workers’ Regulations, GLAA matters, Working Time Regulations and recruitment industry-specific regulatory matters.

Connect with Paul Chamberlain:      Check out JMW Solicitors website:    And their