Childcare and teaching staffing agencies failing to obey laws

Of 50 agencies visited by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate as part of a national exercise called Operation Hazard, 38 were issued with warnings for failing to comply with the law. Of these, 18 were childcare agencies and 20 provided teaching staff.

Eleven agencies were failing to carry out proper identity and qualification checks on candidates they planned to supply for work.

Inspectors found a total of 140 breaches, many of which were minor. The most serious practices noted by inspectors included: not agreeing terms with workers before trying to find them work, not obtaining all the necessary information from the employer about the job, and not giving written information to the worker or the employer about the assignment, including details such as where they were supposed to be and when.

Lord Young, minister for Employment Relations, said, 'Agencies in the teaching and childcare sectors should be especially vigilant that they are meeting all of their responsibilities. It is important that children are not put at risk. Follow-up investigations will take place to make sure that the agencies concerned have acted to change their ways. Agencies that continue to disobey the law could be prosecuted, hit hard with unlimited fines or even banned from operating for up to ten years.'

Judith Ivers, owner of North London Nannies, and chair of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation's childcare sector, said, 'All agencies that are members of REC adhere to a code of good recruitment practice. We check and keep copies of candidates' identification and eligibility to work in the UK, and we agree terms with workers and help to negotiate with families and with nannies and we look at draft copies of their contracts.'

I agree with Lord Young that childcare and teaching agencies should be vigilant and I think that they should all be forced to become a member of the REC.'