ESM2066 - Agency and temporary workers: agency legislation - provisions from 6 April 2014: supervision, direction or control example - operative at recycling plant

Part 2, Chapter 7 Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, Part 2, Chapter 7, section 44(2)(a)

Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) Regulations 1978, Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraph 2

Operative at a recycling plant

Lukasz has experience in working on production lines at various factories and has registered with an employment business which brings him regular work. The employment business contact Lukasz to tell him a recycling plant has provided them with details of an eight-month engagement for an operative to work at the recycling plant, which will entail sorting out household recyclables being delivered on site. Lukasz is keen to take the job and is provided with the contact details for Martin, (the plant’s production manager), whom Lukasz phones. They discuss the vacancy and agree that Lukasz will take the engagement. Martin tells Lukasz to report to him at 9am the following Monday.

Lukasz turns up for work as arranged and meets Martin. Martin tells Lukasz he will be working alongside a moving conveyer belt where he will be picking out recyclables off of the belt and placing them into corresponding chutes based on their type, for example placing glass items into the chute for glass. Lukasz is given protective clothing, eyewear, and gloves, after which Martin gives Lukasz a Health and Safety briefing. He then demonstrates to Lukasz how the conveyor belt work should be undertaken and what the expected speed of his work is. Lukasz is then told to take his place alongside the conveyor belt. For the first four weeks, Martin periodically checks on his progress making sure Lukasz is working to speed and is always placing items into the correct chutes.

From the fifth week, Martin no longer feels the need to make sure Lukasz is putting the recyclables in the correct chutes, nor does he feel he needs to monitor the time it is taking Lukasz to progress through his work. Lukasz is now skilled enough to complete the work quickly and without mistakes without anyone’s intervention. Lukasz is therefore left to complete the rest of his engagement without supervision.

At the start of Lukasz’s engagement, Martin made clear how Lukasz should complete his work. Lukasz could not decide how he would do the work himself as it had to be done in a particular way as dictated and demonstrated by Martin. This was frequently checked by Martin in the first four weeks.

Although Martin only subjected Lukasz to supervision for the first four weeks of his engagement, by having overall responsibility for all work done on site Martin still held the ‘right’ to supervise, direct, or control the manner in which Lukasz provided his services throughout his entire engagement. This condition of the agency legislation is therefore met and will have applied to the entire duration of Lukasz’s engagement.