APSCo Code of Conduct
1. General
1.1. Through recognising, supporting and promoting excellence within the Technical Staffing Solutions Sector, APSCo provides client organisations, candidates and Government, with a recognised stamp of quality assurance and affords our members business intelligence, industry solidarity and a clear commercial advantage.
1.2. APSCo members shall at all times act in the best interests of the technical staffing industry and will not act in a way likely to bring the industry into disrepute.
1.3. APSCo members’ conduct is to be regulated in accordance with this Code of Conduct and support is offered to all members in order to achieve compliance with these standards
1.4. Any complaint that an APSCo member has breached the standards contained within this Charter shall be dealt with in accordance with the APSCo complaints procedure, which is available by emailing info@apsco.org
1.5. In the event a complaint is made against an APSCo member, that member shall co-operate with any investigation of that complaint under the APSCo complaints procedure.
1.6. APSCo members shall provide reasonable assistance to any investigation under the APSCo complaints procedure, even if they are not the subject of that complaint.
2. Compliance with laws
2.1. APSCo members will ensure that they understand and comply with all of the relevant provisions of the 1973 Employment Agencies Act as amended, and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (the Conduct Regulations).
2.2. APSCo members will ensure that they comply with other relevant legislation relating to their business, including legislation relating to: equal opportunities, health and safety, taxation, data protection, telecommunications privacy.
2.3. APSCo Members will champion equality and diversity within the hiring process and shall not discriminate against candidates on any of the grounds prohibited by law (e.g. sex, race, disability, age, religious belief, sexual orientation, marital status). APSCo Members shall make reasonable adjustments to help applicants with disabilities as required by the Disability Discrimination Act 1996.
2.4. Members will comply with home office guidelines, to ensure that all PAYE workers supplied or introduced to Client Organisations are eligible to work in the
3. Training staff
4. Recruitment processes
4.1. APSCo Members shall ensure that they document all stages of their recruitment processes, recording the time and date of CV’s sent, interviews arranged and the outcome of offers of employment or engagement.
4.2. APSCo members shall ensure that all advertisements and marketing for candidates comply with the Conduct Regulations
4.3. APSCo members will endeavour to place the candidates who best meet the client’s reasonable and lawful requirements.
4.4. Members will only submit details of those work seekers who have given permission for their CV and personal data to be transmitted to an agreed or pre-discussed client organisation.
4.5. APSCo Members shall ensure that there is a clear understanding with the Client as to who is responsible for each aspect of the recruitment process (eg interviews and obtaining references),
4.6. APSCo members must be willing, on request from a client company, to clarify what procedures are in place to verify the work seekers identity, experience and qualifications.
5. Clients
5.1. APSCo members will not target employees of active clients for search purposes.
5.2. APSCo Members will treat all client information confidentially and the disclosure of information will be restricted to those parties that form part of the recruitment process.
6. Candidates
6.1. Where the member has received a fee for placing a work seeker, members will not approach the work seeker with a view to placing the work seeker elsewhere; and will not accept an instruction from the work seeker to find work without confirmation in writing from the work seeker.
6.2. APSCo Members should make clear to work seekers at what stage references will be taken up and how they will be used. Only referees provided by the work seeker should be contacted, unless express permission from the work seeker is obtained to act otherwise.
6.3. APSCo Members shall use reasonable endeavours to keep work seekers informed of progress in finding them work and of any application for work the member is pursuing on their behalf. To that end, APSCo members shall agree with work seekers who is to initiate further contact.
6.4. Where APSCo members have agreed to provide and are providing work finding services for work seekers, or where APSCo members have engaged the services of work seekers as temporaries / contract workers, APSCo members shall return work seekers’ calls, emails and other correspondence as soon as reasonably practicable.
6.5. APSCo members shall not misrepresent pay rates, contract terms, assignment duration or other subjects relevant to the relationship between the members, the client and the work seeker.
6.6. APSCo Members shall pay all temporary/contract workers promptly in accordance with their contract. In the event of a delay, APSCo members shall inform the temporary / contract worker as soon as practicable, giving the reasons for the delay and the steps that have been taken to resolve the issue.
6.7. APSCo members shall not unfairly prevent a candidate from pursuing other opportunities. Nor will they induce candidates to breach or improperly interfere with a contractual relationship with a client.
6.8. Members will not impose a restriction on any temporary/contract worker they have previously engaged from obtaining work by withholding or refusing to provide any information, whether in a reference or otherwise, that is reasonably requested by another employment agency/business or hirer in respect of that temporary/contract worker unless they can objectively and lawfully justify their decision for refusing to give such information in any particular case.
7. Miscellaneous
7.1 Members will take all reasonable steps to comply with the APSCo environmental policy and ensure that it is communicated to all staff members.
7.2 APSCo members will not solicit employees of other members, affiliate members or clients of other members or affiliate members for recruitment purposes.
8. Managed Services
Members who provide any type of ‘Managed Services’, including but not exclusively Master Vendor, Vendor Neutral and Recruitment Process Outsourcing, undertake to act in a fair and appropriate fashion. This will include the following undertakings:
8.1 That the Master Vendor offers fair and competitive fees/margins to other suppliers
8.2 That the Master Vendor is transparent in regard to its relationship with the End Client - i.e. must state from the outset if Vendor Neutral status or otherwise
8.3 That the Master Vendor does not use the CVs supplied for any other purpose than to fill the requirements of the end client (i.e. does not build a database from other agencies CVs or contact the candidates about roles with other of their Clients)
8.4 That the Master Vendor does not attempt to take over/transition a supplier's contractors unless fair compensation is paid and that any plan to do so is declared in the Master Vendor Agreement with the supplier.
8.5 That information provided to the Master Vendor by the end client which would assist in finding and briefing candidates is shared with the suppliers.
