iBalance Umbrella Company Crack the WTR Issue

Heard of WTR (Working Time Regulations)? Well, if not you soon will. It's a new employment law which affects contractors as much as it does permanent workers.

The problem facing many umbrella companies, recruitment agencies and clients is how to monitor the hours worked by contractors together with what rest breaks are being taken.

• New laws from Brussels mean all workers (including contractors) can't work too many hours, have to have a minimum number of rest breaks and must take holidays.

Whether you think this is sensible or another example of the ‘Nanny State' interfering where it shouldn't you better get used to it.

So, more admin and paperwork for all. But how exactly are you meant to keep records of the hours you work when the maximum is an average of 48 hours per week in a 17 week rolling period? Not only that but also ensure the correct number of holidays are taken?

The good news is that Contractor Supermarket featured umbrella company iBalance have worked out how to do this in a way which means there's virtually no extra burden on the contractor. In fact they've gone one step further and can offer real-time reporting of working hours to agencies.

• This enables agencies to make sure that the Working Time Regulations is being complied with. What's even better is the added ability to plan future projects with reference to hours worked.

Agencies can analyze reports showing which contractors are nearing their maximum average hours making compliance & planning so much easier for agency consultants. Not only can iBalance always ensure their contractors are given their statutory rights, but also demonstrate this to agencies and their clients that they are doing this giving them the ability to use the data to plan future work.

• This new online system is particularly useful for workers on project rates where it's always been difficult to monitor rest breaks.

Its proving particularly popular with agencies who engage manual workers on project rates - the risks of injury and reducing quality of work are much greater for these categories and end-clients want to know it's being managed properly.

The new online system lets workers input their rest breaks with the click of a mouse as they submit their timesheet and is very simple for contractors to use.

Under the WTD regulations, all employers have to ensure that workers have adequate rest-breaks:

• maximum hours worked - average of 48 per week in 17 week rolling period
• adequate rest breaks, so workers do no more than:

a) 13 hours in any 24 hour period (day) - cap of 13 x 6 = 78 hours
b) 1 days off (rest days) in every 7 day period (week)
c) statutory minimum holiday periods (28 days not working in addition to ‘rest days')

Whilst this is the responsibility of the employer (the umbrella company), most clients and agencies recognise their responsibility in ensuring they only use compliant umbrella companies that can show they are acting responsibly to protect workers' welfare.

iBalance umbrella company finish by pointing out another benefit of the system:

• "Another benefit of the new system is greater accuracy when calculating contractors' National Minimum Wage (NMW) which is a key contractual element of remuneration at most umbrella companies. Getting this wrong will attract attention from HMRC both on the breach of NMW legislation and also PAYE/NIC compliance because contractor expense claims are invariably affected by minimum wage."