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Support National Apprenticeship Week 2012
01/02/2012
National Apprenticeship Week 2012 will take place from Monday 6 February to Friday 10 February.
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Important information for Flexible Employee re the Agency Workers Directive (AWR)
12/09/2011
Dear Step Ahead Flexible Employee
As I’m sure you are aware, the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) will come into force on 1 October this year. At Step Ahead we have been preparing for this major piece of legislation for some time, and have already organised our systems and procedures to fully embrace it. Our staff are fully briefed on the details, and our contracts have been revised.
The Agency Workers Regulations give agency workers certain rights from their first day on an assignment and further rights after a 12-week qualifying period.
Currently our revised Contract of Employment for Flexible Employees is being given a final check by our HR Legal Adviser and we expect to be able to send you your new contract within the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, bearing in mind that 1 October is just a few weeks away, we thought it would be useful for you to be aware of what your new rights will be.
As stated above, some of these rights apply from the first day a worker is engaged at a hirer organisation. Other rights apply only after the worker has been with the same hirer in the same or a substantively similar role for 12 weeks.
Rights that apply from day one include the right to access shared facilities and amenities that the hirer's comparable employees and workers can access, unless the hirer can objectively justify refusing access. Shared facilities provided by the hirer that agency workers are entitled to access could include, for example:
a canteen;
a workplace crèche;
transport to and from the workplace;
a staff room;
a prayer room; and
car parking.
Agency workers also have the right from day one of the assignment to be given the same information about relevant vacancies as the hirer's comparable employees and workers (unless the vacancy is as a result of restructuring).
The right not to suffer a detriment for asserting rights under the Regulations also applies from day one.
Following the completion of a continuous 12-week qualifying period worked on a single assignment (or on continuous consecutive assignments) for the same hirer, agency workers are entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as a comparable worker directly recruited by the hirer. Please note that these Regulations are not retrospective - so the 12 weeks are counted from 1 October. This means that the earliest you can qualify is week-ending 30 December 2012 (being 12 weeks from 1 October).
After you have completed the 12-week qualifying period you are entitled to equal treatment in relation to:
pay;
working time duration;
night work;
rest periods;
rest breaks; and
contractual annual leave.
Pay includes:
basic pay;
fees and commission;
overtime and shift allowances;
bonuses based on performance (rather than bonuses paid to encourage long-term service and/or company-wide bonus or share schemes); and
vouchers (for example for childcare or eye tests).
After the qualifying period, pregnant agency workers are also entitled to specific rights, including paid time off for antenatal care and, potentially, paid time off during an assignment if it is unsuitable for pregnant workers.
Please do rest assured that, for those of you who, as a result of the Regulations,are entitled to increased pay from week ending 30 December, we will be in contact well beforehand to give you your Confirmation of Assignment which will include your new pay-rate. Please note that we are not yet in a final position to inform you of how much any pay increases are likely to be because we are still in the process of collecting the relevant information from our clients.
As stated, your new Contracts will be issued shortly, however please feel free to call us if you would like to discuss any aspect of this e-mail.
For Step Ahead's part, we are delighted that these Regulations will enable us to potentially enhance the rewards we are able to give our highly valued workforce.
Finally, on behalf of the Team and myself, thank you for your hard work and loyalty to Step Ahead.
Kindest regards
Jackie Bedford
Managing Director
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Match Report – Step Ahead Vs British Library
06/06/2011
The game was on. The Step Ahead team eagerly awaiting 6pm so they could dash out and get some warm-up practice on a new away pitch. 5:45pm tick, tick, tick….5:50pm…. tock, tock, tock…..5:55pm…. errrr should we not call Andrew and Matt……5:57pm….still waiting for our team members…have they forgotten? ......5:59pm directions printed……..6:05pm in come the south London massive…….6:10pm we’re off.
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Party time at Step Ahead
03/01/2010
Step Ahead’s famous party happened on 3 December at the Vivat Bacchus restaurant and wine bar in Holborn.
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The Step Ahead 5-a-side team is up to the challenge
08/09/2009
A summer of football has seen the Step Ahead team improve and we're ready for more!
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