Opt Out/In

[NickNick]

How on earth can you opt out at a later date? Surely any later date would be after you have started work on client site?

Current agency have actually just tried to get me to opt out at extension time, which they were easily dissuaded from trying too hard at.

[The Lone Gunman]

<snip>

Try this for working out when "introduction" occured.
If the agent has not introduced me untill I start, what is to stop me from going direct after the interview and cutting out the agency? If they have not introduced me then they have no argument.
In most conversations I have had about this the accepted definition is that once the contractor becomes identifiable by the client then they have been introduced.

[NotAllThere]

...The person I spoke to said that thier (presumably qualified?!) view was because typically more than one contractor is met with before one is selected, a meeting to discuss the project is just that, the introduction isn't deemed to have officially taken place until they actually start the work. ...

Compared and contrasted with what is actually written in the regs, this sounds like a piece of wishful thinking on the part of REC.

[malvolio]

God it gets boring keeping on saying this....

The introduction is the point at which you become known to the client. The difference between us and the people the regs are aimed at, which is your average Office Angels agency worker, is that they turn up on Monday morning to do whatever it is the agency was told to send them for.

In practice, you should opt out when you send in the application for the job. You can opt back in at any time, but once you've met the client you can't opt out until contract renewal.

Of course, since any opt out after that point is ineffective, there's nothing to stop you signing the agency version. It won't make a blind bit of difference to your actual status, you're still opted in.

[Liability]

I'm having a wonderful time at the moment convincing an Agent that I can't in fact Opt OUT of the Agency Regulations no matter how much they want me to. I was introduced to the client before they tried to get me to Opt Out.

Apparently their Legal team are advising that I still can opt out and are trying all sorts of nonesense including the implication that the contract will be off unless I do. I know it's all flannel on their behalf, but I need to be able to prove it to shut them up comprehensively.

Can anyone point me to the specific sections of the act which detail the "introduced to the client bit" ? Ideally an online doc with section/subsection detail would be helpful.

really interested in this. Tell me more.

[Sockpuppet]

The agency is upset because they will have to offer you a commercially worse contract that limits their handcuff rights and commits them to paying you regardless. Of course you could simply say you'll opt out: you'll still be opted in and if it is ever challenged, the opt-out would be judged invalid anyway.

That's exactly what I did.