037 Why We Should Abolish Umbrella Preferred Supplier Lists

Temporary workers and contractors will often be required to be paid via an umbrella company and often recruitment agencies operate a preferred supplier list (PSL) of umbrella companies that their worker can choose from.  In this episode, IWORK's founder, Julia Kermode, discusses why she thinks umbrella PSLs should be abolished.  She has proposed this as one of her recommendations in response to the government's consultation on the umbrella market. It seems that protecting contractors and temporary workers are no longer the central reason for having a preferred supplier list of umbrellas.  In recent years PSLs have become increasingly rotten due to the scale of financial (and other) incentives taking place between umbrellas and recruitment agencies in exchange for inclusion on a PSL.  This is just one reason why PSLs should be abolished, which turned out to be a controversial opinion when Julia recently posted about the subject on social media. There many additional reasons for abolishing PSLs, not least because temporary workers and contractors should be able to choose their employer!  In no other industry is it acceptable to force someone into an employment arrangement not of their choosing. Of course there are reasons in favour of having PSLs which Julia also discusses.  She also offers some advice to temporary workers and contractors faced with a PSL of umbrellas that does include their preferred choice of umbrella. You can see the video of this podcast here if you prefer to watch rather than listening in isolation.