PAYE65020 - employment maintenance: employment agencies: agency schemes - initial meeting

There are longstanding difficulties involving agency schemes. These schemes by their very nature sit uneasily with the operation of PAYE and Employment Maintenance procedures.

Whilst there is no single or simple solution to the PAYE problems posed by agencies, one of the most effective ways of reducing operational problems for Processing Offices and employers, is through employer education.

Staff who work on Employment Maintenance are not expected to arrange meetings with problematic agency employers, although you have a vital role in the initial detection of these agencies.

Where you can identify problem agencies you should enlist the help of the Business Support Team for the initial move towards educating your employer. For more information see PAYE65015.

The Business Support Team Advisor is only responsible for the initial employer contact visit. As a result of any meeting between the Business Support Team Advisor and your employer, any matters arising from that visit will be referred back to the to Processing Office to follow up. It is intended that agency employer education should be a continuous process between employer and Processing Office.

On receipt of any matters arising, the appropriate officer within the Processing Office may decide to arrange a further meeting with the employer. In these circumstances follow the guidance given at PAYE65021. This guidance can be applied to any initial meeting with an agency employer whether or not the Business Support Team Advisor has been involved.