The government says it is not releasing the names of 18 driver recruitment agencies it has warned for breaking the law following an investigation, because it doesn't want to "blacklist" them.
The intelligence-led investigation into the West Midlands driver agencies found that 18 of 21 agencies inspected had broken the law a total of 80 times. Offences included failing to confirm drivers' identities, not checking health and safety risks with hirers and failing to issue terms and conditions and written agreements on pay. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (DBIS) says it is considering taking further action in a number of cases.
But it tells Commercial Motor it will not be informing the public who the firms are.
A spokesman says: "The reason why the first piece of action is a warning is that quite a lot of the time the agencies don't even know what their obligations and responsibilities are. For example, things such as identity confirmation. Some agencies may not realise they have to double-check identities. They don't realise it's part of the regulations to do that. This gives them a chance to comply."
"What we don't want to do is to steam in and close down businesses," he adds. "We don't want to create a situation where you blacklist a company. Follow-up investigations will take place, and if they are still not complying, we can take further action like prosecution, or seek a banning order."
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation says it does not know if any of the 18 companies are members of its 250-strong Driver Group. REC head of public policy Anne Fairweather says: "Yes, it's unfortunate, but I can see where they [DBIS] are coming from. There are one million temporary workers working every day. It's not going to be exactly right 100% of the time.
"There are going to be slip-ups. It's right that the government gives them an opportunity to correct their practices."