APSCo Help Desks
Our help desk service is one of APSCo’s most popular benefits and is the only service dedicated to the specific legal, compliance and accountancy needs of the professional recruitment sector. The help desks are staffed by recruitment experts and provide practical advice and information across a wide range of topics:
To access the legal help desk, email [email protected] with your query through your company’s email address and your contact telephone details. The turnaround target is eight hours and you will receive up to 20 minutes free support. The legal help desk is available from 9 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday.
Popular legal and compliance issues covered by the legal helpdesk include:
- Recruitment regulation
- Introduction and re-engagement issues
- Contractor compliance
- Employer and employee rights
- Discrimination, harassment, bullying
- Stress and sickness
- Disciplinary and dismissal
- Data protection
- Insurance
We’ve put together some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) which cover a range of common topics that may help answer the question before using the help desk.
Please note that the help desk cannot cover complex, on-going issues, tax issues, review of contracts, correspondence, or written advice. If your issue does not fall within the scope of the legal help desk, you may want to enter into a commercial agreement with your own solicitors or with one of our specialist Trusted Partners.
APSCo has partnered with leading UK legal firm JMW Solicitors LLP to provide free technical advice and support for members. This means that APSCo members can contact the Immigration Help desk with any questions in relation to UK Immigration Law and how to recruit employees who are either EU nationals or non-EEA nationals.
To use the Immigration Help desk, email [email protected] with your company’s email address and your contact telephone details and some basic information on your query. The turnaround target is 48 hours, and you will receive up to 20 minutes free specialist advice from an experienced immigration solicitor from JMW Solicitors LLP. The Immigration Help desk is available from 9 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday.
Popular issues covered by the Immigration Help desk include:
- Changes in the immigration rules following Brexit
- The EU settlement scheme
- How to complete Right to Work checks for EU/non-EU staff
- Steps to take to ensure that you are able to recruit EEA/non-EEA workers
- How to apply for a sponsor licence to employ workers
- The type of roles that qualify for the Skilled Worker route
- What alternative options are available if the role is not sufficiently qualified for a Skilled Worker role.
If the enquiry is complex and takes longer than 20 minutes to resolve, a fee may be charged for any additional work. If this is the case, JMW Solicitors LLP will provide an estimate of their fee before it is charged and there is no obligation to use their services.
APSCo has partnered with UK accountancy firm Azuki Accounts to provide free technical advice and support for members concerning accounting, tax, and corporate finance.
To use the Accountancy Help desk, email [email protected] with your company’s email address and your contact telephone details and some basic information on your query. The turnaround target is 48 hours and you will receive up to 20 minutes free specialist advice from a senior accountant at Azuki Accounts. The Accountancy Help desk is available from 9 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday.
Popular topics covered by the accountancy help desk include:
- Share incentive schemes for key employees
- Taking profits from the business in a tax-efficient manner
- Travel and subsistence schemes
- Salary sacrifice schemes, such as pensions and childcare vouchers
- Taxation associated with company cars/car allowances
- International VAT issues
- Budget impact clarifications
- Sources of finance and methods of improving working capital
- Financial due diligence
- Valuing a recruitment business
- Preparing a business exit strategy
If the enquiry is complex and takes longer than 20 minutes to resolve, a fee may be charged for the additional work. If this is the case, a senior accountant from Azuki Accounts will provide an estimate of their fee before it is charged and there will be no obligation to use their services. The Accountancy Help desk is reliant on members to provide full details of the proposed transaction or circumstances and is not responsible for any information or guidance given as part of the free Help desk service.
APSCo has partnered with international expert supplier of contractor management solutions 6CATS International to provide free international advice and support for members.
To use the International Compliance Help desk, email [email protected] with your company’s email address, your contact telephone details and some basic information on your query, including the country concerned. The turnaround target is 24 hours and you will receive up to 20 minutes free impartial, confidential, compliance advice from the directors at 6CATS International. The international compliance help desk is available from 9 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday.
Popular compliance issues covered by the international help desk include:
- Recruitment regulation
- Contractor compliance
- Insurance
The International Compliance Help desk is for the purpose of giving general compliance advice on running contractors in jurisdictions other than the UK and the USA and for general basic employment advice. It is not for the purpose of providing legal advice and you should refer any query requiring legal advice back to the legal help desk who can provide the member with details of our legal Trusted Partners.
APSCo has partnered with leading supplier of contractor payroll and management solutions PGC (Precision Global Consulting) to provide members with global legislative compliance advice on the US and Canadian market.
To use the USA Help desk, email [email protected] with your company’s email address, your contact telephone details and some basic information on your query. The turnaround target is 24 hours and you will receive up to 20 minutes free impartial, confidential, compliance advice. The USA Help desk is available from 9 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday.
Legal Training
You can also find details of our legal and compliance workshop here and our essential recruitment compliance course for recruiters here.
Disclaimer
APSCo Helpdesks can only form opinions and provide generic guidance based on the information provided by the user of the Helpdesk. Information provided by the helpdesks should not be treated as professional legal, accountancy or compliance advice. The helpdesks are not regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority, the ICEAW or any other regulatory body and no professional/client relationship exists between the helpdesk advisor, their organisation and the user. Any advice given is non-binding.
If partial or incomplete information is provided to the helpdesks, the opinion given is likely to differ to that which would be given if based on the full facts. To the fullest extent permissible by law, APSCo, its helpdesk partners and its advisors (the helpdesk providers) hereby exclude all liability in so far as permissible in law, for any claim, loss, demands or damages of any kind whatsoever arising out of or in connection with the use of the helpdesk and/or any information, opinion or advice given and the helpdesk user will hold the helpdesk providers harmless in respect of such claims.
Polite Notice
Our helpdesk staff and Partners treat all helpdesk users with courtesy and respect. Similarly, we expect our helpdesk staff and Partners to be treated in the same way. We have a duty to protect the welfare and safety of our helpdesk colleagues. Aggressive, abusive or threatening language and / or behaviours towards our helpdesk staff or Partners will not be tolerated under any circumstances.