Business Terms & Conditions
TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS FOR PERMANENT, TEMPORARY & CONTRACTUAL PLACEMENTS
1 Definitions
1.1 “Recruitment Agency” shall mean Acorn Recruitment South West its successors and assigns or any person acting on behalf of and with the authority of Acorn Recruitment South West.
1.2 “Client” shall mean the person, firm or corporate body described as such on the invoices, application for credit, quotation, work authorisation or any other forms to which these terms and conditions apply and shall mean any person acting on behalf of and with the authority of such person or firm or corporate body.
1.3 “Engagement” shall mean the engagement, employment or use of the candidate by the client.
1.4 “Fee” shall mean the percentage of the remuneration, which is payable by the client to the recruitment agency for the introduction of the candidate.
1.5 “Introduction(s)” shall mean the introduction of a candidate to the client by the recruitment agency where the fee is payable only upon the candidate’s acceptance of the client’s offer of an engagement. No prior specific instruction from the client is required to affect an introduction.
1.6 “Remuneration” shall mean the aggregate gross annual taxable salary payable to or receivable by the candidate pursuant to the engagement.
1.7 “Services” shall mean all services supplied by the recruitment agency to the client whereby candidates are recruited into a temporary, contract or permanent employment in line with these Terms and Conditions and include any advice or recommendations (and where the context so permits shall include any supply of goods as defined above).
1.8 “Candidate” shall mean an applicant for a temporary, contract or permanent position of employment introduced to the client by the recruitment agency.
2 Scope of the Agreement
These Terms and Conditions apply to:
- Any business proposed or undertaken by the recruitment agency, and entities contained within the corporate ‘Group’. All references to the recruitment agency are related to all arms of the business.
- The employment or related activity in placing individuals or larger groups.
- In the absence of written confirmation, a client can only use a CV or Resume, provided by the recruitment agency for the sole intention of recruitment and as such should be respectful of legal obligations (national & international) regarding data protection and confidentiality. A copy of the Data Protection Policy can be viewed here https://www.acornrecruitmentsw.co.uk/data-protection-policy/.
2.1 These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between the parties in relation to the business, placement and/or the employment, engagement, or other use by the client of a candidate introduced by the recruitment agency.
3 Acceptance
3.1 Any instructions received by the recruitment agency from the client for the supply of services and/or the client’s acceptance of services supplied by the recruitment agency shall constitute acceptance of the Terms and Conditions contained herein.
4 Placements
4.1 The recruitment agency shall use reasonable skill and care in sourcing candidates before placing them into the Client Zone for appraisal by the client. The recruitment agency will ethically fill each Client Zone with suitable candidates whilst fully conforming to international equality regulations
4.2 The client shall provide the recruitment agency with placement requirements, including the anticipated salary package, job description and any other information reasonably necessary to enable the recruitment agency to source suitable candidates.
4.3 Insofar as a candidate or a third party provides details (whether in the form of academic or professional qualifications, professional background, experience or the like) relating to the candidate, The recruitment agency provides no warranty or representation as to the accuracy of such information and the recruitment agency will not be liable to the client for any loss (including direct loss, indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of anticipated revenue, loss of reputation or regulatory fines) or damage, nor shall the recruitment agency bear any responsibility for any client legal costs and expenses associated with such matters, whether arising directly or indirectly, as a result of such inaccurate or misleading information and the client acknowledges that it is their sole responsibility and obligation undertake its own investigations to verify any information provided in respect of that candidate and ensure that the same is accurate and correct.
4.4 Where the client has instructed the recruitment agency to approach a particular candidate on the client’s behalf, the client shall indemnify and keep the recruitment agency indemnified against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and direct losses and all interest, penalties and reasonable legal and professional costs and expenses suffered or incurred by the recruitment agency as a result of claims made against the recruitment agency in connection with such instruction provided that the recruitment agency has complied with its obligation to use reasonable skill and care and has not acted negligently or illegally in such regard.
4.5 The recruitment agency gives no representation or warranty that any candidate is or will be willing and/or available to accept any placement.
4.6 The recruitment agency will not be liable for any and all losses, including direct losses, indirect or consequential losses, loss of profit, loss of actual or anticipated savings, loss of anticipated revenue, loss of reputation or regulatory fines, liabilities, costs and expenses (including legal costs and expenses) incurred by the client arising from the candidate’s acts or omissions including their acts or omissions in the performance of their employment (whether on a permanent, temporary or contractual basis) with the client.
4.7 The client acknowledges that the final decision to employ or engage the candidate rests with them.
4.8 The client will make the recruitment agency aware of any security and/or health and safety requirements that the recruitment agency’s staff and/or the candidate must observe whilst at the client’s premises.
4.9 Unless otherwise notified to the contrary by the client in writing to the recruitment agency, the client hereby provides the recruitment agency with its consent to use and reproduce the client’s name, logo and trademarks within advertising for the placement and for the recruitment agency’s general promotional literature (whether online or in print) provided always that the recruitment agency shall not change or otherwise amend the client’s name, logo or trademark without the client’s prior written consent. Nothing in this provision shall create any rights of ownership (whether registrable or not) in favour of the recruitment agency over the intellectual property of the client.
4.10 The recruitment agency shall not be responsible for arranging work permits, visas, insurance or other incidental requirements of employment for the candidate.
4.11 The unethical practice of placing workers outside this formal agreement is forbidden. For example, a client approaching the candidate(s) or the candidate(s) approaching the client (directly or indirectly) for a period of 12 months.
4.12 The recruitment agency will not accept any undertaking where the proposed salary is listed at a rate lower than the minimum wage in the employing country
5 Fees
5.1 Placement fees shall be provided in an email marked as ‘Official Quote’.
5.2 VAT is not chargeable outside of the UK. All placement fees will be subject to VAT at the statutory United Kingdom rate.
5.3 Fees may be subject to a deposit being requested depending on the type of recruitment requested, time frames expected and the complex nature of the undertaking.
5.3.1 Deposits if charged are payable prior to the commencement of recruitment into the nominated account in (Sterling/Euro/US Dollar) as per the invoice provided. The deposit is calculated at 10% of the recruitment fee payable. If payment is to be processed in a currency not listed, the recruitment agency will default to Sterling, utilising the live exchange rate from xe.com.
5.3.2 All fees are calculated according to the rate in effect at the client’s company, plus VAT or equivalent taxes.
5.3.3 Following the completion of the recruitment cycle, the value of the deposit will be deducted from the final invoice payable.
5.3.4 Should the recruitment agency fail to place an individual with the employing company 100% of the deposit shall be refunded to the client’s nominated bank account.
5.4 Fees will be subject to amendments if there are official changes and modifications to the Official Contract.
5.5 Where a percentage of the annual salary is quoted the actual fee may be unknown until such time as a candidate/candidates commences employment.
5.6 For the purpose of fee calculation remuneration DOES NOT include bonus/profit share, allowances and any signing-on payment or equivalent, payment of pension contributions (whether to the client’s or candidate’s own scheme), company car, or any housing or accommodation allowances.
5.7 The fee will be invoiced and is payable in the currency agreed (Sterling/Euro/US Dollar) unless agreed otherwise. Exchange rates will be calculated using the live exchange rate from xe.com.
5.8 In the event of a candidate engaged by the client as a consequence of or resulting from an Introduction by or through the recruitment agency, during the preceding 12 months period, the recruitment agency shall, at its own discretion, charge the client with the relevant placement fee.
5.9 In the event that a candidate introduced by the recruitment agency to the client is already known to the client as a result of direct contact or contact through another recruitment agency, the client shall notify the recruitment agency of that fact within four (4) working days from the introduction. Failure to comply will result in the client liable to pay a placement fee in the event of its engagement of that candidate within 12 months of the Introduction. In each case, the fee will be equal to the sum which would have been payable if the original Introduction had resulted in an engagement.
5.10 All placement fees will be covered by a serialised official invoice; all invoices are to be paid by the client on or before an agreed date of no later than 30 days from the invoice date.
5.11 The recruitment agency reserves the right to charge interest on invoiced amounts overdue at the statutory rate as prescribed pursuant to Section 6 of the late payment of commercial debts (Interest) Act 1998 (as may be calculated using the calculator on the website: www.payontime.co.uk.
6 Replacement Candidates
6.1 The recruitment agency offers a 30-day no quibble replacement guarantee, for placed candidates that are deemed unsuitable. Should a client wish to modify this term a formal written request must be made.
6.2 Should the employment or engagement of a candidate be terminated the client must inform the recruitment agency in writing within 5 working days of termination.
6.3 The recruitment agency will endeavour to find a replacement candidate according to these conditions:
6.3.1 The candidate has left of their own decision, not due to redundancy or change in job description or working conditions.
6.3.2 The client has complied with their obligations to the candidate, under relevant law.
6.3.3 The replacement role is the same as the initial request.
7 Confidentiality
7.1 Each party will hold information of the other that can be reasonably regarded as being confidential or is notified as being so by the disclosing party, in confidence and will not disclose such information without the consent of the other party unless required by law or a court of competent jurisdiction, or it has already been made available to the public other than through a breach of this clause. Any CV or Resume or details of the candidate provided to the client by the recruitment agency shall remain the confidential information of the recruitment agency.
7.2 Both parties shall comply with its data protection obligations as more particularly set out in the data protection legislation that apply to each of them respectively. The parties agree that they will be classified under the data protection legislation as ‘Data Controllers in common’ and have agreed to both comply with the data sharing protocol relating to the data sharing referred to in these Terms and Conditions, which is accessible here: https://www.acornrecruitmentsw.co.uk/data-protection-policy/. The client shall indemnify the recruitment agency against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and direct losses and all interest, penalties and reasonable legal and professional costs and expenses suffered or incurred by the recruitment agency arising out of or in connection with any third-party claims (Including those of candidates) caused by the misuse of a candidate’s personal data by the client or its subsidiaries, or the employees, directors, agents or contractors of each.
7.3 All queries on confidentiality and data protection should be directed to the Data Protection Officer at the recruitment agency.
8 General
8.1 Neither party shall be liable to the other under or in connection with these Terms and Conditions or any contract made upon them for any indirect or consequential loss, loss of profits, loss of business, loss of revenue loss of anticipated savings, loss of reputation or regulatory fines. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions limits any warranty, exclusion or limitation of liability or right imposed by statute or regulation to the extent that it cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
8.2 Subject to the extent that a liability cannot be lawfully excluded or limited, the maximum liability of each party to the other in respect of any placement shall be limited to one hundred and twenty percent (120%) of the placement fees which are payable.
8.3 If any clause is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be illegal or unenforceable, that part will be severed from all other terms without affecting the validity or enforceability of all other provisions of these Terms and Conditions.
8.4 If a party is prevented in the performance of its obligations under this Terms and Conditions by circumstances that are beyond the control of that party (acting reasonably) then that party will not be liable for what would otherwise have been a breach of its obligations under these Terms and Conditions.
8.5 No failure or delay by either party in exercising any right or remedy available to it will constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy. No waiver or amendment of any clause will be effective unless confirmed in writing to the other party and in the case of the recruitment agency, by a Director of the recruitment agency.
8.6 Those clauses which, by their nature, are intended to continue to have effect following termination or expiry of these Terms and Conditions shall survive and continue to bind the parties.
8.7 Any variation to these Terms and Conditions, including the attempted introduction of any additional Terms and Conditions, shall only be binding when agreed in writing and signed by an authorised signatory of the recruitment agency.
8.8 By the client signing the official contract of the recruitment agency they agree to abide by the terms laid out in the Terms and Conditions document. This will remain in force until the contract is terminated or made null and void.
