Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) are unclear and cause confusion for IT contractors and everyone else who comes into contact with them, it is claimed.

Now the Association of Recruitment Consultancies has written to the Ministry of Justice, with recommendations for streamlining AWR.

The measures proposed would cut the number of employment tribunals sought and therefore reduce the associated costs, the organisation's executive committee member Adrian Marlowe told Contractor Calculator.

He told the website: "Since January of this year we have expressed various concerns about the regulations as they currently stand.

"There are all sorts of aspects that create unnecessary difficulties for parties involved in the agency worker supply chain."

All that the Department for Business Innovation and Skills has said on the matter is that it is "considering the issue".

There was good news for IT contractors recently, when HMRC announced that it would be taking a "less combative" approach to taxation queries in future