What a UAE Manpower Supply Agreement Should Contain

Most manpower supply agreements in the UAE are two pages long and say almost nothing: a rate, a headcount, a start date and a signature. That is fine until the first month a worker does not turn up, the first invoice with overtime you did not expect, the first inspection, or the day you want to reduce the crew. The agreement is what settles each of those, and a short one settles them the supplier's way. These are the twelve clauses worth reading before you sign, whoever the supplier is.

1. The parties, and the licence

The supplier named in the agreement must be the entity that will actually employ the workers: the one whose licence, establishment card and Wage Protection System file they sit on. Ask for the commercial licence number in the agreement itself and check it against the entity name. A supplier that signs through one company and employs through another has put a gap between you and the employer, and the gap is where liability goes.

2. Scope: roles, grades and headcount

The agreement should say what is being supplied by role and grade, not by a single word like "workers": how many skilled masons, how many helpers, how many supervisors, with the grade tied to a wage line. A crew of forty priced as forty of the same thing hides the mix, and the mix is what you are paying for. Our page on manpower by trade describes how grades are set and tested.

3. Term, notice and headcount changes

A start date, an end date or a rolling term, a notice period that is the same for both sides, and a mechanism for changing headcount inside the term. Watch for a long minimum term with a short supplier-side notice, and for any clause that makes the client liable for the supplier's visa or recruitment costs when headcount is reduced: those costs belong to the employer, which is the supplier.

4. The rate schedule, itemised

The rate for each grade with its composition shown: the wage paid to the worker through WPS, the government fees for the work permit, visa, medical, Emirates ID and labour card at cost, medical insurance, end-of-service gratuity and leave accrual, any transport, uniform or PPE, and the supplier's administration line. A single bundled number cannot be checked and cannot be compared. Our rates page explains what a rate contains and how to compare two quotes; the agreement should carry that structure. The schedule should also say how VAT is charged on it; VAT on manpower supply sets out what it applies to.

5. Overtime, rest days and public holidays

Which hours are in the rate, at what premium overtime above them is paid to the worker and billed to you, and how rest-day and public-holiday work is treated. The labour law sets the premiums the worker must receive; the agreement sets what you are billed. The two should be stated together, and a rate that is silent on them is a rate that will surprise you.

6. The billing basis: attendance

What the invoice is built from. The honest answer is an attendance record you can see: check-in and check-out at your site, timesheets approved by your supervisor, and invoices that reconcile to them. An agreement that bills on the supplier's own timesheet, or on a fixed monthly figure regardless of attendance, has removed your only check on the hours.

7. Replacement and performance

How quickly a no-show is replaced, how a worker who does not meet the standard is removed, whether replacement is at the supplier's cost, and how performance is recorded. The clause should give you the right to reject a worker at induction and to require replacement within a stated time, with no charge for the days a position was empty.

8. Compliance warranties

The supplier should warrant, in the agreement, that every supplied worker is employed on a MOHRE-registered contract, sponsored on a residence visa by the supplier, paid through WPS, covered by medical insurance from the first day, and has not been charged a recruitment fee; that the midday break, rest and leave rules will be observed; and that the supplier will produce the evidence on request. These are the obligations an inspector will hold your site to. A supplier that will not warrant them in writing is telling you something.

9. Insurance, liability and indemnity

Who insures what. The supplier carries the employment liabilities: work injury compensation, medical insurance, end-of-service. The client controls the site and carries site liabilities and third-party cover. The agreement should say so plainly, set out how incidents are reported and recorded, and include an indemnity from the supplier for claims arising from its employment obligations, such as unpaid wages or an unregistered worker, since those land on the client's site if the supplier fails.

10. Site rules, supervision and safety

The client directs the work; the supplier remains the employer. The agreement should say which party gives day-to-day instructions, who provides the safety induction, who supplies PPE and to what standard, who supervises on site and how the supplier's supervisor and the client's site management divide responsibility. Ambiguity here becomes a dispute the first time something goes wrong.

11. Transport, site logistics and welfare

If the site is remote, whether transport is provided, by whom, and at what line on the rate. Whether the workers' rest and meal arrangements on site meet the law's requirements, and whose responsibility that is during the working day. A clause that says the supplier "will arrange all logistics" without a line on the rate sheet is a cost you will meet later.

12. Records, audit and exit

The client's right to see the records behind the warranties: contracts, visa status, WPS proof, insurance and attendance, on request or in a portal. And the exit: what happens to the workers when the agreement ends, which is that they remain the supplier's employees and the supplier carries their visas and settlements; and what happens if you want to hire a supplied worker directly, which should be possible on terms written down in advance.

The one-page test

Before signing, check that the agreement answers five questions in writing: who employs the workers, what the rate contains line by line, what the invoice is built from, what happens when a worker does not perform, and what happens when the agreement ends. If any answer is "we'll sort that out", the agreement is not finished.

Our free manpower supply agreement checklist puts all twelve clauses on one printable page, so you can tick them off against any supplier's contract before you sign.

How tamdeed writes it

Every tamdeed engagement is priced on an itemised charge sheet approved in the client's portal before anyone moves, with the wage, government fees at cost, insurance, accruals, transport and tamdeed's own line shown separately; invoices are built from geofenced attendance at the client's site; the contract, visa, insurance and hours of every worker sit in the portal for the client to inspect; and the workers remain tamdeed's employees at the end, with their visas and settlements tamdeed's to carry. The manpower supply in Dubai page describes the service those terms sit behind.