Agency Workers Regulations laid before Parliament

The changes will give agency workers the right to the same pay, holidays and other basic working conditions as directly recruited staff after 12 weeks in a given job.

Commenting on the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, which implement an EU directive, Business Minister, Pat McFadden, said:

“This change in the law is aimed at ensuring fairness for agency workers in relation to the permanent employees they work alongside. They are being implemented in line with the TUC / CBI agreement which sought to ensure fairness while maintaining flexibility for the UK labour market – a very important factor in our ability to create jobs.

“It is only by engaging in the mainstream of Europe, actively influencing proposals and securing hard won agreements that we have been able to deliver a sensible and balanced package.”

Under the Regulations, which come into force next year, for the first time agency workers will be entitled to equal treatment on basic working and employment conditions, including pay and holidays, as if they had been recruited directly by the hirer after 12 weeks in a given job. The rights on pay will apply not just to the basic hourly rate, but to all pay for work done, including bonuses that are directly related to the performance of the agency worker personally. But, as set out in the Directive, they will not extend to some of the wider benefits that permanent staff can enjoy in the context of their longer-term relationship with their employer, such as occupational pensions and sick pay.

The Regulations include provisions that will deal with repeat assignments designed to prevent workers acquiring equal treatment rights. Agencies and hirers will face the prospect of having to pay out up to £5,000 to the worker if an Employment Tribunal finds that these specific anti-avoidance rules have been breached.  And to provide a greater deterrent in low-value cases there will be a general minimum award of two weeks’ pay, subject only to Tribunal discretion if that level of award does not seem reasonable.

Other benefits that agency workers will gain from the first day of their assignment include:

• information about internal vacancies to give them the same opportunity as other workers to find permanent employment; and
• equal access to on-site facilities such as child care and transport services.

Commenting on the implications of these new Regulations, Kevin Green, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC) Chief Executive said:   

"Professional recruiters will bare the brunt of making these complex regulations work on the ground and we are pleased that some of the recruitment industry's key concerns have been taken on board. In particular, we welcome the delayed implementation date and the decision not to impose potentially damaging restrictions on the fees charged by agencies where a temporary workers is taken on permanently by an employer. 

"However, there are real concerns that these EU Regulations are ill-adapted to the UK labour market and could limit job opportunities at a time when flexible working options are providing a crucial route into employment. The priority now is to ensure that effective guidance is developed for employers and recruitment agencies.” 

He said specific areas for concern in the new Regulations include a wide definition of pay for the purposes of establishing equal treatment and the issue of short-term repeat assignments which could result in temporary workers acquiring equal treatment rights with several employers after 12 weeks of an assignment.