Agency Workers Regulations
Spotlight on the Agency Workers Regulations
Where business use agency workers, the recruitment agency should assume a lot of the responsibility for compliance with the Agency Workers Regulations. However, employers do have obligations under the Regulations, for instance, you will need to provide the agency with details about your employees’ terms and conditions of employment. Where there is a breach, either or both parties can be held liable, and the tribunal will decide who it believes is responsible.
Day One Rights
From the very first day of an assignment, agency workers are entitled to:
- Facilities: Equal access to collective facilities and amenities (e.g., canteens, staff rooms, childcare facilities, and toilets).
- Vacancies: Access to information about job vacancies at the hirer’s workplace, allowing them the same opportunity to apply as direct employees.
Rights After 12 Weeks (Equal Treatment)
Once an agency worker completes 12 continuous weeks in the same role, they are entitled to the same basic terms as if they had been recruited directly by the hirer. This includes:
- Pay: Basic pay (including overtime, bonuses, and commission related to performance), holiday pay, and payments for working unsociable hours.
- Working Hours: Rest breaks, duration of working time, and night work limits.
What the Regulations Exclude
While the AWR provides crucial equality rights, it does not grant agency workers full employee status. Specifically, they do not qualify for:
- Statutory redundancy pay.
- Rights regarding unfair dismissal.
- Statutory maternity, paternity, or adoption pay (which remains the responsibility of the temporary work agency rather than the hirer).
The 12-Week Qualifying Period
The 12 weeks must be spent working in the same role with the same hirer, even if supplied by different agencies.The clock typically resets if there is a break of more than 6 weeks, or if the worker moves to a substantially new role with the same hirer.
What Happens If An Agency Worker Moves To A New Role In The Same Organisation?
If the role is similar then the agency worker will continue as if they had remained in the same role. If the work or duties that make up the majority of the new role are substantively different then it would be regarded as a different role and the 12 weeks would start again.
Does The 12-Week Qualifying Period Restart If The Agency Worker Is Absent?
Some absences will have the effect of breaking service but certain absences such as sickness and holidays simply pause the clock.
Self Employed Contractors
Self-employed workers will not be covered by the Regulations if the agency or hiring organisation is considered to be a “client or customer” of the self-employed person. If the individual, the hiring organisation and the agency intend for the worker to be considered self-employed and not covered by the Regulations, there will need to be clear evidence in a written contract and in practice to this effect.
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