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What is the agency worker 12-week rule?

Under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, once an agency worker has completed 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer, they become entitled to the same basic pay and working conditions (not just pay -- also things like overtime rates and shift allowances) as if they had been recruited directly by the hirer for that role.

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The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 give temporary agency workers a right to equal treatment with directly recruited staff once they've built up sufficient continuity in a particular assignment, and the 12-week qualifying period is the trigger point for this protection. **What the 12-week qualifying period means** An agency worker must complete 12 calendar weeks (not necessarily 12 weeks of continuous work -- short breaks such as sickness, holiday, or a brief gap between assignments in the same role can still count towards the total under specific rules) in the SAME role with the SAME hirer before the equal treatment right kicks in. Moving to a genuinely different role, or to a different hirer, generally restarts the clock. **What "equal treatment" covers after 12 weeks** Once qualified, the agency worker becomes entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions relating to pay as a comparable directly recruited employee doing the same job at the same hirer -- this includes basic pay, overtime rates, unsociable hours or shift premiums, and bonuses directly linked to individual performance, but does NOT extend to occupational sick pay, pension contributions, or redundancy pay, which remain governed by the worker's arrangement with the agency. **Day-one rights (before the 12 weeks are up)** Separately from the pay-related rights that only apply after 12 weeks, agency workers have certain rights from DAY ONE of an assignment, including access to the hirer's collective facilities (such as a staff canteen, workplace crèche, or transport services) on the same basis as directly recruited staff, and the right to be informed about relevant job vacancies at the hirer. **Breaks in an assignment -- what still counts** Specific rules govern which breaks in an assignment still count towards, or "pause", the 12-week clock -- for example, a break for annual leave or sickness of a limited duration doesn't reset the clock, but a break to work in a genuinely different role, or a longer gap between assignments, generally does. These rules exist partly to prevent hirers from artificially rotating agency workers between very similar roles purely to avoid triggering equal treatment rights. **Why this matters practically** For agency workers on a long-running assignment, understanding whether they've passed the 12-week threshold can materially affect their pay, since basic pay and certain premiums may need to rise to match a comparable directly employed colleague once the qualifying period is met -- if you believe you've reached 12 weeks and haven't seen a corresponding pay adjustment, it's worth raising this with the agency, since they, not just the hirer, share responsibility for ensuring compliance. **Practical tip** Keep a personal record of exactly which dates you started and any breaks you took during an assignment, since this is the clearest way to establish when the 12-week threshold was reached if a dispute arises over whether equal treatment rights should have applied.