What rights do I get as an agency worker under the Agency Workers Regulations?

Full answer

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 give temporary workers supplied through an employment agency two tiers of rights. From day one you are entitled to access collective facilities the hirer provides to its own staff - things like the staff canteen, car parking, transport services, childcare and a creche - and you must be told about relevant internal job vacancies so you can apply on the same basis as permanent employees. The bigger protection is the equal treatment right, which begins after the 12-week qualifying period. Once you have worked in the same role with the same hirer for 12 continuous calendar weeks (counted in weeks, not hours, so a single hour worked counts the week), you are entitled to the same basic conditions you would have had if recruited directly. That covers pay, the duration of working time, night work, rest periods and breaks, and annual leave. It does not extend to occupational sick pay, redundancy pay or company pension above auto-enrolment. The clock can pause and resume during certain breaks (for example sickness up to 28 weeks, or annual leave) but resets if you start a substantively different role or have a gap of more than six weeks. Watch for arrangements designed to defeat the rules; deliberately structured assignments to stop the 12 weeks accruing can be challenged. Who this affects: anyone supplied by a recruitment agency to work temporarily for and under the supervision of a hirer. It does not cover the genuinely self-employed or those working through a managed service contract. Because equal treatment turns on pay, it is worth checking that your post-12-week rate is being applied correctly and how it changes your take-home after tax and National Insurance. Use the take-home pay calculator to model the difference between your agency rate and the comparator rate, and check gov.uk for the current statutory detail.

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