The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) was implemented in the UK on 1st October 2011. The purpose of the regulations is to provide temporary workers with equal treatment in terms of basic working and employment conditions as if they had been employed directly to do the same job. The rights will apply after a 12 week qualifying period.
Following the 12 week qualifying period the temporary workers will be entitled to equal treatment, including; pay, working hours, overtime, breaks, holidays and access to training and collective facilities. Equal treatment does not apply to sick pay or paternity/maternity leave.
It was interesting to see two press releases issued last week from both sides of the agency worker fence. On the same day, the Professional Contractors’ Group (PCG) and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) both issued survey findings that would suggest the introduction of AWR to the UK has been something of a non-event. [...]
Here at Parasol we were interested to see Bedford Borough Council’s approach to AWR. As reported in their local paper recently, the Council has made 150 agency staff direct employees in response to AWR, a move it believes has saved the council £70,000 every year. The majority of the Council’s agency workers are in refuge [...]
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