EU Directive on temporary agency workers in force

On 1 October 2011 UK regulations implementing the EU Directive on temporary agency workers came into force. Both agencies and employers hiring agency staff will face an increased administrative burden and potential additional cost. 

• The rights apply from 1 October 2011, but employers are only responsible for providing access to information about vacancies and access to collective amenities from that date. The right to certain pay terms and other working conditions as if the individual were directly employed by the hirer only applies once a worker has worked for 12 weeks in a particular role, ignoring time prior to 1 October 2011.
• It is the agency that is primarily responsible for providing the relevant pay, not the employer hiring the worker. The employer must provide information about the pay terms to the agency and will only be liable if that information is inaccurate or incomplete.
• The right to equal pay does not cover all of a worker's pay and benefits. Only certain elements of the remuneration package have to be matched, principally those that relate to pay for work done and not elements intended to reflect the different nature of a permanent employment relationship, such as rewards for long service. Most benefits in kind do not have to be matched, although exchangeable monetary vouchers do have to be provided. Some forms of bonus scheme will also need to be matched, but the same eligibility criteria as apply to employees can be used for agency workers (even if this tends to exclude most or all agency workers).
• Temporary staff may be covered even if not supplied by a traditional agency, but rather a group company eg where there is an intra-group staffing bank.
• The use by a worker of a personal services company or an umbrella company does not by itself take a worker outside the scope of the Regulations. Only workers who are genuinely in business on their own account are excluded.

All employers should be considering which of their arrangements may be covered and taking steps to prepare now, including:

• carrying out an impact assessment for their business
• creating systems for providing the necessary information to workers and agencies
• reviewing the terms of business with agencies
• reviewing various policies and training.