Agency Workers - New Rights 
Added : 8th July 2008
If you wish to discuss this further with our HR Consulting team please call 0800 0665 894 or email Clare Johnson on clarej@cooperparry.com.
The Government has announced that a deal between employers and Trade Unions has been brokered which will see a significant change to the way agency workers are treated in the UK. The deal will make it a legal requirement for agency workers in the UK to receive equal treatment to directly employed workers after 12 weeks continuous employment.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have spent the past five years in a struggle for agreement over the draft Agency Workers Directive but seem to have made huge progress in recent weeks.
Under the agreement, an agency worker who has been in a role for 12 continuous weeks with the same employer will be entitled to at least the same basic working and employment conditions equal to a comparable directly employed worker. There has not yet been any clear guidance given as to whether the agency workers will gain unfair dismissal rights, although this is unlikely. The exact scope of this Directive is unclear and there is still much detail which is yet to be agreed by the CBI and the TUC. The Directive will not cover sick pay or pension payments and temporary staff will have to work the same length of time as permanent workers to enjoy statutory benefits, such as maternity benefits.
It remains unclear when the proposed changes will take effect. The UK Government will have to agree their intentions with the EU member states; it may not be until 2009 or later that the Directive is finally brought in. The impact of this will mean a significant change to the rights of both agency workers and those using their services and could leave UK employers less competitive as they struggle to remain flexible in a competitive marketplace.
If you wish to discuss this further with our HR Consulting team please call 0800 0665 894 or email Clare Johnson on clarej@cooperparry.com.
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