What is an agency worker?
The employment status of agency workers in the UK can be complex, as it depends on the relationship between the worker, the employment agency or recruitment agency, and the end client or hirer.
Typically, most agency workers are classified as workers, not full employees. This gives them basic employment rights including national minimum wage, working time rights such as rest breaks and holiday entitlement, protection against discrimination, protection for whistleblowing, paid annual leave and statutory sick pay if eligible.
Employment rights do not include unfair dismissal protection, redundancy pay or statutory notice periods.
When might an agency worker be an employee?
While the employment status of most agency workers is worker, they might sometimes be classed as an employee of either the agency or the client hirer.
Courts will consider mutuality of obligation, including whether there are promises to offer and accept work, control, who directs the work, the degree of integration into the business and length of engagement.
As agency worker status can be complex, the Guidance Notes for Employers: The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 are available to help employers understand the practical effect of the regulations.
What do the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 provide?
The Agency Worker Regulations give additional protections to agency workers. Following 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer, agency workers are entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as direct employees, such as pay, annual leave and rest breaks, and equal access to collective facilities such as a canteen or childcare.
From day one, agency workers are entitled to access job vacancies from the hirer and to access shared facilities.
The BIS Agency Workers Regulations Guidance is also available as a further reference document on the Agency Workers Regulations.
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Frequently Asked Questions
We use agency temps. Does the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 apply to us as the hirer, and what do we have to do from day one? +
Usually yes, but with important conditions. The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 apply to any business taking on workers supplied by a temporary work agency who work under your supervision and direction. From an assignment's first day you must give them access to your collective on-site facilities (such as canteen, childcare or transport) on no less favourable terms than a comparable directly engaged worker, and tell them about relevant vacancies at the same establishment. The facilities right only bites where the less favourable treatment is not justified on objective grounds, so you can refuse access where you have an objective justification. Both rights also depend on there being an actual comparable worker, so where you have no comparable directly engaged worker there is no entitlement. The vacancy duty is limited to the same establishment and does not apply to posts ring-fenced for redeployment to avoid redundancy. Liability for both sits with you as hirer. The Guidance Notes for Employers: The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 set out the practical effect.
My agency worker has now been with us for 12 weeks. What pay and conditions must I match from that point? +
After 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer, the agency worker is entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions as a direct recruit: pay (including overtime, shift allowances and holiday pay), working time, night work, rest periods, rest breaks and annual leave. It does not cover occupational sick pay, occupational pension, notice pay, redundancy pay or benefits tied to long-term service. The agency delivers the equal-pay element, but you must give it accurate information about your comparable employees' terms so it can comply. See the BIS Agency Workers Regulations Guidance on this page.
An agency worker has been with us for years. Could they be classed as our employee rather than just a worker? +
Possibly. Although most agency workers are classified as workers not employees, courts and tribunals can treat them as employees of either the agency or the hirer where the facts support it. Key factors are mutuality of obligation (promises to offer and accept work), control over the work, integration into the business and length of engagement, so the risk is greatest in long-running placements where the worker is treated like permanent staff. Take legal advice if uncertain about a specific worker's status. The Guidance Notes for Employers: The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 on this page discusses these principles.
What rights does an agency worker have from the start of an assignment, before the 12 weeks is up? +
From day one of any assignment, agency workers have basic worker rights: the national minimum wage, working time protections (rest breaks and limits on working hours), paid annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998, protection against unlawful discrimination and protection for whistleblowing. They also have two AWR-specific rights: access to the hirer's collective facilities and to information about job vacancies. They do not have unfair dismissal protection, statutory redundancy pay or statutory notice periods, as those require employee status.
What documents on this page will help us manage our agency worker obligations, and what does each cover? +
Use the Guidance Notes for Employers: The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 as your primary reference: it explains how the Regulations work in practice, covering employment status, the 12-week qualifying period, day-one rights and the key obligations on hirers. The BIS Agency Workers Regulations Guidance, originally produced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, sets out the legislative framework in more detail. Together they help hirers understand both the practical steps and the underlying legal basis for compliance.
