Agency Workers Regulations

About the Agency Workers Regulations

The Agency Workers Regulations were introduced on the 1st of October 2011, to ensure the protection of temporary agency workers by applying the “principles of equal treatment in terms of basic working and employment conditions”.

This means that agency workers are entitled to equal treatment as if they had been directly recruited to the job. In the UK this is subject to the completion of a 12-week qualifying period of continuous work with the same hirer in the same role.

Who do the Agency Workers Regulations apply to?

The AWR regulations apply to all temporary agency workers who are supplied by a temporary work agency to work for, and under the supervision and direction of, a hirer.

These have a contract with the temporary work agency (or any intermediate) such as CK Science, which is either a contract of employment or a contract for services.

Limited Company contractors who work under the supervision and direction of the hirer will be deemed to be agency workers but those who are truly self-employed consultants will not be in scope and so will not be deemed to be agency workers.