AWR – a month on

The Agency Workers Regulations are now part of employment law. The regulations have been talked about for the last couple of years and we’ve been working with clients for much of that time to ensure the necessary processes are in place.

In short, the regulations bring the terms of pay and basic working conditions for temporary agency workers in line with comparable permanent members of staff.

Some of that entitlement has already kicked in.

So, if you offer permanent staff collective facilities such as access to a canteen and child care facilities, temporary staff doing the same job also need to be given that access. However, if there is, for instance, a waiting list for child care facilities, temporary staff only need adding to that list – they don’t jump the queue. And if say gym membership is part of the deal but it takes four weeks to organise and the temp is only going to be with you for a week it’s reasonable not to worry about it.

The next date for the calendar is December 24. That’s the 12 week mark from the introduction of the regulations when other benefits such as holiday entitlement start.

Of course this will be a rolling process as temps come and go.

If you’re still unsure where your responsibilities lie for the implementation of the regulations please get in touch. They can’t be ignored!