What Rights Do Agency Workers Have?

Agency work can offer flexibility, but the employment rights that apply to you will depend partly on your legal employment status.

Many agency workers have the legal status of a worker rather than an employee. This distinction is important because certain statutory rights, including ordinary unfair dismissal protection and statutory redundancy pay, generally apply only to employees.

An agency worker can, however, be legally classed as an employee, a worker or, in some circumstances, self-employed. The description used in your contract does not necessarily determine your status. What matters is the reality of the working arrangement.

Can an Agency Worker Claim Unfair Dismissal or Redundancy?

If you have the legal status of a worker rather than an employee, you will not normally have the right to bring an ordinary unfair dismissal claim or claim statutory redundancy pay.

However, agency workers do not all have the same employment status. If the circumstances of your working relationship show that you are legally an employee, additional employment rights may apply.

Employment status can therefore be particularly important where an assignment has ended, you have been dismissed by an agency or you believe you should receive redundancy-related rights.

How is Employment Status Decided?

There is no single factor that determines whether someone is an employee. An Employment Tribunal will usually consider the working relationship as a whole rather than relying only on the wording of the written contract.

Important factors can include:

Personal Service

Are you expected to perform the work personally?

If you have a genuine and unrestricted right to send somebody else to carry out the work in your place, this may point away from employee status. A limited or theoretical substitution clause will not necessarily have the same effect.

Mutuality of Obligation

Is there an obligation on one party to offer work and a corresponding obligation on you to accept and perform that work?

A continuing obligation of this type can support employee status. By contrast, where the agency is not required to offer assignments and you are genuinely free to reject them, this may suggest a different employment relationship.

Control

How much control is exercised over your work?

Relevant considerations could include who decides:

• What work you perform
• When you perform it
• Where you work
• How the work should be completed
• Which procedures you must follow
• What happens if you fail to follow instructions

A substantial degree of control can support employee or worker status, although modern working arrangements mean that highly skilled or senior individuals may still have significant independence in how they perform their duties.

The Overall Working Relationship

Personal service, mutual obligations and control are important, but they are not the end of the assessment.

A Tribunal may also consider matters such as:

• How you are paid
• Who provides equipment
• Whether you take any financial risk
• Whether you are integrated into the organisation
• The length and regularity of the arrangement
• Whether you work for other organisations
• Whether the written agreement reflects what actually happens in practice

Employment status can be complex, particularly where an individual has worked through the same agency or for the same hirer over a long period.

What Rights Do Agency Workers Have From the Start?

Agency workers have a number of statutory protections from the beginning of an assignment.

Depending on the circumstances, these can include the right to:

• Receive at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage
• Receive statutory paid holiday
• Receive appropriate rest breaks and working-time protections
• Be protected against unlawful deductions from wages
• Receive protection against unlawful discrimination
• Receive protection under health and safety legislation
• Use certain shared workplace facilities on terms no less favourable than comparable directly engaged staff
• Receive information about relevant job vacancies with the hiring organisation

Your entitlement to some additional equal-treatment rights increases once you have completed the relevant 12-week qualifying period.

What Are the Agency Workers Regulations 2010?

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010, commonly referred to as the AWR, provide specific rights for temporary agency workers.

The Regulations came into force on 1 October 2011 and apply in England, Wales and Scotland.

Broadly, they are designed to ensure that agency workers who have completed a qualifying period in the same role with the same hirer receive the same basic working and employment conditions they would have received had they been recruited directly.

Some rights apply from the first day of an assignment, while others arise after 12 qualifying weeks.

Who is Covered by the Agency Workers Regulations?

The Regulations generally apply where an individual is supplied by a temporary work agency to work temporarily for and under the supervision and direction of a hiring organisation.

This commonly includes individuals referred to as:

• Agency workers
• Temporary workers
• Temps

More complicated arrangements involving intermediaries or umbrella companies may also fall within the Regulations where the underlying relationship is genuinely one of temporary agency work.

Individuals who are genuinely in business on their own account and providing services to a client as an independent business may fall outside the Regulations.

The actual working arrangement is therefore more important than simply the label attached to it.

What Rights Apply From Day One?

From the first day of an assignment, an agency worker is entitled to certain rights in relation to the hiring organisation.

Access to Shared Facilities

Agency workers should normally receive access to collective facilities and amenities on terms no less favourable than comparable directly engaged workers.

These may include:

• Staff canteens
• Childcare facilities
• Workplace crèches
• Car parking
• Workplace transport
• Staff common rooms
• Prayer rooms
• Toilets and shower facilities
• Food and drink facilities

In limited circumstances, different treatment may be objectively justified. For example, there may be genuine practical restrictions affecting access to a particular facility.

Information About Job Vacancies

Agency workers are also entitled from day one to receive information about relevant vacancies available within the hiring organisation.

The employer may provide this information through an intranet, noticeboard or another reasonable system, provided agency workers are able to access it.

What Rights Apply After 12 Weeks?

Once you have completed 12 qualifying calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer, you become entitled to equal treatment in relation to certain basic working and employment conditions.

The principle is generally to consider what terms you would have received if the hirer had recruited you directly for the same role.

Relevant rights include:

1. Pay
2. Duration of working time
3. Night work
4. Rest periods
5. Rest breaks
6. Annual leave

Pregnant agency workers who have completed the qualifying period can also have rights relating to paid time off for antenatal appointments while on assignment.

What Does Equal Pay Include?

Following completion of the qualifying period, equal-treatment provisions can cover important elements of remuneration, including:

• Basic salary or hourly pay
• Overtime payments
• Shift allowances
• Unsociable-hours payments
• Certain risk or hazardous-duty allowances
• Commission
• Individual performance-related bonuses
• Holiday pay, including relevant enhanced holiday entitlement

The correct rate is not necessarily determined simply by identifying one permanent member of staff.

The question may instead be what the agency worker would reasonably have received if they had been recruited directly into the same position, taking account of matters such as applicable pay structures, experience and qualifications.

Which Benefits Are Not Generally Covered by the 12-Week Equal-Treatment Rules?

The Agency Workers Regulations do not provide complete equality across every employee benefit.

Certain benefits connected with long-term employment, retention or employment status generally fall outside the AWR equal-treatment provisions.

Examples can include:

• Statutory or contractual redundancy pay
• Contractual notice pay
• Occupational sick pay schemes
• Occupational pension benefits
• Certain long-service bonuses
• Benefits in kind
• Expenses
• Enhanced maternity, paternity or adoption pay

Agency workers may nevertheless have separate statutory rights in some of these areas depending upon their legal status and individual circumstances.

Do You Need a Permanent Employee to Compare Yourself With?

Not necessarily.

For the basic working and employment conditions that arise after the 12-week qualifying period, the law does not always require an agency worker to identify an actual permanent comparator.

The appropriate question is generally what terms and conditions the worker would have received if they had been directly recruited by the hirer for the same job.

An existing employee performing the same or broadly similar work can provide useful evidence of those terms, but an actual comparator is not essential in every case.

This is different from certain day-one rights relating to shared facilities, where comparison with directly engaged workers can be relevant.

Does the 12-Week Qualifying Period Have to Be Continuous?

No.

The qualifying period is based on calendar weeks, and you do not necessarily need to work continuously for 12 uninterrupted weeks.

Even if you work only a small number of hours during a particular qualifying week, that week can still count.

You can also accumulate qualifying service while being supplied to the same hirer by more than one agency, provided you remain in the same role and the qualifying period has not otherwise been broken.

What Happens if There is a Break Between Assignments?

A short break does not necessarily cause your qualifying period to restart.

Generally, a break of six weeks or less between assignments with the same hirer in the same role will pause the qualifying clock rather than reset it.

For example, if you have completed eight qualifying weeks, take a three-week break and then return to the same role, you would usually resume from week eight rather than starting again.

A break of more than six weeks will normally reset the qualifying period unless one of the specific exceptions applies.

When Can the Qualifying Period Be Paused?

Certain absences pause the qualifying clock without wiping out the weeks you have already accumulated.

These can include:

• Sickness or injury for up to 28 weeks
• Annual leave
• Jury service for up to 28 weeks
• Industrial action
• Temporary workplace closures, such as seasonal shutdowns

Once you return to the same role, the qualifying period can usually continue from the point at which it was paused.

When Does the Qualifying Period Continue During an Absence?

Certain family-related absences can allow the qualifying clock to continue running rather than merely pausing.

Depending on the circumstances, this can include periods connected with:

• Pregnancy
• Maternity
• Paternity
• Adoption

This means an agency worker may complete the 12-week qualifying period even while absent in circumstances protected by the Regulations.

When Will the 12-Week Period Start Again?

Your qualifying period will generally restart from zero where:

• You begin an assignment with a different hirer
• You move into a genuinely and substantively different role with the same hirer
• There is a break of more than six weeks that does not fall within one of the specific exceptions

Whether a new position is genuinely "substantively different" will depend upon the facts.

Relevant factors might include changes to:

• Duties and responsibilities
• Required skills
• Qualifications or training
• Rate of pay
• Working location
• Working hours
• Equipment used
• Management arrangements

Simply changing a job title while the actual work remains substantially the same may not be sufficient to restart the qualifying period.

Can an Employer Structure Assignments to Avoid the 12-Week Rights?

The Regulations contain anti-avoidance provisions designed to prevent hirers and agencies from deliberately arranging assignments so that workers repeatedly fall short of the qualifying period.

A Tribunal may consider factors such as:

• The number and length of assignments
• Repeated breaks shortly before 12 weeks
• Frequent changes of role
• Whether supposedly different roles were genuinely different
• Whether connected companies were used to rotate workers

If an Employment Tribunal finds that assignments were deliberately structured to prevent an agency worker from acquiring equal-treatment rights, it may make an additional award of up to £5,000.

Who is Responsible if Your Rights Are Breached?

Responsibility depends on which right has been breached.

Day-One Rights

The hiring organisation is generally responsible for providing day-one rights such as access to relevant workplace facilities and information about vacancies.

Rights After 12 Weeks

Responsibility for failures relating to equal pay and other basic working conditions may fall upon the temporary work agency, the hirer or both, depending on who was responsible for the breach.

The agency is responsible for taking reasonable steps to obtain accurate information from the hirer and for applying the appropriate terms to the agency worker.

If the hirer provides incorrect information or fails to provide information necessary for equal treatment, the hirer may be responsible for some or all of the breach.

An Employment Tribunal can determine responsibility according to the circumstances.

Can You Ask for Information About Your Treatment?

Yes.

If you believe you are being denied a day-one right, you can make a written request to the hirer for information explaining the treatment you have received.

For rights applying after the 12-week qualifying period, you can request a written statement from the temporary work agency setting out relevant information about the basic working and employment conditions that should apply to you.

The agency normally has 28 days after receiving the request to provide its written response.

If appropriate information is not provided, you may subsequently be able to request information from the hirer.

A failure to provide information can also be relevant if the matter later reaches an Employment Tribunal.

What Can You Do if Your Agency Worker Rights Have Been Breached?

It is often sensible to raise the issue with the agency or hirer as soon as possible.

Depending upon the nature of the problem, you may wish to:

• Raise the issue informally
• Make a written complaint
• Request details of the terms applied to directly recruited staff
• Request a written explanation of your treatment
• Retain payslips, contracts and assignment documents
• Retain correspondence with the agency and hirer
• Obtain advice about bringing an Employment Tribunal claim

Agency workers can bring claims where rights under the Agency Workers Regulations have been denied or where they have been subjected to unlawful treatment for asserting those rights.

What Are the Time Limits for Making a Claim?

Employment Tribunal deadlines are strict.

As at 7 September 2026, most claims under the Agency Workers Regulations are generally subject to a time limit of around three months from the relevant breach.

Before presenting most Employment Tribunal claims, you must normally notify Acas and go through the Early Conciliation process. Starting Acas Early Conciliation within the relevant time limit can affect how the final deadline is calculated.

The law is changing shortly.

For most Employment Tribunal claims where the relevant time limit begins on or after 1 October 2026, the general limitation period will increase to six months minus one day.

Because the calculation of limitation periods can be complicated, particularly where there has been more than one breach, legal advice should be obtained as early as possible.

What Can an Employment Tribunal Award?

If a claim under the Agency Workers Regulations succeeds, an Employment Tribunal may:

• Make a declaration confirming the worker's rights
• Award financial compensation
• Make appropriate recommendations
• Impose an additional award where deliberate avoidance of the Regulations has occurred

Compensation will often reflect financial losses caused by the breach.

There is generally no statutory maximum on an award under the Regulations. Successful claims are normally subject to a minimum award equivalent to two weeks' pay, although a Tribunal may reduce that amount in certain circumstances where it considers this just and equitable.

Where deliberate arrangements have been used to prevent an agency worker from obtaining their rights, an additional award of up to £5,000 may be made.

The precise remedy will depend upon the particular breach, who was responsible and the loss suffered by the agency worker.