A Guide to the Agency Worker Regulations

The Agency Workers Regulations ensure that temporary workers in Great Britain are entitled to equal treatment to permanent staff in certain areas of employment.

Your rights from the first day of employment

From the first day of employment you are entitled to equivalent access to facilities such as food and drink machines, car parking and common rooms. You are also entitled to the same access to internal job vacancies as a comparable permanent member of staff.

Qualigiying for full rights

To qualify for full rights under the legislation you must first complete a 12 week qualifying period. These 12 weeks are calculated as any weeks that you have worked in the role, or in a similar role, for the same company provided that there are no breaks of more than 6 weeks. After a 6 week gap you lose the full AWR rights and must complete a new 12 week qualifying period. Two roles are considered similar if they fall under same category of work. This category is shown on the Unitemps website in the information page for each assignment.

Under the legislation there are certain types of breaks that can be longer than 6 weeks which do not cause your AWR status to reset. These include breaks due to:

If a break in your assignment is due to one of these reasons you must notify your local Unitemps office and provide documents to demonstrate this.

Your rights after qualifying for full AWR status

Once you have qualified for full rights under the legislation you are entitled to be treated the same as an equivalent member of staff in a number of ways including:

Your responsibilities

To make sure that your AWR status is correct and any overtime you are due is identified, it is important to submit timesheets promptly by the Monday of the week following the work. If you are ill for a prolonged period or away on jury service and so unable to work it is important to inform Unitemps so that your AWR status does not expire.

If you have any questions then please contact your local branch for further information.