The Agency Workers Regulations, explained
Two sets of rights, one clock and a lot of misunderstanding. This page sets out what applies from day one, what applies after twelve weeks and what breaks the count.
What the regulations are
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 came into force on 1 October 2011. They give agency workers two distinct sets of rights: a small set that applies from the first day of an assignment and a much larger set — equal treatment on pay and basic working conditions — that applies once the worker has completed a twelve-week qualifying period in the same role with the same hirer.
They apply to the worker, the employment business supplying them and the hirer using them. All three have obligations and the most common failure is a hirer assuming the whole thing is the agency's problem.
This page was written from the legislation and the published government guidance and every instrument named on it was read at the source. It is not legal advice and it must be reviewed by a solicitor before the site goes live. If anything here conflicts with the signed terms of business, the signed terms take precedence.
Rights that apply from the first shift
From the first day of an assignment, before any qualifying period, an agency worker is entitled to two things from the hirer.
- Access to the hirer's collective facilities and amenities on the same basis as a comparable directly-employed worker — canteens, childcare facilities, transport services and car parking are the examples the government guidance uses. Different treatment has to be objectively justified rather than assumed.
- Information about relevant vacancies available at the same establishment to a comparable employee or worker, so the agency worker has the same opportunity to find permanent work there as anyone already employed.
Separately and often confused with this, an agency worker has ordinary worker's employment rights from the day they start — the National Minimum Wage, statutory paid holiday, working time protections and protection from unlawful discrimination. Those do not come from these regulations and they do not wait twelve weeks.
Equal treatment after the qualifying period
After twelve calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer, an agency worker becomes entitled to the same basic terms and conditions of employment they would have received if they had been recruited directly by that hirer. The government guidance describes the covered terms as pay, the duration of working time, night work, rest periods, rest breaks and annual leave. Pregnant agency workers also become entitled to paid time off for antenatal appointments.
The qualifying period counts in calendar weeks and a calendar week here means any period of seven days starting with the first day of the assignment. Hours worked do not change the count: a week in which the worker did two hours counts exactly the same as a week in which they did fifty.
On our side of it, the count starts at the first shift of an assignment and is visible against the booking reference, so it is a tracked number rather than one reconstructed from timesheets in week eleven. A hirer running a rolling assignment is told before the threshold lands, not after the first parity invoice.
What pauses the count and what resets it
Pauses, then resumes
A break of six weeks or less; sickness absence of up to 28 weeks; annual leave the worker is entitled to; a workplace closure or shutdown; and jury service of up to 28 weeks. The count picks up where it left off rather than starting again.
Keeps counting
Time off related to pregnancy and childbirth — during the pregnancy and for up to 26 weeks after the birth — plus adoption leave and paternity leave. The clock continues to run through those periods rather than merely pausing.
Resets to zero
A new hirer. A substantively different role with the same hirer. And a break of more than six weeks between assignments with the same hirer in the same role.
The "substantively different role" reset is the one that gets abused. Moving a worker sideways at week eleven so the clock restarts is what the anti-avoidance provisions in the regulations exist to catch and it is not something we will structure a booking around.
The Swedish derogation no longer exists
Until 2020 there was a lawful way to opt out of the pay element of equal treatment. Under what everyone called the Swedish derogation, a worker on a permanent contract of employment with the employment business, which paid them between assignments, was excluded from the equal-pay entitlement no matter how long the assignment ran. It was widely used and widely resented.
It was abolished. The Agency Workers (Amendment) Regulations 2019 omitted regulations 10 and 11 of the 2010 Regulations and came into force on 6 April 2020. Employment businesses were required to write to affected workers to tell them the equal-pay entitlement now applied and the amendment also added protection from unfair dismissal and from detriment for workers asserting those rights.
There is no pay-between-assignments model here. The point worth stating is that no such model could lawfully be operated now. If any supplier tells you a driver is exempt from equal pay because they are on a pay-between-assignments contract, that has not been correct since 6 April 2020.
What this means commercially
Parity is a cost and it is a predictable one. The failure mode is not the cost itself, it is discovering it. An agency that does not track the clock will present it as an unexplained rate rise in week thirteen and the argument that follows is usually more expensive than the parity was.
So the count runs from the first shift against the booking reference. You are told before the threshold rather than after. What parity actually costs on your site depends on what a comparable directly-employed worker there receives, which is information only you hold — we ask for it before week twelve rather than guessing at it.
Questions about agency worker rights
Is the twelve weeks twelve weeks of work, or twelve weeks on the calendar?
Calendar weeks, where a calendar week is any period of seven days starting with the first day of the assignment. Hours do not matter — a week with two hours worked counts the same as a week with fifty.
Does a two-week gap restart the clock?
No. A break of six weeks or less pauses the count and it resumes where it left off. It is a break of more than six weeks with the same hirer in the same role that resets it to zero.
What happens if I am off sick?
Sickness absence of up to 28 weeks pauses the qualifying period rather than ending it. Annual leave, workplace shutdowns and jury service of up to 28 weeks work the same way.
I am pregnant — does my clock stop?
No, it keeps running. Time off related to pregnancy and childbirth during the pregnancy and for up to 26 weeks after the birth continues the qualifying period, as do adoption leave and paternity leave. Pregnant agency workers who have completed the twelve weeks are also entitled to paid time off for antenatal appointments.
Does the Swedish derogation still exist?
No. The Agency Workers (Amendment) Regulations 2019 removed regulations 10 and 11 from the 2010 Regulations with effect from 6 April 2020. No agency worker can now be excluded from equal pay after twelve weeks on the basis of a pay-between-assignments contract.
Do the regulations mean I get the same pay as a permanent driver from day one?
No. Equal treatment on pay and basic conditions arrives after the twelve-week qualifying period. From day one you get access to the hirer's collective facilities and information about vacancies there, plus the ordinary worker's rights — minimum wage, statutory holiday and working time protections — that never depended on these regulations at all.
Who is responsible for getting parity right, the agency or the hirer?
Both, with different parts. The employment business has to apply the correct terms; the hirer has to provide the information about what a comparable directly-employed worker receives, because nobody else has it. Parity failures are usually information failures.
Tell us who you need
Give us the class, the count, the dates and the shift. We confirm what we can cover and say plainly when we cannot.