The Agency Workers Regulations will be effective from the 1st October 2011.
“The regulations will give agency workers the entitlement to the same or no less favourable treatment as comparable employees with respect to basic employment and working conditions, if and when they complete a qualifying period of 12 weeks in a particular job.”
The above extract was taken from the ACAS website: https://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1873
Below are extracts from the BIS Department for Business Innovation and Skills – Agency Workers Guidance May 2011 which can be viewed at: https://www.bis.gov.uk
“Day 1 rights for all agency workers: If you hire agency workers, you must ensure that they have they can access your facilities (such as canteen, childcare facilities, etc) and can access information on your job vacancies from the first day of their assignment. “
“After 12 weeks in the same job: The equal treatment entitlements relate to pay and other basic working conditions (annual leave, rest breaks etc) and come into effect after an agency worker completes a 12 week qualifying period in the same job with the same hirer.”
“It is not retrospective and for those agency workers already on assignment, the 12 week qualifying period will start from 1 October 2011.”
“If you are an employer and hire temporary agency workers through a temporary work agency, you should provide your agency with up to date information on your terms and conditions so that they can ensure that an agency worker receives the correct equal treatment, as if they had been recruited directly, after 12 weeks in the same job.”