The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 came into force in England, Scotland and Wales on 1 October 2011. Payments Pro Ltd have prepared this policy in accordance with these Regulations and current relevant legislation.
The Regulations give agency workers the right to the same basic working and employment conditions they would receive if they were engaged directly by an end user client to do the same job; this is limited to conditions that relate to pay and working time once a qualifying period of 12 weeks in the same job, with the same hirer has been completed.
The Regulations do mean that agency workers are eligible for certain rights straight away (‘Day 1’ rights). These rights include equal access to facilities with comparable employees and information about permanent vacancies with the hirer.
Facilities will vary from site to site.
Who is an agency worker?
An agency worker is an individual;
- Who is supplied by a temporary work agency to work temporarily under the supervision and direction of a client; and who has a contract of employment or any other type of contract (a contract for services for example) under which they provide their services personally for the agency.
- The individual typically supplied by employment business (Payments Pro Ltd) to a client to work under the client’s direction and supervision
The Regulations do not apply to:
- Individuals who have found a “permanent” job with a client, even if they were introduced by an agency;
- Individuals who are genuinely in business on their own account (i.e. genuinely self-employed) and not working under the direction and supervision of the client will not be within scope. Workers engaged via umbrella companies or other intermediaries will be in scope unless they are genuinely self-employed.
- Individuals who work for in-house temporary staffing banks, this is where an organisation engages its own temporary workers directly;
- Individuals on secondment or loan from one organisation to another
- Individuals working for managed service contractors and who are not working under the supervision and direction of the client.
What is a temporary work agency?
The Agency Workers Directive (which the Regulations implement) applies a different definition to the word “agency” to that which recruiters will be familiar with in the UK. For the purpose of the Regulations a temporary work agency is an undertaking which is in the business of “supplying individuals to work temporarily for and under the supervision and direction of hirer”. This definition more accurately describes what recruiters will recognise as an employment business as defined in the Employment Agencies Act 1973(the EAA). An “employment agency” (as defined in the EAA) which introduces work seekers to clients to be engaged directly by the client (often referred to as “perm” recruitment), is not “temporary work agency” under the Regulations and therefore is excluded from the provisions.
Failure to provide equal treatment:
The Regulations state that if a qualifying agency worker does not receive equal treatment (basic working and employment conditions), then s/he can pursue a claim in an Employment Tribunal against either the agency or the client (or both). An Employment Tribunal will analyse the facts to determine to what extent each party is responsible for the breach of the Regulations.
This internal policy outlines the procedure for dealing with complaints specifically related to AWR. Payments Pro Ltd are committed to correctly applying AWR and making sure all staff are aware of work seeker’s rights in relation to it.
If you do not receive a satisfactory service in relation to AWR we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our service to all our workers. Please contact our Operations Manager, Georgina Paige on 020 3819 7220 in the first instance who will aim to resolve your enquiry informally via verbal communication within 48 hours.
If after this you wish to make a formal complaint in relation to an AWR issue, please write to our Operations Director, Ashley Holdaway at:
Payments Pro Ltd
215-221 Borough High Street, London, SE1 1JA
Once we have received your complaint, we will respond in writing within 28 days, in order to comply with the regulations and our response will include the following information:
- Relevant information relating to the basic working and employment conditions of the clients workers;
- The factors we considered when determining the basic working and employment conditions which applied to the agency worker at the time s/he allegedly did not receive the equal treatment they claim they were entitled to receive;
- Relevant information which explains the basis on which the client’s comparable employee was identified and the relevant terms and conditions applicable to that employee
We will try and resolve your complaint and ensure that it is brought to a conclusion however If you are still not satisfied with the response you receive from us then you can pursue a claim via an Employment Tribunal.