ACAS comment on Agency Worker Regulations
ACAS (Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service) have released a report commenting on the impact of The Agency Workers Regulations that were released in the UK in 2011.
In Europe the aim of the Agency Workers Directive was to “establish a fair balance between two goals: improving the protection of agency workers (by establishing equal treatment) and supporting and recognising the positive role of agency work in bringing flexibility to the labour market (by encouraging the removal of excessive restrictions on this type of work)”.
In the UK differing views exist for the aim of The Agency Workers Regulations.
Key findings are that AWR hasn’t reduced the use of Agency Workers (as was originally feared).
It did find Agency Workers weren’t aware of their rights especially re holiday pay, notice periods and the 12 week AWR threshold. They were also afraid to assert their rights in case of losing work. They also cited administrative issues including struggling to receive full payment at the end of an assignment.
The full ACAS report is available at:
If you are an agency worried about AWR we have produced an AWR fact sheet and are able to offer support by ensuring agency workers placed through umbrella.co.uk have equal pay and working conditions to comparable permanent workers.
Please call our Business Development Team on 0800 121 6513 or email team@umbrella.co.uk
