Agency Workers Directive – November 2009

Agency Workers Directive – November 2009

Implementation of the Agency Workers Directive – delayed until 1 October 2011

The Government announced on 15th October that it has decided not to bring these regulations into effect until 1 October 2011. This comes following the consultation exercise that took place earlier this year, on 15 October they also published the draft regulations, which set out in detail how the Directive will be put into effect, and there is now an eight week consultation on their precise content.

These regulations will impact on those businesses that use agency workers to fill in gaps on a long-term basis especially where agency workers are on assignments of 12 weeks or more, here the Government has made changes to the proposed mechanism by which equal treatment is to be determined, it has abandoned the originally proposed test of individual-to-individual comparison in favour of a much more flexible model based on the concept of setting pay be reference to any relevant pay scales etc operated by the hirer at the time the assignment starts.

There is nothing that businesses need to do in the short-term, however if you do rely on Agency Workers it is important to consider what will be implications to your business when the regulations come into force, there is now a two year period to consider the options and whether or not the short-term gaps can be filled in other ways. If there is a breach of the regulations both the agency and the business will be have liabilities for any failure to provide ‘equal treatment’ on basic conditions, but only the business will be liable in respect of any breach of the right to access equal facilities.

Ward Goodman will keep you informed of the progress of the regulations and the potential impact on businesses, if you would like to discuss the matter or seek advice on the ways you could be affected contact our HR team.

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