Agency Worker Regulations (AWR)
Oh dear…..yet more regulations! Well, don’t worry; it’s our job to make sure that everything that we do on your behalf is strictly legitimate. As we’ve said before, it’s not in our interests for any of us to be behind bars, or to get a horrible brown envelope through the post.
So, what are the AWR? Well, the regulations have been introduced following a European Union Directive, and they intend to ensure that low paid agency workers are given the same basic rights as their permanent colleagues when it comes to pay, holiday and working hours as soon as they’ve been doing the job for 12 weeks.
The nice thing for us all is, put simply, if you’re a freelancer in business on your own account (judged by similar tests to IR35) and you are not using an umbrella company there’s no need to worry, you’re exempt from the regulations by the nature of your business to business relationship with the client.
The AWR will come in to force on 1st October 2011, and the final guidance was introduced in May 2011. The Regulations are highly talked about in our industry, as they’ve been on the table for around a decade, so if you’ve been doing your research, you may well have read lots about them.
AWR is the next big industry hurdle that we must adhere to and get over to enable contractors to continue to operate. It has the attention of the media and certainly any genuine payroll provider should be taking this very seriously.
Overview
The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) are being introduced to ensure that people who work through staffing agencies have the same rights as those who are directly employed by a company.
Agency workers will have some rights from the first day at work:
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Access to shared facilities (canteen, child care, transport etc.)
- Access to internal/external vacancies
- Paid time off for antenatal care
- Rights when pregnant to either suitable work or paid time off
A qualification period of 12 weeks must be completed after which agency workers will gain additional rights:
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Comparable basic working and employment conditions as an equivalent permanent employee
- Pay – wages; individual bonus; commission; holiday pay
- Working hours / Night work
- Rest periods / Break periods
The Agency Workers Regulations do not affect contractors who work through their own Limited Company but if you have any questions regarding this legislation then feel free to call us on 0844 854 5235 or chat online with us now.
