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Agency workers – legislation draws nearer

The continuing move towards equalising the right of agency workers with those of contracted staff may be escalated through legislation.

There is a move in Parliament to pass laws concerning the rights of agency workers in areas such as maternity, paternity and other statutory benefits. Currently, agency workers may stay with the same business for years without the passage of time implying that a contract of employment exists and those who work on a self employed basis without an agency acting as a buffer find it even more difficult to argue for statutory rights. Under the current proposals, however, Parliament may be asked to pass a law giving agency staff an entitlement to statutory rights after six weeks with a business, despite surveys which demonstrate that 80% of the 1.4 million agency workers in the UK are satisfied with their assignments.