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Greater rights for agency workers

The Government has agreed to work with the EU to produce the much discussed Agency Workers Directive to give greater rights to agency workers with some expecting the measures to be implemented as early as next April.

With the UK Tribunals seemingly contradicting themselves every week on the issue, there is consensus that legislation is required but there are also fears that the Directive may go too far and damage business and the employability of the 1.4m UK agency workers. The current UK proposals are that 12 weeks in the job will secure the same rights for an agency worker as those enjoyed by their permanently contracted colleagues, but many EU member states are keen to reduce the qualifying period and the TUC want to see it removed altogether. There is much detail yet to be sorted out, but smart employers with high numbers of temporary workers will be considering their future employment strategies already.