AWR

The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) will be implemented in the UK on 1st October 2011. The purpose of the regulations is to provide temporary workers with equal treatment in terms of basic working and employment conditions as if they had been employed directly to do the same job. The rights will apply after a 12 week qualifying period.

Following the 12 week qualifying period the temporary workers will be entitled to equal treatment, including: pay, working hours, overtime, breaks, holidays and access to training and collective facilities. Equal treatment does not apply to sick pay or paternity/maternity leave.

AWR Off, then back on again?

It seemed a strange time, with less than a month to go, to start questioning AWR and its introduction but that is just what happened according to a Telegraph article earlier this week. Click here to see the full article.

The staffing industry has spent a great deal of time, effort and money in preparation for AWR so it would have been a bitter pill to swallow if the plug was pulled, however, it didn’t take long for the retraction.

Regardless of how unrealistic cancelling AWR ultimately is, the story did lead to some interesting debate.

"If all that happens is a few ‘things’ are tinkered with then this could cause more harm than good, given people should have by now amended their systems and processes to deal with the 1st October start date. Any minor change could cause huge issues as contracts need to be rewritten and systems changed."

"A simple but effective move would be to change the 12 weeks starting point to the maximum allowed under the legislation which is 6 months. Labour would not do this as they agreed 12 weeks with the Unions. Indeed the unions were pushing for no qualifying period at all, similar to the current situation in Northern Ireland. Applying the regulations at 6 months would mean a significant number of temporary workers would not fall within the rules, thus reducing the burden on business and perhaps help to stimulate the economy. If a temp is at the same client for 6 months, then providing the same benefits and pay rates as a perm does not seem unreasonable."