Guidance on equal pay for temps

The regulations on agency workers, which come into force on 1 October 2011, give agency workers fundamental rights equal to permanent employees by implementing the EU’s temporary workers directive.

They provide two basic protections for agency workers:

• from day 1 of an assignment, the right to the same level of access to the hirer’s facilities, such as the staff canteen, car parking, and childcare, as the hirer’s permanent employees, and the right to be informed of vacancies with the hirer in the same way as permanent employees
• after 12 weeks in an assignment, the right to pay and other basic working conditions equal to those of the hirer’s permanent employees.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published its final guidance, and there are a few important changes concerning comparators, managed service contracts and bonuses.