Equal treatment for agency workers

A guide to the Agency Workers Regulations 2010

Resource summary

When the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 come into effect on 1 October 2011, agency workers will for the first time gain rights to a form of equal treatment; after a qualifying period their basic terms and conditions of employment must be no less favourable than the terms they would have been entitled to had they been hired directly by the organisation for which they are working.

The Regulations are not straightforward and although they introduce rights to ‘equal treatment’, in many important respects they differ significantly from existing anti-discrimination legislation. Understanding these differences is key to understanding the true potential impact of the Regulations. This guide, prepared by Adecco in conjunction with the CIPD, is intended to help organisations that use the services of agency staff begin to assess the effect of the Regulations and to understand their own obligations and those of agencies.