We carefully considered representations from stakeholders on the issue of ad hoc assignments. However, we concluded that it would be wrong for agency workers to be deprived of equal treatment rights just because they do not comply with ‘standard’ work patterns, particularly since irregular agency assignments are prevalent in lower-paid sectors. We were also concerned about the risk of any special provision on the point would further complicate the regulations, and could be exploited by the unscrupulous in order to deprive workers of equal treatment rights.
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 were laid before Parliament on 21 January 2010, coming into force on 1 October 2011. Accompanying guidance will be drawn up and published in advance of the regulations coming into force. The important role this guidance will play has been one of the subjects discussed with not only representatives of the agency work industry but also other stakeholders during recent consultations preceding the laying of the regulations. We will of course wish to have further discussions with interested parties on the drafting of this guidance in due course.
The last year saw an intensive process of consultation on the Government’s proposals to implement the European Agency Workers Directive. There were more than 300 responses to the original consultation on policy proposals and almost 100 responses to the second on the draft regulations. In addition, Ministers and officials held frequent meetings with a wide variety of interested parties, including those representing the agency work industry.
Accompanying guidance will be drawn up and published in advance of the regulations coming into force. We will seek the views of representatives of the agency work industry and other interested parties on the drafting of this guidance in due course.
We have addressed these issues in the Government responses to the two consultation exercises on implementation of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010—the relevant documents have been placed in the Libraries of the House and are available on the BIS website. These include a comprehensive impact assessment.
On bonuses, we are aware of the concerns of hirers, in particular the implications of integrating agency workers into appraisal systems for permanent staff. The regulations do not require agency workers to be integrated into these systems—hirers can adopt simpler systems such as existing feedback arrangements that many agencies already have in place. It is also by no means the case that all bonus payments will come within the scope of equal treatment rights—they will not do so, for instance, if not directly attributable to the individual worker’s contribution or if they would not have been payable if the same worker had been recruited directly to do the same job (if, say, there is a qualifying period before a bonus is payable). Guidance will address these issues further.
We carefully considered representations from stakeholders on the issue of ad hoc assignments. However, we concluded that it would be wrong for agency workers to be deprived of equal treatment rights just because they do not comply with ‘standard’ work patterns, particularly since irregular agency assignments are prevalent in lower-paid sectors. We were also concerned about the risk of any special provision on the point would further complicate the regulations, and could be exploited by the unscrupulous in order to deprive workers of equal treatment rights.
We considered that it would be inappropriate for the regulations to make provision on the issue of indemnities since to do so would amount to an inappropriate intervention in private commercial arrangements, and the directive includes no requirements in this area.