The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (“BIS”) published final guidance on the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (“AWR”) in May 2011.
The AWR comes into force on 1 October 2011 and will not have retrospective effect. This means that for workers already on assignment at this date the 12 week qualifying period for extended employment protection rights will start on 1 October 2011.
What was revised?
The revised guidance includes:
- confirmation that, for workers engaged under a ‘pay between assignments’ contract, the exemption from equal treatment extends to holiday pay and that, therefore, the requirement to provide paid holidays is excluded, although there is still a requirement to provide equivalent unpaid annual leave.
- correction of the definition of what is to be considered as ‘pay’ (it was confirmed that discretionary bonuses do not fall within the scope of pay but that non-contractual bonuses could constitute pay).
- confirmation that a specific comparator is not required in order to identify basic working and employment conditions.
Resources
For further information or to discuss the issues raised, please get in touch.
