Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Agency workersLatest NewsHR practice

Agency Workers Directive only intended to apply to firms using formalised pay structures

by Louisa Peacock 24 Jul 2009
by Louisa Peacock 24 Jul 2009

The Agency Workers Directive (AWD) is intended only to apply to those companies that use formalised pay scales, excluding about 90% of temporary workers in the private sector, the Institute of Directors (IoD) has claimed.

Just days before the consultation on the new legislation to protect agency workers ends, the business group has revealed it received advice from the European Commission explaining that the law should apply only to contracts where pay is based on official pay structures.

According to the IoD, this would exclude nine in 10 of temporary and agency workers in the private sector from the legislation, as most small and medium-sized firms worked out pay on an informal, one-to-one basis.

However, the UK interpretation of the directive aims to give temporary staff and vulnerable workers the same pay and conditions as permanent staff after just 12 weeks in a job, regardless of how their pay is worked out.

Alistair Tebbit, head of European Union and employment policy at the IoD, warned that the government had gone “over the top” in implementing the directive in the UK without inviting proper debate.

He told Personnel Today: “The government is using the directive as an opportunity to incorporate additional provisions and widen the scope of the law to appease unions and people within its own party.”

He added: “The vast majority of small and medium-sized firms in the UK could be exempt from the AWD, according to the commission, so if the government wants to have a serious debate about whether all agency workers need protection after just 12 weeks in a job, they should legislate domestically, not in a surreptitious way.”

There are estimated to be about 1.4 million agency workers in the UK, of which about 900,000 are employed by small businesses.

In a letter to Tebbit, reported in the Financial Times, Armindo Silva, head of the European Commission’s employment, social affairs and equal opportunities unit, said there should be absolute pay parity between temporary and full-time staff where “pay scales are in force”.

But “discretionary individual pay arrangements used in the user undertaking would be outside the scope of the principle of equal treatment”, the letter said.

The directive has attracted controversy from UK business groups who are concerned the law will damage the temping industry, as the very essence of agency work relies on hiring staff according to peak and trough demands. Employers have also argued the directive would be hard to implement because it is hard to define a temporary worker’s role or compare them with permanent employees.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills said it could not comment on the commission’s letter before the consultation had ended, but invited business groups to voice concerns as part of the consultation.

The AWD is due to become British law by December 2011. The consultation ends on 31 July.

Louisa Peacock

previous post
Fair Access to the Professions: what is the role of employers and HR?
next post
Sacked fireman accused of ‘coaching’ son through exam to lodge tribunal claim

You may also like

Fire and rehire: the relocation question

22 May 2025

Public sector workers gain pay rises of up...

22 May 2025

UK net migration slashed by half in one...

22 May 2025

How neuroscience can unlock employee recognition

22 May 2025

UK universities fret over fall in international students

22 May 2025

HSBC employees warned of office attendance link to...

22 May 2025

The Law Society: Navigating the new world of...

22 May 2025

Workplace stress: Why it’s time to rebrand resilience

22 May 2025

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Fewer workers would comply with a return-to-office mandate

21 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+