On 20 May the Government announced that it had agreed a deal between unions and employers that will see agency workers in the UK receive equal treatment after 12 weeks employment.

Trade unions had been arguing strongly that agency workers should receive equal rights from day one.

The CBI has calculated that because of the qualifying period up to half of all agency assignments will be unaffected. It is expected that “equal treatment” will cover just basic employment terms and will not include pension or sick pay benefits. However, until legislation is actually passed it is not possible to be certain of this.

The Government says it will now seek agreement on the terms of a new European Agency Workers Directive that will enable this agreement to become law in the United Kingdom. It hopes that EU agreement will be obtained in time for the necessary legislation to be introduced in the next parliamentary session