UK Agency Workers Regulations: the 12-week rule explained

The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 give temps supplied through an agency two kinds of rights in England, Wales and Scotland: from day one, access to the hirer's shared facilities and to information about its vacancies; and after 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer, the same basic pay and working conditions as a directly recruited employee. The 12 weeks can span several assignments, pause during some breaks, and restart after others. As of October 2026 the "Swedish derogation" that once let agencies opt out of equal pay has been gone since April 2020, and tribunal claims can be brought within six months.

This page is written for UK temp desks and the hirers they supply. Our US pages on temp-to-perm conversion fees and W-2 contractor onboarding cover the American rules; this one quotes the UK statutory instrument itself, SI 2010/93 on legislation.gov.uk.

Who counts as an agency worker under the Regulations?

Regulation 3 defines an agency worker as an individual supplied by a temporary work agency "to work temporarily for and under the supervision and direction of a hirer", who has either a contract of employment with the agency or another contract to perform work personally. Someone genuinely in business on their own account, for whom the agency or hirer is a client or customer, is excluded. Supply through one or more intermediaries does not stop a person being an agency worker. GOV.UK's guide on agency workers' rights adds that people who use an agency only to find permanent or fixed-term employment with the client are not agency workers.

What rights does an agency worker have from day one?

Two rights apply from the first day of an assignment, and the hirer alone is liable for both (regulation 14(6)):

• Collective facilities and amenities (regulation 12). The worker must be treated no less favourably than a comparable worker in access to facilities such as a canteen, child care facilities and transport services, unless different treatment is "justified on objective grounds".
• Access to employment (regulation 13). The hirer must tell the worker about relevant vacant posts so they have the same opportunity as a comparable worker to find permanent work. A general announcement in a suitable place at the hirer's establishment is enough.

Separately, before an agency starts looking for work for someone, the Conduct of Employment Agencies Regulations require a Key Information Document and written terms; we cover those in our guide to the 2003 Conduct Regulations.

What changes after 12 weeks?

Regulation 5 entitles the worker to "the same basic working and employment conditions" they would have had if the hirer had recruited them directly at the time the qualifying period began. Regulation 6 limits those conditions to six areas:

The requirement is treated as met if the worker is on the same terms as a comparable employee of the hirer: one doing the same or broadly similar work under the hirer's supervision, at the same establishment if there is one there (regulation 5(3) and (4)).

How is the 12-week qualifying period counted?

Regulation 7(2) requires the worker to "work in the same role with the same hirer for 12 continuous calendar weeks, during one or more assignments". Any calendar week in which the worker works at all, even for part of the week, counts as a week (regulation 7(4)). A role stops being "the same role" only if all three conditions in regulation 7(3) are met: the worker starts a new role with the same hirer, its main duties are substantively different, and the agency has told the worker in writing what type of work the new role involves.

Breaks that only pause the clock

Under regulation 7(5) and (8), weeks already worked carry forward, and the count resumes on return to the same role with the same hirer, after a break that is:

• for any reason, and no more than six calendar weeks;
• wholly due to sickness or injury, up to 28 calendar weeks (the agency may ask for reasonable medical evidence);
• for annual leave or other time off the worker is entitled to;
• for jury service, up to 28 calendar weeks;
• a temporary cessation of the hirer's need for the role for a pre-determined period, "according to the established custom and practices of the hirer", such as a planned shutdown;
• wholly due to a strike, lock-out or other industrial action at the hirer's establishment.

Absences that keep the clock running

Under regulation 7(6), time off related to pregnancy, childbirth or maternity in the protected period (up to 26 weeks after childbirth), and maternity, adoption and paternity leave, count as weeks worked for the original intended or likely duration of the assignment, whichever is longer.

When the clock starts again from zero

Regulation 8 ends the entitlement if the worker is no longer in the same role with that hirer, or after a break that regulation 7(8) does not cover. GOV.UK's equal treatment page summarises the restart triggers as a new job at a different workplace, a break of more than six weeks between jobs at the same workplace, or a substantively different new role.

A worked example (invented for illustration): a warehouse picker works weeks 1 to 7 at one hirer, takes two weeks off between assignments, then returns to the same role. The two-week gap is under six weeks, so it pauses rather than resets the count; she reaches week 12 after five more weeks of work. Had the gap been eight weeks with no qualifying reason, the count would restart at week 1.

What are the anti-avoidance rules?

Regulation 9 treats the worker as having qualified if they have completed two or more assignments with a hirer (or connected hirers), or moved through more than two roles, and "the most likely explanation" for that structure is that the hirer or agency intended to prevent them qualifying. Tribunals look at the length and number of assignments, the number of role changes and returns, and the length of the breaks. Where regulation 9 applies, a tribunal can add an extra award of up to £5,000 on top of compensation (regulation 18(14)). Rotating temps every 11 weeks is the pattern the rule was written to catch.

What happened to the Swedish derogation?

The original regulation 10 switched off the pay part of equal treatment for agency workers on a permanent contract of employment with the agency that paid them between assignments. The Agency Workers (Amendment) Regulations 2019 omitted regulation 10 from 6 April 2020 and required agencies to give affected workers, by 30 April 2020, a written statement that they would be entitled to equal pay after the qualifying period and that the old statement no longer had effect. Any contract still relying on a pay-between-assignments opt-out is out of date.

Who is liable, the agency or the hirer?

Liability for equal treatment after 12 weeks is split by responsibility under regulation 14:

• The agency is liable to the extent it is responsible for the breach.
• The agency has a defence if it obtained, or took reasonable steps to obtain, information from the hirer about its basic working and employment conditions (and about a comparable employee where relevant), acted reasonably in setting the worker's terms, and applied them. Where that defence applies, the hirer is liable.
• The hirer is liable for breaches of the day-one rights in regulations 12 and 13.
• For dismissal or detriment because a worker asserted their rights (regulation 17), each party answers for its own acts.

In practice, this is why agencies ask hirers for a pay and conditions schedule for each role before week 12. A worker who believes they have been treated unequally can ask the agency for a written statement, which must be provided within 28 days; if none arrives within 30 days they can ask the hirer, which also has 28 days (regulation 16). A tribunal can draw inferences from an evasive or missing answer.

What can a tribunal award?

A 12-week checklist for temp desks

1. Before the first assignment, get the hirer's terms for the role in writing: pay rate, overtime and shift premiums, bonuses tied to output, hours, night work, breaks and holiday.
2. Track weeks per worker, per hirer, per role, including which breaks paused the count and why.
3. If you move a worker to a genuinely different role, confirm the new type of work to them in writing; otherwise the clock keeps running.
4. Diary week 12 and switch pay and holiday terms on time; check that the hirer's announced vacancies reach your temps.
5. Answer regulation 16 requests within 28 days.
6. Avoid assignment patterns, such as repeated short assignments with gaps, that could look designed to stop workers qualifying.

For the temp-to-perm side of UK supply, including the transfer fee and extended-hire rules, see the Conduct Regulations guide. For right-to-work and data rules that apply to the same candidates, see UK right to work checks and the GDPR checklist for recruiters. How the US handles shared responsibility between agency and client is in joint employer liability for staffing agencies.