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The Agency Workers Regulations in plain English
What the 12-week qualifying period actually means for pay parity, what counts as a break in service, and where hirers carry the risk.
Compliance · 11 Mar 2026 · Cando Personnel
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 give temporary workers the right to the same basic working and employment conditions as a directly recruited employee doing the same job, once they have worked in the same role for the same hirer for 12 calendar weeks.
What counts towards the 12 weeks
Any calendar week in which the worker does any work in that role counts as a full week. Weeks do not have to be consecutive, and a break of six calendar weeks or fewer does not reset the clock. Sickness, jury service and statutory leave are treated generously in the worker's favour.
What parity covers
Pay, duration of working time, night work, rest periods, rest breaks and annual leave. It does not extend to occupational sick pay, redundancy or contractual benefits like company cars.
Day-one rights
From the first day, agency workers must have access to on-site facilities such as canteens, transport and childcare, and must be told about internal vacancies.
Who carries the risk
Both the agency and the hirer can be liable, and hirers are directly responsible for day-one facilities and vacancy information. Practically, this means your agency needs to be tracking qualifying weeks per worker per role — not per assignment, and not per client.
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