Are agency workers entitled to the minimum wage?

Yes. The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is the least that you can be paid for each hour that you work. People aged 22 and over should get no less than £6.08 an hour. People aged 18 to 21 should get at least £4.98. 16 and 17 year olds are entitled to the current rate of £3.68 per hour.

Hourly pay for the NMW is worked out as an average over your pay period. If you are paid weekly, the pay period is a week. If you are paid daily, then the pay period is a day and if monthly paid, then the pay period is a month.

For many workers, working out their hourly pay is simply a matter of dividing total pay before tax and other deductions (your gross pay) by the number of hours worked. However, some workers have no fixed hours, but are paid by what they produce (their output) or paid on completion of a specific job and for these workers the situation is more complicated.  Under the ‘fair piece rates’ system, an employer either has to pay the worker the minimum wage per hour for all hours worked, or has to pay 120% of the minimum wage for the number of hours it takes an average worker to complete an agreed block of work.

If you think that you are not being paid the National Minimum Wage you can make a complaint directly to the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368.  You can also seek further advice from your union if you are a member, or an advice agency.

Since 1 October 2011, agency workers who work in the same job with the same hirer for 12 weeks are entitled to the same pay that would have applied if they had been recruited directly by the hirer to the same job.  The new rights are not retrospective and any work done by an agency worker for a hirer before 1 October 2011 will not count towards a 12 week qualifying period.  Therefore the first day that an agency worker can qualify for equal treatment on pay, holidays and working time entitlements will be 24 December 2011.

For these purposes pay includes hourly or weekly pay; salaries; piece rates; holiday pay; overtime pay; shift, unsocial hours and risk rates; and bonuses, and performance related pay connected to the individual’s work.

But it does not include pensions; sick pay; maternity, paternity or adoption pay; bonuses linked to company performance or which reward loyalty or length of service; redundancy pay or expenses.