What rights do agency workers have on working time?

You have the right not to work more than 48 hours a week (unless you choose to sign an agreement with the agency saying that you are willing to work longer hours). However, this limit is averaged over a 17-week period. This means that it is legal to work more than 48 hours in some weeks, so long as this is balanced out by weeks in which fewer hours are worked, making an average of not more than 48 hours over the whole 17 weeks.

Regular night workers should not work more than 8 hours in each 24-hour period. The Working Time Regulations allow for night work to be averaged over a 17-week period in the same way as weekly hours of work. Night workers are also entitled to a free health assessment.

You have the right to a rest break of 20 minutes where your working day is longer than 6 hours. If you are under 18 however, you are entitled to a 30-minute break after working 4 and a half hours.

Since 1 October 2011, agency workers have the right to the same working time entitlements as if they had been recruited directly by the hirer to do the same job. This right applies once they have worked in the same job for the same hirer for 12 weeks.

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 the 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.

The new rights include equal treatment on:

• the length of your working time (e.g. you cannot be required to work longer shift patterns than the hirer’s comparable employees)
• rest breaks and rest periods (e.g. you are entitled to the same lunch breaks and breaks between shifts as the hirer’s employees)
• night work, including the number of hours night work and rates of pay for night work
• pay during travel time during working hours, on call pay and standby payments