Your contract of employment will contain an express term specifying your rate of pay, which is a matter of agreement between you and your employer. In accepting the contract of work, you also accept the offered pay rate.
As well as offering at least the National Minimum Wage, employers must make sure they comply with anti-discrimination law. For example, equal pay legislation bans unjustified salary differences between men and women doing the same job, or work of equal value. Under anti-age discrimination rules employers cannot normally lawfully offer different pay scales and patterns based on length of service over 5 years.
Part-time and fixed-term workers are entitled to be treated no less favourably than individuals on full-time or permanent contracts. Also since October 2011 agency workers have the right to the same treatment as permanent workers after 12 consecutive weeks carrying out the same duties for the same employer.
Essentially, pay rates for agency workers on short-term hires (less than 12 weeks) are usually negotiated between the employer and the agency concerned, although some collective agreements negotiated by unions will cover this issue. A higher hourly and daily rate for agency staff may also reflect in part the fact that these workers are only paid for when they work and do not have access to the same occupational benefits that a firm's core workforce may enjoy – the agency more likely being responsible for pensions, sick pay and maternity arrangements.
