On 1st October 2011 the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) comes into force.  Designed by the EU to ensure that agency workers get no less favourable treatment with respect to basic employment and working conditions than a direct hire employee doing the same job.

Yours Sincerely has compiled the answers to some of your burning questions.

 1. What are the Agency Workers Regulations (‘the AWR’)?

A set of regulations which will provide all agency workers with a right to equal treatment with their directly recruited equivalents employed within a hirer’s organisation after 12 weeks in a given job. This is known as “the equal treatment principle”.

Some equal treatment rights will apply from day one of an assignment (these are known as “day one rights”. See question 9).

2. When will the AWR come into force?

The regulations come into effect on 1st October 2011. There is a 12 week qualifying period that commences from this date (see question 7).

3. Who do the regulations apply to?

All agency workers including those employed via umbrella companies or other intermediaries. Workers who are genuinely self-employed are excluded.

4. What does equal treatment cover?

Equal treatment will apply to the basic working and employment conditions of the agency worker such as:

• duration of working time
• overtime
• breaks
• rest periods
• night work
• public holidays
• pay (see question 5 and question 6)
• some terms and conditions ordinarily included in employee contracts (for example, collective agreements, pay scales, company handbooks)
• other matters of custom and practice in the workplace concerned (for example, access to facilities).

5. What does equal treatment in relation to ‘pay’ include?

This includes basic pay, plus other contractual entitlements directly linked to the work undertaken by the agency worker whilst on assignment, i.e.

• payment for overtime (subject to any requirements regarding the number of qualifying hours)
• shift allowances
• unsocial hour premiums
• basic pay
• payment for annual leave
• bonuses or commission payments that are directly linked to the quality or quantity of work done by an agency worker
• vouchers or stamps with a monetary value e.g luncheon or transport vouchers. Childcare vouchers are included unless they are funded on a salary sacrifice basis.

6. What is excluded from the meaning of ‘pay’?

Aspects of pay that are provided to employees in recognition of the long-term relationship between the employer and the employee, such as:

• profit sharing schemes
• occupational pension contributions
• occupational sick pay
• redundancy pay
• occupational maternity, paternity or adoption pay
• payment for time off for trade union duties
• notice pay
• advances in pay or loans
• expenses
• the majority of benefits in kind
• any payments that require an eligibility period of employment/service, if not met by the agency worker.

7. How is the 12 week qualifying period calculated?

It is 12 calendar weeks regardless of working pattern (full-time or part-time). A new qualifying period will begin under the following circumstances:

• a new assignment with a new employer commences
• a new assignment with the same employer is substantively different
• there is a break of more than 6 weeks between assignments in the same role.

The qualifying clock will pause under the following circumstances:

• any reason where there is a break in the assignment for less than 6 weeks
• sickness absence pauses the clock for up to 28 weeks
• annual leave
• shut downs (e.g. school holidays)
• jury service pauses the clock for up to 28 weeks
• industrial action

The qualifying clock “keeps ticking” during a period of pregnancy and maternity related absence.

 8. How will I know if a role is substantively different from a previous one so that the qualifying period begins again?

For this to be the case, the work or duties, which make up the whole or main part of a role, must be substantively different. Yours Sincerely and the hirer should consider a combination of factors such as:

• are the skills and competencies required for the role different?
• is there a change in reporting lines?
• is the location of the assignment different?
• are the working hours different?
• is the pay rate different?
• does the role require extra training – and/or a specific qualification that wasn’t needed before?
• is different equipment involved?

If a new role is substantively different Yours Sincerely will provide workers with a written description of the new work they will be required to undertake in a new role. The description of the new role will be provided before the new assignment starts.

9. What are my ‘day one rights’?

Some aspects of equal treatment apply before the 12 week qualifying period, i.e. from day one of the worker’s assignment. The regulations give agency workers the same access to certain facilities and information provided by the hirer. These include:

• access to information on job vacancies with the hirer (i.e. vacancy lists) except where the hirer is re-structuring their business as part of an internal re-organisation
• access to collective facilities and amenities (i.e. canteen, childcare, transport).

10. How is equal treatment on pay established where there are no permanent employees within the hirer’s business to compare the worker to?

National rates of pay for that role may be useful guidelines. The rate of pay will remain the same during and after the qualifying period of 12 weeks.

11. Can I obtain information about my equal treatment rights from the agency or the hirer?

Yes. But only if an agency worker requests this information after the 12 week qualifying period has elapsed. The agency (and the hirer) will have 28 days to respond to the worker’s request from the date it is received.

12. Would my assignments with other agencies with the same hirer count towards the 12 week qualifying period?

Yes Yours Sincerely will ask the worker about their recent employment history to ascertain whether the worker is nearing the qualifying period for equal treatment.

14. I have worked in an assignment for almost a year, why must the qualifying period commence as of the 1st of October?

The qualifying period is not retrospective and the qualifying period will start from 1st October 2011.

Local Recruitment firm Yours Sincerely have joined forces with St Kentigern Hospice in the campaign to raise funds to help save the hospice from the threat of loosing beds and staff. 

Yours Sincerely, an award winning recruitment agency who have been working with local businesses for 15 years are offering to donate a percentage of their profits from any new vacancies they fill between now and the end of December.

The recruitment firm are offering to donate £50 for every permanent vacancy they fill and £1.00 per day for every day that a temporary worker is in a booking. 

Evette Easton, Operations Director at Yours Sincerely said ‘all of us at Yours Sincerely were saddened to hear the news about St Kentigern, everyone one of the staff here has known someone who has benefited from the facilities the hospice offers, the work they do is so important and we all felt we wanted to do something to help.’’ 

 “We would like to thank Evette and her team for the help that they are giving us at this time, none of us here at the Hospice want to be in the situation we are, so any help we can get from our local community is greatly appreciated.”Jackie Jeffery Fundraising Manager 

Yours Sincerely can be contacted on 01745 887788.

North Wales Recruitment agency Yours Sincerely are proud to have grown from humble beginnings to become a major player in the North Wales jobs sector and as such we have recently enjoyed a refurbishment to our Head Office at Kings Avenue, Prestatyn, to accommodate the ever-continuing expansion and growth of the business.

The latest developments have seen a new shop front introduced, with passing customers now able to see more vacancies listed in the front window that cover a vast range of job opportunities with local employers.

A new suite and interview room has been introduced, further enhancing the welcoming nature of the venue and allowing candidates to be interviewed in privacy as well as offering out clients the opportunity to conduct interviews from our offices.

The expansion has given us the opportunity to centralise our operations and offer all our customers a more effective service for jobs in North Wales.

Our reputation has been enhanced further by winning the prestigious Best Client Care Award at the Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2009, and has placed us firmly on the national map.

We have proved we can compete with larger names in the industry, having come a long way from when we were founded by Managing Director, Lynne Fattah, at her home in St Asaph in 1995.

In 2002 the business moved to the current, welcoming premises in Prestatyn and has continued to go from strength to strength since.

We have stayed very loyal to our local roots, with its entire staff being from the region and having a strong knowledge of the area’s local employment market and enjoying a long-standing and excellent rapport with local employers.

We offer an abundance of permanent and temporary jobs in North Wales in different fields, including commercial, administration/secretarial, accountancy, the ever-growing industrial division, catering and production. The business provides opportunities for all levels of experience and background, with a commitment in place to help clients recruit the best talent to make a real difference to their business.

Yours Sincerely and the entire team are determined to continue developing the agency to stay the best North Wales recruitment agency for its clients and offering the best jobs in North Wales to our candidates and because of this passion we and our clients have enjoyed an excellent first 15 years in business.

Yours Sincerely won top prize in the 2009 industry Awards held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London. In the presence of over 1000 representatives of the industry, its clients and legislators, Yours Sincerely was hailed as the UK Recruitment Firm offering ‘Best Client Care’.

Managing Director Lynne Fattah, who was thrilled by the announcement, said, “This award is the pinnacle of achievement and recognises the hard work and commitment of all at Yours Sincerely to ensure our clients receive the best, most professional and friendliest service possible. We are passionate about matching the needs of local businesses with the best candidates in the area to ensure the best staffing solutions are achieved.”

Established in 1995, Yours Sincerely is an independent recruitment business operating from two branches in Prestatyn and Llandudno, supplying temporary and permanent staff to both private companies and the public sector.

The judges were impressed with Yours Sincerely’s considerable investment in standards, as well as its commitment to exceed customer’s expectations. In the judges words, the Company takes going the extra mile to the next level.

The company sends a Client Satisfaction Questionnaire to clients bi-annually. The feedback is collated and the results are closely analysed and monitored. To date, Yours Sincerely has received 100% positive responses from one question in the survey: ‘Would you recommend us’. In addition to monitoring clients’ opinions, the company gives added value to clients through incorporating entertaining into fundraising for good causes.

The judges praised Yours Sincerely employees who have gone above and beyond the call of duty, such as volunteering themselves to help out the client when sickness affected candidates turning up for work and offering to get to the nub of a staffing problem by working at a client’s premises to explore the situation for them.

Director Evette Groom said, “At Yours Sincerely customer care is a culture not a chore, we build particularly strong relationships with our clients and get to understand their practices, processes and needs. We go to great lengths to ensure the people we recommend for employment; whether they be permanent of temporary staff, are well suited to the business.