Regulations and governance for agency workers
Governance
All agency workers employed by Essex County Council (ECC), regardless of tenure are subject to all of the council’s policies and procedures pertaining to governance including but not limited to expenses, hospitality, anti-bribery and whistleblowing. All policies can be found on the intranet and further training can be accessed on the My Learning platform.
Agency Worker Regulations
The Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) are only applicable for temporary workers who are engaged on a PAYE basis.
From day 1, agency workers have the right to:
- access to collective facilities and amenities (canteen, car parking etc)
- access to internal job vacancies
After 12 weeks (the qualifying period) temporary agency workers become entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions (including pay) as they would be entitled to for doing the same job, had they been recruited directly, which you need to be familiar with. These can be found in the full government guidance on GOV.UK.
Subject to the above, it is important to remember that temporary agency workers are not employees of ECC and should not be treated as such. This includes formal appraisals, performance management and conduct procedures. If you have an issue with a temporary agency worker, please contact resourcing who will support you in managing the situation. ECC is also not responsible for providing other employment benefits to temporary agency workers, such as holiday pay and sick pay.
The Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 protects temporary agency workers against victimisation, as well as discrimination and harassment in connection with:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marriage or civil partnership
- pregnancy or maternity
- race
- religion or belief
- sex
- sexual orientation