Agency and temporary workers
Recruitment agencies use agency workers (often referred to as temporary workers or ‘temps’) to fill vacancies in companies. Recruitment agencies place workers with a hiring company.
You will have a contract with the employment agency, which may or may not amount to a contract of employment, depending upon the circumstances.
The agency that finds work for you will provide you with a contract with them for any temporary job they help you secure. You are not an agency worker if you use an agency to find permanent or fixed-term employment, and your contract will be with the hiring company.
On this page
Benefits of being an agency worker
Agency workers play an important role in providing flexibility for businesses. For agency workers, the benefits include the ability to:
- leapfrog to the job you want;
- enter or re-enter the job market;
- work flexibly;
- move jobs with little notice.
Your rights as an agency worker
Agency workers have different working rights from employees.
The company that hires you can end your job without being liable for unfair dismissal claims or redundancy pay. You should always check your contract for the notice period your employer has to give.
All workers, including agency workers, are entitled to certain rights, including:
- paid holiday and rest breaks;
- the national minimum wage;
- protection against unlawful deductions from wages;
- freedom from discrimination;
- protection under health and safety laws;
- freedom to take a permanent job with the hiring company if one is offered.
Recruitment agencies’ responsibilities
When an agency offers you a position with a company, they must tell you the company’s name and give you information on the pay rate, position and start date and likely duration of the placement and details of any expenses payable by or to you, as well as any health and safety risks involved.
An agency cannot:
- prevent you from leaving the agency to work for a hiring company;
- change your terms and conditions without your consent;
- charge you for finding work (except in the entertainment, sports and modelling industries);
- disclose information about you without your permission. There are some exceptions to this.
When it comes to payment, agencies must pay workers for all the hours they work, even if a timesheet was not submitted. The agency must pay you even if the hiring company has not paid the agency.
Agency working law
The Employment Rights Act 2025 will fundamentally affect the rights of agency workers. It introduces a range of new duties on employers. First, to offer a guaranteed hours contract that reflects the hours regularly worked over a reference period; second, to give workers reasonable notice of a shift; and third, to compensate the worker if a shift is cancelled, moved or curtailed at short notice. It will also define and regulate umbrella companies that operate as employers of agency workers.
Agency workers have statutory rights as either an employee or worker where they can prove the relevant employment status. In particular, The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 is to give agency workers the right to equal treatment certain rights from day one and “the same basic working and employment conditions” after 12 weeks.
Agency workers gain rights to the same pay, holiday, working patterns, and rest breaks as directly hired employees doing the same or broadly similar work.
Equal treatment to someone who has been with the hiring company for 12 continuous weeks – as if the worker had been recruited directly by the company – in respect of certain basic working conditions, such as pay and working time.
Pregnant workers also gain the right to paid time off for their antenatal appointments.
External advice and support
Frequently asked questions
There are some exceptions, such as for legal or tax purposes. Before introducing you to a hiring company, you will need to show documents such as your birth certificate or passport to your agency to confirm your identity.
Legal disclaimer
The information contained within this article is not a complete or final statement of the law and is based on the laws of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
While UNISON has sought to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date, it is not responsible and will not be held liable for any inaccuracies and their consequences, including any loss arising from relying on this information. If you are a UNISON member with a legal problem, please contact your branch or region as soon as possible for advice, or for non-employment matters call UNISONdirect.