Agency workers and the 12-week rule: when you get equal pay, and what you get from day one

Agency workers get equal pay after 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer. Day-one rights, what counts as a week, breaks, and how to claim.

Employment & Career
Employee
Employer
England
Scotland
Wales

The short answer

You get the same pay and core conditions as someone the hirer took on directly once you have worked 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer. Any week in which you work at all, even part of it, counts as a week, and the 12 can be spread across more than one assignment and more than one agency (Agency Workers Regulations 2010, reg 7(2)-(4); an "assignment" is a period of supply "by one or more temporary work agencies", reg 2). From day one you already have the right to use the hirer's shared facilities and to be told about its vacancies (reg 12 and reg 13).

The equal-treatment rights apply in England, Scotland and Wales: the Regulations extend to Great Britain only, save for some consequential amendments listed in Schedule 1 (reg 1(2)). Northern Ireland has its own regulations, which this page does not cover. You are an agency worker for these purposes if an agency supplies you to work temporarily under a hirer's supervision and direction and you have a contract with the agency. Being supplied or paid through one or more intermediaries, or having your contract with an intermediary, does not stop you being one (reg 3(1) and (5)). You are not one if you are genuinely in business on your own account and the agency or hirer is your client (reg 3(2)). If you are unsure which you are, see worker, employee or self-employed.

What you get from day one

Collective facilities and amenities. During an assignment the hirer must treat you no less favourably than a comparable worker over facilities it provides, which "includes, in particular" a canteen or similar, childcare facilities and transport services. The hirer can treat you differently only if that is "justified on objective grounds" (reg 12(1)-(3)). GOV.UK gives food and drink machines, a creche or mother and baby room, car parking and transport between sites as examples (GOV.UK).
Vacancies. The hirer must tell you about relevant vacant posts, so you have the same chance as a comparable worker to find permanent work with it. A general announcement in a suitable place at the workplace is enough (reg 13(1) and (4)).
Worker rights. GOV.UK says that from the day you start you have a worker's employment rights, and that you are entitled to the National Minimum Wage for all the hours you work, even hours not recorded on a timesheet (GOV.UK). Rates are in our National Minimum Wage guide, and statutory holiday is covered in how holiday pay is calculated.
Information before you start. GOV.UK says the agency must give you a key information document (minimum rate of pay, a sample payslip, who pays you, any fees) and written terms of engagement before it looks for work for you, unless you agreed terms with it before 6 April 2020 (GOV.UK).

How the 12 weeks are counted

The test is 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer, during one or more assignments (reg 7(2)). Any week in which you work during an assignment, for the whole week or part of it, counts as a calendar week (reg 7(4)). Time before 1 October 2011 never counts (reg 7(12)). Breaks fall into three groups.

Effect of breaks on the agency worker qualifying period
Type of break	Effect on the clock	Regulation
Any reason, not more than six calendar weeks	Paused: weeks before the break carry forward	7(5), 7(8)(a)
Wholly due to sickness or injury, 28 calendar weeks or less (written medical evidence if the agency reasonably asks)	Paused	7(8)(b), 7(9)
Other time off or leave you are entitled to, statutory or contractual (for example annual leave)	Paused	7(8)(d)(iv)
Jury service, 28 calendar weeks or less	Paused	7(8)(e)
A temporary shutdown for a pre-determined period under the hirer's established custom (for example a Christmas closure)	Paused	7(8)(f)
A strike, lock-out or other industrial action at the hirer's establishment	Paused	7(8)(g)
Related to pregnancy, childbirth or maternity, from the start of pregnancy to 26 weeks after childbirth (or your earlier return)	Keeps running for the original intended or likely length of the assignment, whichever is longer; then paused	7(6), 7(8)(c), 7(10)
Maternity, adoption or paternity leave	Keeps running for the original intended or likely length of the assignment, whichever is longer; then paused	7(6), 7(8)(d)(i)-(iii)
Anything else, or a break longer than the limits above	Reset: the 12 weeks start again	7(5), 8(b)

Where you had started working in a role and cannot continue because of pregnancy, maternity, adoption or paternity, you are treated as working in the role only for the original intended duration or the likely duration of the assignment, whichever is longer (reg 7(6)). Beyond that the break still falls within reg 7(8), so the weeks are carried forward rather than lost (reg 7(5)). A break wholly due to a mix of the reasons in reg 7(8)(b) to (g) is also covered (reg 7(8)(h)). Once you have qualified, a break that falls outside these categories ends your equal-treatment rights with that hirer, as does a move to a role that is not the "same role" (reg 8).

A new role restarts the clock only if all three conditions are met (reg 7(3)): you have started a new role with the same hirer (through the same agency or a different one); the work that makes up the whole or main part of it is "substantively different" from the main part of the old role; and the agency has told you in writing what type of work the new role involves. Without that written notice you stay in the same role for the 12-week count. GOV.UK describes a substantively different role as completely new, different work, which could involve a combination of different skills or new training, pay rate, location or working hours (GOV.UK). Moving to a different hirer starts a new count with that hirer, because the test is the same hirer, subject to the connected-hirer rule below.

Anti-avoidance: assignments structured to stop you qualifying

If you have had two or more assignments with a hirer, or assignments with it and with hirers connected to it, or more than two roles in one assignment with at least two changes to a different role, and the most likely explanation for that pattern is that the hirer or agency intended to stop you getting (or keeping) equal treatment, you are treated as having qualified when you otherwise would have (reg 9(1)-(4)). A tribunal looks in particular at the length and number of assignments, the number of role changes, how often you returned to the same role and the length of the breaks (reg 9(5)). Hirers are connected where one controls the other or a third person controls both (reg 9(6)). If a tribunal finds this, it can add up to £5,000 to any compensation (reg 18(14)).

Why there is no calculator here: whether a role is "substantively different", the reg 9 "most likely explanation" test and the likely duration of an assignment are judgements a tribunal makes on the facts. A tool that printed a qualifying date would be guessing at them.

What equal treatment includes, and what it does not

After 12 weeks you are entitled to the same "basic working and employment conditions" you would have had if the hirer had recruited you directly at the time the qualifying period started, including later changes to them (reg 5(1)-(2)). Those conditions are terms ordinarily in the contracts of the hirer's own staff, whether set by collective agreement or otherwise, relating to six things (reg 6(1)):

pay, which includes any fee, bonus, commission, holiday pay or other emolument referable to the employment (reg 6(2))
the duration of working time
night work
rest periods
rest breaks
annual leave

Regulation 6(3) takes these payments out of "pay", so you are not entitled to them under the 12-week rule:

occupational sick pay
pensions, allowances or gratuities connected with retirement, or compensation for loss of office
payments for maternity, paternity, parental bereavement or adoption leave
redundancy payments
payments under a financial participation scheme (shares, options or profit share)
bonuses or rewards not directly attributable to the amount or quality of your work, such as loyalty or long-service rewards
pay for time off under Part 6 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 or for trade union duties
guarantee payments under section 28 of the Employment Rights Act 1996
loans and advances of pay
expenses
payments made to you otherwise than as a worker

Benefits in kind do not count as pay either, except vouchers or stamps with a fixed cash value that can be exchanged for money, goods or services (reg 6(4)). GOV.UK's agency worker page lists "automatic pension enrolment" under "Rights after 12 weeks". Auto-enrolment is in fact an employer duty under the Pensions Act 2008 (s.3), with its own age and earnings conditions, and does not depend on the Agency Workers Regulations qualifying period. Statutory Sick Pay is also a separate statutory scheme with its own rules. See workplace pension auto-enrolment.

The hirer and agency are treated as complying if you are on the same terms as a comparable employee: someone working for the hirer on the same or broadly similar work, with regard to similar qualifications and skills, at the same establishment (or at another one if there is no-one suitable at yours), whose employment has not ended (reg 5(3)-(5)). Once you have qualified, the agency and hirer must also let you take time off for ante-natal appointments (Employment Rights Act 1996 s.57ZA), and the agency must pay you for it (s.57ZB(1)). Section 57ZD limits this to agency workers who have completed the qualifying period, imposes no duty beyond the original intended or likely duration of the assignment, and does not apply where the employee rules in ss.55 to 57 apply.

Who is liable: the agency or the hirer

Equal treatment after 12 weeks (reg 5). The agency and the hirer are each liable to the extent they are responsible for a breach (reg 14(1)-(2)). The agency escapes liability if it shows it took reasonable steps to get the hirer's terms (and, where needed, a comparable employee's terms and why that person is comparable), acted reasonably in deciding your terms, and applied them; to that extent the hirer is liable instead (reg 14(3)).
Facilities and vacancies (regs 12 and 13). The hirer alone is liable (reg 14(6)).
Detriment. Each is liable for its own acts or deliberate failures to act (reg 14(7)). You are protected from detriment, and if you are an employee from dismissal, for asserting these rights, asking for a written statement, bringing or helping with a claim, or refusing to give up a right, unless an allegation you made was false and not in good faith (reg 17).
You cannot sign these rights away: the Employment Rights Act 1996 rule against contracting out applies (reg 15).

Asking for information

Equal treatment: write to the agency asking for a written statement about the treatment you think breaches reg 5. It must reply within 28 days with information about the hirer's workers' conditions, the factors it considered in setting yours, and, if it relies on a comparable employee, why that person is comparable and what their terms are (reg 16(1)-(2)). You can only make this request once you have the reg 5 right, so after the 12 weeks (reg 16(7)).
If the agency has not replied within 30 days of your request, write to the hirer, which must reply within 28 days with information about its workers' relevant conditions (reg 16(3)-(4)).
Facilities or vacancies: write to the hirer, which must reply within 28 days with the comparable worker's position and its reasons for treating you as it did (reg 16(5)-(6)). This one is available from day one.

Replies can be used as evidence, and if the agency or hirer deliberately fails to answer without reasonable excuse, or gives an evasive or equivocal answer, a tribunal can draw inferences against it, including that it broke the rules (reg 16(8)-(9)).

Claiming at an employment tribunal

You can complain to an employment tribunal that the agency or hirer has broken reg 5, 12, 13 or the detriment protection in reg 17(2) (reg 18(2)).

Time limit: six months. For reg 5, 12 and detriment complaints it runs from the date of the breach, or the last of a series; for vacancies, from the last date other people were told about the vacancy (reg 18(4)). A term in your contract that breaches the rules is treated as a breach on every day it applies (reg 18(6)(a)).
Three months before 1 October 2026. The limit went from three to six months by Employment Rights Act 2025 Schedule 12 para 17, in force on 1 October 2026, but only where the relevant date is on or after 1 October 2026 (SI 2026/954 regs 3-4 and Schedule).
Acas first. Agency Workers Regulations claims are "relevant proceedings" (Employment Tribunals Act 1996 s.18(1)(z)), so you must normally give Acas the prescribed information for early conciliation before you claim, except in cases prescribed under s.18A(7) (ETA 1996 s.18A(1) and (7)). The time limit is extended for the conciliation period (AWR reg 18A). A tribunal can hear a late claim if it is just and equitable to do so (reg 18(5)).
What a tribunal can award. A declaration, compensation and a recommendation (reg 18(8)). Compensation for a reg 5 breach is normally at least two weeks' pay (reg 18(12)-(13), worked out under reg 19), plus up to £5,000 extra where the anti-avoidance rule applies (reg 18(14)). There is no award for injury to feelings for breaches of regs 5, 12 or 13 (reg 18(15)).

For unpaid pay that is simply owed, rather than an equal-treatment dispute, see how to claim unpaid wages or holiday pay.

Pay between assignments: the old Swedish derogation

Regulation 10 used to switch off the equal-pay part of reg 5 where the agency employed you on a permanent contract and paid you a minimum amount between assignments (reg 11 set the minimum). Both were omitted from 6 April 2020 by the Agency Workers (Amendment) Regulations 2019, reg 3(4), so it is no longer possible to opt out of equal pay this way. Agencies with workers on those contracts had to give them a written statement by 30 April 2020 saying they were now entitled to equal pay after the qualifying period (SI 2019/724 reg 4).

The Agency Workers Regulations now contain no rule about pay between assignments. Whether you are paid between assignments depends on your contract with the agency. Since 6 April 2020 a pay-between-assignments contract cannot switch off your equal-pay right (SI 2019/724, explanatory note).

What the Employment Rights Act 2025 changes for agency workers

In force: six-month tribunal time limit. As above, from 1 October 2026 for breaches on or after that date.
Not in force: guaranteed hours, shift notice and pay for cancelled shifts. Section 4 and Schedule 1 insert a new Schedule A1 into the Employment Rights Act 1996. Under it, a hirer must offer a qualifying agency worker a direct contract with guaranteed hours reflecting the hours worked in a reference period (Sch A1 paras 1-2); the agency or hirer must give reasonable notice of shifts (para 14); and the agency must pay a specified amount when a shift is cancelled, moved or cut short at short notice (para 22). Who qualifies, the reference periods, the notice periods and the amounts are all left to regulations not yet made. Section 4 is in force only for consultation and making regulations, from 6 January 2026 (SI 2026/3 reg 2(2)(d)), and the latest commencement regulations (No. 6, SI 2026/1065) do not commence it further. The government timeline (updated 22 October 2026) says timings "will be updated following the consultation process", so there is no planned date (GOV.UK timeline).
Not in force: umbrella companies. Section 36 widens the Employment Agencies Act 1973 definition of "employment business" to cover anyone who employs supplied workers or pays for their services in return for a fee from them, which the government timeline lists as the regulation of umbrella companies. It is in force only for making regulations (SI 2026/3 reg 2(17)). Our Employment Rights Act 2025 timeline tracks the planned date; until it is commenced, see how to choose an umbrella company.

Commencement status checked on legislation.gov.uk on 30 October 2026. A planned date in the government timeline is not law until commencement regulations are made.

Frequently asked questions

When do agency workers get the same pay as permanent staff?

After 12 continuous calendar weeks in the same role with the same hirer, under regulation 7 of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. From then you are entitled to the pay, working time, night work, rest and annual leave terms you would have had if the hirer had recruited you directly. The weeks can be spread over more than one assignment.

What rights do agency workers have from day one?

From the first day of an assignment the hirer must treat you no less favourably than a comparable worker on collective facilities such as a canteen, childcare and transport, unless it can justify the difference on objective grounds (regulation 12), and must tell you about relevant vacancies (regulation 13). GOV.UK also says you have a worker's employment rights from day one, including the National Minimum Wage.

Does a break reset the 12-week clock?

Not always. A break of up to six calendar weeks for any reason only pauses it, as do sickness or injury up to 28 weeks, annual leave, jury service up to 28 weeks, a planned shutdown and a strike at the hirer. If you had started in the role and stop because of pregnancy or maternity, adoption or paternity leave, you are treated as still working for the intended or likely length of the assignment, whichever is longer, and after that the clock is paused. Any other break, or a longer one, starts the clock again.

Does equal treatment include sick pay, pension and bonuses?

Not all of them. Regulation 6(3) of the Agency Workers Regulations excludes occupational sick pay, pension payments, redundancy pay, pay for maternity, paternity, parental bereavement or adoption leave, share and profit schemes, and loyalty or long-service bonuses. Bonuses directly attributable to the amount or quality of your work are included, as are fees, commission and holiday pay.

How long do I have to claim at an employment tribunal?

Six months where the relevant date is on or after 1 October 2026, and three months where it was earlier. The relevant date is the infringement or, for a series, the last of them; for a vacancies complaint it is the last date others were told of the vacancy. Most claimants must first notify Acas for early conciliation, which extends the deadline. A tribunal can hear a late claim if it is just and equitable.

Can my agency still pay me less under a pay between assignments contract?

Not since 6 April 2020: equal pay after the 12-week qualifying period now applies whatever your contract says. The pay between assignments opt-out, known as the Swedish derogation, was in regulation 10. It was removed from 6 April 2020 by the Agency Workers (Amendment) Regulations 2019, and agencies had to tell affected workers in writing by 30 April 2020 that they were now entitled to equal pay after 12 weeks.

Do the Employment Rights Act 2025 zero hours rights apply to agency workers yet?

Not as at 30 October 2026. Section 4 and Schedule 1 of the Act will give agency workers guaranteed hours offers from hirers, reasonable notice of shifts and pay for shifts cancelled at short notice, but they are in force only so the government can consult and make regulations. The government timeline gives no start date.