12 December, 2010
Since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took leadership of the UK government, it has been exploring ways to amend the Agency Workers’ Regulation, adopted to implement the European Temporary Agency Workers' Directive.
According to the Trades Union Congress’s (TUC) head of Employment Rights, Sarah Veale, “An agreement was reached between the TUC and the CBI (UK’s business grouping) two years ago, after many hours of discussion and compromises from both sides.”
The compromises included a clause that agency workers would not receive equal treatment from day one, as per the European directive, but after 12 weeks of employment. Despite this, employers and their representatives expressed a range of concerns over the regulation to the new government, arguing for amendments to be made before its entry into force in October 2011.
The TUC responded by saying: “There is no point unpicking that now, after the regulations have been enacted, and business and unions are preparing to work co-operatively with what we have agreed.”
Following consultations with both sides, the Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer, and Postal Affairs, Edward Davey, announced in October that due to the “unique legal situation” of the regulation, any amendments proposed which did not have the agreement of the TUC and CBI would “face the risk of being set aside in the courts in the event of a legal challenge.” He went on to say, “Were that to happen, the effect could be to call into question the very foundation of the fundamentals of the implementing legislation, crucially including the 12-week qualifying period itself.”
Although he described the outcome as “clearly disappointing,” Minister Davey confirmed that the Government would not be making any further attempts to amend the regulation.