Victory as agency workers win stronger rights

“Today sees the abolition of the notorious legal loophole that allowed employers to avoid paying agency workers the going rate for the job.

From today exploitative bosses will no longer be able to pay long-term agency workers less than their colleagues.”¹ Matt Creagh on behalf of the TUC.

What is the Swedish derogation?

The Swedish derogation is shorthand for a special type of employment contract provided for in Regulation 10 of the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR). Its official name is a “pay between assignments” contract because workers engaged on these contracts with a temporary worker agency (TWA) give up the right to equal pay and often suffer when gaps appear in employment. Workers doing exactly the same job earn thousands of pounds less. Employers could hire and fire workers at will without having to comply with employment law procedures.
This arrangement was commonly used with retail and manufacturing, entertainment and in education hitting many supply teachers. An estimated 8-10% of the workforce are on Swedish derogation contracts. Many employees sign contracts without even knowing that they are being subject to such exploitative pay and conditions of employment, driven by poverty they are forced to accept contracts on offer.
At least 450,000 workers had been employed by agencies for over one year and as many as 120,000 hade been employed and underpaid for over 5 years according to the Taylor Review²
Unions campaigned to abolish this loophole with amazing work done by the TUC and CWU.³
The campaign now means agency workers will now get paid the going rate for the job.

For more information and the factsheet follow the links below:

7 April 2020

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