Agency Worker Regulations, 1 October

Over the next few months or so it will be the intention of the CWU to produce a number of leaflets to inform all of our Manpower members working on the BT Account of their rights relating to the Agency Regulations which will come into force in England, Scotland and Wales on the 1 October 2011 and for Northern Ireland the 1 December 2011.

The purpose of these leaflets is to advise of the key areas of the Regulations and how they affect our Manpower members on introduction.

Day 1 rights

• From 1 October 2011, or 1 December in Northern Ireland, all Manpower employees will be entitled to access collective facilities and amenities such as restaurant facilities, transport services, toilets/ shower facilities, common/waiting rooms, prayer rooms and car parking.
  
• Manpower employees will also have access to information on job vacancies and to make this happen BT are building an internet portal to enable Manpower employees to see and apply for vacancies at the same time as the BT employees.

Entitlements after 12 weeks in the same job

After completion of a 12 week qualifying period with BT in the same role Manpower employees on a zero hours contract will be entitled to have the following terms and conditions of employment as if you had been employed directly by BT.

These are:

• Pay- including bonus and overtime; Shift/unsocial & premium payments;
• Duration of working time;
• Night work;
• Rest periods;
• Rest breaks;
• Annual leave.

Those Manpower employees with a Pay Between Assignment contracts will be exempt from equal treatment on pay.

The Qualifying Clock

• There will the requirement to work a qualifying period of 12 calendar weeks which will be accrued regardless of how many hours are worked on a weekly basis before equal treatment on pay is applied.

Further information will be available on how this will work shortly.

Annual Leave

After 12 weeks qualification all Manpower employees are entitled to the same holidays as permanent employees.

Working with Manpower & BT

The CWU is working with Manpower and BT on the specific detail of how Equal Treatment will be applied in relation to pay and other terms and you will be updated as information becomes available.

If you have any questions relating to the Agency Regulations please approach your local branch representative in the first instance.

However information is available on the http://www.cwu.org/ web site via the Agencies web page http://www.cwu.org/agencies.html.

An email address has been set up cwuagencyregs@cwu.org

Other useful links with further information on the Agency Workers Regulations:

Agency workers to get new rights from October - Directgov

Agency Workers - ACAS

Hundreds of thousands of agency workers will benefit from new rights - TUC