Small business owners must be aware that the government has announced that in the next parliamentary session it will amend agency workers rights so that they have the same basic rights as full time staff.

The government have said that it will "legislate to provide agency workers with the right to be treated equally with permanent staff on pay, holidays and other basic conditions." These proposed changes will apply to agency staff working for 12 weeks or more. It is vital that businesses of all sizes start to consider the implications this may have on their company.

"For employers it is very much when not if but when these measures are introduced, so planning early for their impact is very important. This will affect some industries much more than others but it is something every company owner should be aware of," said Amy Richardson, solicitor at Adams & Remers.

How the new legislation will affect employers and agencies:

• In many cases, especially where an agency worker is engaged for a particular one-off project, there may be no obvious permanent employee comparator. In these circumstances, it will be difficult to identify what the worker will be entitled to by way of equal treatment.
• The 12-week qualifying period may lead to a regular turnover of agency staff and gaps between periods of assignment in order to avoid the rules on equal treatment. The UK is implementing legislation likely to contain provisions clarifying how long a break between assignments will amount to a break in continuity for an agency worker.
• There is no clear definition of who an agency worker is and there is some debate as to whether this would extend to workers whose services are supplied through a limited company. It is likely, however, that such workers will be exempt, as higher paid contractors.
• It seems that the compliance burden will fall on agencies rather than end users and that any breach of the new law will be actionable by the worker against the agency.