Rule · AWR 2010

Agency workers and statutory redundancy

Most agency workers are workers, not employees, and do not qualify for statutory redundancy. The agency is usually the employer in name; the end-client is rarely the employer for redundancy purposes.

Employee or worker?

Statutory redundancy under ERA 1996 s.155 applies only to employees. Workers (the broader status that includes most agency arrangements) do not qualify. The distinction turns on mutuality of obligation, personal service, and integration into the employer's business. The Supreme Court's Uber and Pimlico Plumbers decisions reframe worker status for gig-economy roles but did not extend statutory redundancy to workers.

When the agency itself owes redundancy

Some larger agencies employ workers on PAYE contracts of employment between assignments. After 2 years of continuous employment WITH THE AGENCY, the agency owes statutory redundancy if it cannot find further work and dismisses on redundancy grounds. End-client "assignment ended" communications do not in themselves trigger statutory redundancy.

Agency Workers Regulations 2010

The AWR 2010 grant agency workers equal-treatment rights on pay and basic conditions after 12 weeks at the same hirer. They do NOT confer statutory redundancy. The "Swedish derogation" (pay-between-assignments contracts that traded off equal pay) was repealed on 6 April 2020. GOV.UK summary: agency workers' rights.