Agencies that find staff for other businesses, but pay the staff themselves, are known as ‘employment businesses’.
If you take on workers through an employment business, they’re responsible for ensuring the workers’ rights under working time and minimum wage rules.
Agencies providing workers for agriculture, food processing, horticultural and shellfish-gathering industries are known as ‘gangmasters’ - if you use one, you need to make sure they’re licensed.
Employers’ responsibilities
As an employer, you’re responsible for:
agency workers’ health and safety
ensuring they have the same access to shared facilities as other workers
letting them know about relevant job vacancies in your business
However, you can stop providing work to an agency worker, as long as they’re not employed by you.
It’s a criminal offence to use an agency to replace employees or workers on strike.
Additional rights after 12 weeks
After 12 weeks in the same job, agency workers are entitled to the same terms and conditions as employees doing the same or similar work. This includes:
pay
working time, rest periods and breaks
night work
annual leave
time off for antenatal appointments for pregnant workers
For more details, see the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) guidance on agency worker regulations.
inf. source:www.gov.uk/using-a-recruitment-agency-to-find-staff
