AWR Briefing for Teachers and Teaching Professionals
At Xpert Education we take Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) very seriously, all our staff are paid correctly. AWR is fundamentally about ensuring teachers and support workers are treated fairly in comparison to a permanent equivalent. The equal treatment entitlements relate to pay and other basic working conditions and come into effect after an agency worker completes a 12-week qualifying period in the same job with the same hirer. Agency workers cannot contract out or ‘opt-out’ of the Regulations and the legislation is clear that all those involved in the supply chain are responsible for upholding fair treatment.
Day 1 Rights
Agency workers should have right the following from day 1:
- Childcare facilities
- Staffroom
- Car parking facilities
- Religious facilities such as a prayer room
- New vacancies
Whilst the hirer does not have to employ the agency worker, they must make them aware of any suitable vacancies within the school. All supply staff must know how and where to access this information and then the usual hirers recruitment process will take place in relation to recruiting the right candidate.
Rights After The 12 Week Period
Once you have completed a 12-week qualifying period with you, in the same role, you will be entitled to have the same basic terms and conditions of employment as if you had been employed directly by the school, these include:
- Equal Pay
- Pension
- Rest periods and breaks
- Duration of working time
- Annual Leave entitlement
- Loyalty and reward schemes
- Occupational sick pay
- Redundancy payment
- Maternity, paternity and adoption pay
Pregnant agency workers who have completed the 12- week qualifying period will be entitled to paid time off for antenatal appointments. Pregnant workers must be offered appropriate alternative work, if the current role can no longer be fulfilled. If suitable alternative work is not available, then the agency worker is entitled to be paid for the remainder of the expected duration of her assignment.
The Qualifying Period
The qualifying period is triggered by working in the same role, with the same hirer for 12 calendar weeks. A calendar week is any period of seven days, starting with the first day of an assignment. Calendar weeks will be accrued regardless of how many hours the worker does on a weekly basis. So if an agency worker is on assignment for only a couple of hours a week, it still counts as a week. The weeks do not need to be consecutive, the Clock may be paused for sickness, annual leave, downtime, non term time for schools or for any break in assignment not lasting more than 6 weeks (excluding summer holidays as these qualify) Once the 12 calendar weeks have been completed the agency worker will then be fully entitled to equal treatment.