Agency workers and unpaid hours : calculate what you are owed

• You are an agency worker if you have a contract with an agency but work temporarily for a hirer (GOV.UK). Finding permanent work through an agency is different.
• From day one you have worker employment rights and equal access to shared facilities (canteen, parking, creche, and similar).
• After 12 weeks in the same job with the same hirer you get equal treatment on basic working and employment conditions, including equal pay as if recruited directly (AWR / GOV.UK).
• Unpaid assignment hours still matter before and after week 12: National Minimum Wage and contractual pay claims do not wait for equal treatment.
• Tips: hirers must include eligible agency workers in fair allocation of qualifying tips; the agency must then pass tips on without unauthorised deductions (Tips Act code).
• From April 2026, workers aged 21 and over get at least £12.71 an hour on hours that count for NMW.
• Tribunal claims: today usually 3 months minus 1 day; from 1 October 2026, most claims become 6 months minus 1 day if the clock starts on or after that date (Acas).

GOV.UK: you are an agency worker if you have a contract with an agency but you work temporarily for a hirer. That includes many recruitment "temp" agencies, and entertainment or modelling agencies when you look for work through them. You are not an agency worker merely because an agency helped you find a permanent or fixed-term job with the hirer as your employer.

The AWR (regulation 3) define an agency worker along the same supply-to-hirer lines. If you are unsure, Acas is the practical first call.

From day one

GOV.UK's equal treatment page says that from the day you start you have a worker's employment rights. You also have the same rights as permanent colleagues to use shared facilities and services the hirer provides, for example:

• canteen or food and drinks machines
• workplace creche or mother and baby room
• car parking or transport services between sites

You also keep ordinary worker floor rights: National Minimum Wage on hours that count, payslips where due, working time limits, and statutory holiday rules for your pattern.

After 12 weeks: equal treatment

After 12 weeks in the job you qualify for the same rights as someone employed directly. GOV.UK calls this equal treatment. Rights listed there include:

• equal pay (same pay as a permanent colleague doing the same job)
• automatic pension enrolment
• paid annual leave

The AWR give equal treatment on basic working and employment conditions after the qualifying period (regulation 5), including pay, working time, night work, rest breaks and annual leave (regulation 6). Liability can sit with the agency and/or hirer (regulation 14). Equal pay is wider than NMW: a comparable permanent colleague on £15.50 is usually the benchmark once you qualify, not merely £12.71.

GOV.UK:

• start counting from your first day;
• you do not need 12 weeks in a row;
• the period pauses (do not count those days) for a break of 6 weeks or less, sickness or injury leave up to 28 weeks, annual leave you are entitled to, workplace closure (for example Christmas or industrial action), and jury service up to 28 weeks;
• the period continues through pregnancy-related time off and up to 26 weeks after childbirth, adoption leave, and paternity leave (if leave exceeds 12 weeks you qualify when you return);
• the clock restarts from zero if you get a new job at a different workplace, have a break of more than 6 weeks between jobs at the same workplace, or stay but take a new role that is substantively different (different skills/training, pay rate, location, working hours in combination).

Track weeks yourself. Do not assume the agency portal is the only record.

In the usual model:

• the agency pays your wages under your contract with them;
• the hirer controls the day-to-day assignment and must provide day-one facility access and, after 12 weeks, the equal treatment benchmarks the agency needs;
• for AWR breaches, regulations allocate liability between agency and hirer (often with information duties so the agency can match terms).

For unpaid hours on an assignment (for example you worked 9 hours, the timesheet was cut to 7), start with the agency payroll trail and the hirer's clocking evidence. For NMW, the "employer" for NMW purposes is typically the entity that employs you under the agency contract, but facts vary. For tips, the statutory code is explicit: for agency workers, references to "employer" in the tipping duties refer to the hirer (place of business). After the hirer pays tips to the employment agency, the agency must pass them on without unauthorised deductions.

Equal treatment does not mean unpaid hours are lawful in weeks 1 to 11. If you worked the shift, those hours still feed:

• contractual pay under your agency terms;
• the NMW / NLW average for the pay reference period;
• later holiday pay calculations where relevant overtime or normal pay should have been included.

Worked example in GBP

You are 27, on an agency assignment paid £13.00 an hour. From April 2026 the NLW floor is £12.71, so the headline rate clears NMW if all hours are paid. In one week the hirer records 42 hours but the agency pays only 38, calling 4 hours "unofficial handover".

• paid: 38 x £13.00 = £494.00
• if 42 hours should count at the contractual £13.00: 42 x £13.00 = £546.00, shortfall £52.00
• NMW sense-check if only £494 were paid for 42 hours: £494 ÷ 42 ≈ £11.76, which is under £12.71

So the same fact pattern can be both a contractual wages issue and an NMW issue. After week 12, if a comparable direct recruit earns £15.50, equal treatment pay on 42 hours would be 42 x £15.50 = £651.00, a larger gap again. Keep the claims organised: unpaid hours, NMW floor, and AWR equal pay are related but not identical.

The statutory Code of practice on fair and transparent distribution of tips (in force from 1 October 2024) states that the Tipping Act applies to eligible agency workers. Employers (for agency workers: the hirer) must ensure qualifying tips at the place of business are allocated fairly between workers there, including agency workers and zero-hours staff mixed with permanent teams.

The code says agency workers should see the written tipping policy; after the hirer pays tips to the agency, the agency must pass them on without unauthorised deductions; agency queries carry equal weight; tip rights are enforceable in the tribunal; and tips must not make up NMW. If you were on shift when qualifying tips were taken but your line shows £0, ask for the policy and any tipping record you are entitled to see.

1. Write down assignment dates, week count toward 12 weeks, hours worked vs hours paid, comparator pay if known, and tip lines.
2. Ask the agency in writing for the pay calculation and, after 12 weeks, the equal treatment terms they applied.
3. Ask the hirer for timesheets, facility access issues, and the tipping policy if tips are in dispute.
4. Acas Early Conciliation before most tribunal claims. AWR claims go to employment tribunals under the Regulations' complaint routes; wages and tip claims have their own heads.
5. NMW: HMRC complaint or tribunal, generally choosing one route for the same underpayment (Acas NMW guidance).

Dual time-limit regime: most pay claims remain 3 months minus 1 day as at September 2026. From 1 October 2026, most claims become 6 months minus 1 day if the time limit starts on or after that date (Acas). Early Conciliation can pause the clock if you notify in time; internal grievances do not extend it. AWR time limits follow the Regulations' tribunal provisions: get advice on the exact trigger date for your complaint type.

• Waiting passively for the agency to "start equal pay" without tracking week 12 yourself.
• Assuming unpaid handovers are fine before week 12. NMW and contract still apply.
• Comparing yourself to the wrong permanent role after week 12 (substantively different job).
• Letting a break over 6 weeks or a substantively different role reset the clock unnoticed.
• Ignoring tips because "agency staff are not in the tronc". The code says eligible agency workers are in scope.
• Using tips to feel better about a sub-NMW average. Tips do not repair the NMW calculation.

Agency pay disputes need a week-by-week dossier: hours, rates, week-12 milestones, tips. Paye Mes Heures can help you assemble those figures before you email the agency, the hirer, or Acas. It is a preparation aid, not a decision on AWR status, and not a substitute for Acas, HMRC, legal advice or a tribunal.

Day-one rights, a 12-week equal treatment cliff edge, unpaid hours, and tips each have official rules. Count the weeks, count the hours, and keep agency and hirer responsibilities distinct.

• GOV.UK - Your rights as an agency worker: https://www.gov.uk/agency-workers-your-rights
• GOV.UK - Agency workers: equal treatment (including after 12 weeks): https://www.gov.uk/agency-workers-your-rights/your-rights-as-a-temporary-agency-worker
• Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (contents): https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/93/contents
• GOV.UK - Code of practice on fair and transparent distribution of tips: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/distributing-tips-fairly-statutory-code-of-practice/code-of-practice-on-fair-and-transparent-distribution-of-tips-html-version
• GOV.UK - National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
• Acas - Employment tribunal time limits: https://www.acas.org.uk/employment-tribunal-time-limits
• Acas - Agency workers: https://www.acas.org.uk/agency-workers