Agency Worker Pay Calculator

Agency workers in the UK have specific rights under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. From day one, agency workers are entitled to use shared facilities such as the canteen, gym, parking and transport, and to see the same notices about permanent vacancies as directly employed staff. After completing a 12-week qualifying period in the same role with the same hirer, they gain the right to equal pay and conditions as if they had been recruited directly. The regulations do not reach contractors working through their own personal service company, genuinely self-employed people, or, depending on how the arrangement is structured, some employees of umbrella companies.

Equal treatment after 12 weeks covers basic pay, overtime rates, holiday entitlement, rest periods, night work limits and access to collective facilities. It does not extend to occupational sick pay, pension schemes, redundancy pay or maternity leave beyond the statutory minimum, so a permanent colleague may still be materially better off overall. Anti-avoidance rules stop hirers resetting the clock by shuffling you between nominally different roles.

The qualifying period counts weeks worked in the same role for the same hirer, and gaps are treated differently depending on length. A break of under 6 weeks does not interrupt the count at all. A break of 6-28 weeks pauses it without resetting where the reason is one of the protected ones, such as sickness or parental leave. A break of 28 weeks or more resets the clock to zero. Ending an assignment for exactly 6 weeks in order to dodge the regulations is unlawful abuse and can be claimed against. Separately, some hirers use the Swedish Derogation opt-out, under which you are paid at least 50% of your last rate between assignments in exchange for an exemption from the equal pay rules.

This calculator estimates your pay and entitlements based on whether you have completed the qualifying period. Enter your hourly rate, the agency margin and your weekly hours to see take-home pay, and once past 12 weeks it shows what you should be earning if comparable permanent staff are paid more. The gap between what the hirer pays and what reaches you is usually larger than people expect. Agencies typically take 15-25% of the hirer's rate as commission, and an umbrella in the chain adds another 5-12% to cover employer NI, holiday accrual and the apprenticeship levy. A hirer paying £25 an hour might pay the umbrella £21, leaving you £17-£18 after deductions, which is why direct PAYE without an umbrella usually pays slightly better.

Temporary status does not remove the statutory floor. You accrue 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, 28 days pro rata for full-time hours, along with Statutory Sick Pay if you qualify, Statutory Maternity and Paternity Pay, and the minimum wage for every hour. The agency must give you a written statement of terms by day 1, a requirement added to the Employment Rights Act 1996 in April 2020. The abuses to watch for are rolled-up holiday pay, which is not permitted because holiday must be paid when you actually take the leave, sick pay being withheld, and statutory rights simply being denied in the hope you will not press the point.