Agency Workers Regulations and the 12-week rule
After 12 weeks in the same job, an agency worker qualifies for the same basic pay and conditions as someone hired directly. Checked against GOV.UK on 23 October 2026. Shiftbrook does not count those 12 weeks.
Who counts as an agency worker
GOV.UK says you are an agency worker if you have a contract with an agency but you work temporarily for a hirer. That includes a recruitment agency or a temp agency. You are also covered if you look for work through an entertainment or modelling agency. You are not an agency worker if you use an agency only to find permanent or fixed-term employment. If it is unclear, Acas is the place GOV.UK points to. This page is a plain-English summary, not advice on a particular contract.
From the day the work starts, the person has a worker’s employment rights, and the same access as permanent colleagues to shared facilities the hirer provides: a canteen, a creche, parking, or transport between sites. Those day-one rights are not the 12-week equal treatment rights. They are earlier, and they are about the workplace, not the rate.
What changes after 12 weeks
After 12 weeks in the job the person qualifies for the same rights as someone employed directly. GOV.UK calls this equal treatment. The list on the page checked on 23 October 2026 is equal pay, meaning the same pay as a permanent colleague doing the same job, automatic pension enrolment, and paid annual leave. Count the 12 weeks from the first day at work. The weeks do not have to be consecutive. Some leave counts, and some breaks pause the clock.
Do not count a break of 6 weeks or less, sickness or injury for up to 28 weeks, annual leave the person is entitled to, a workplace closure such as Christmas or industrial action, or jury service for up to 28 weeks. Those pause the qualifying period. Pregnancy, and up to 26 weeks after childbirth, adoption leave and paternity leave do not pause it. If that leave is longer than 12 weeks, GOV.UK says the person qualifies for equal treatment when they return. The clock starts again for a new job at a different workplace, a break of more than 6 weeks at the same workplace, or a role that is substantively different: different skills or new training, a different pay rate, a different location, or different hours.
What Shiftbrook does with this
Nothing automatic. The rota shows the shifts you publish at a client site. The clock records that the person was at the pin. The client approves the hours and the agency locks them. None of that is a 12-week counter, and none of it decides equal pay. Who the employer is, and whether the 12 weeks have run, is the contract and the calendar you keep. Do not treat a published week as proof that equal treatment has started.
The agencies page is the product. The working time guide is the separate limit on hours. The umbrella guide is the PAYE position from 6 April 2026. How to start a staffing agency is the practical sequence, and it does not pretend this product issues a Key Information Document.
Questions
Does Shiftbrook count the 12 weeks?
No. It records shifts, clock-ins and approved hours. The 12-week qualifying period is yours to track.
Does a break reset the 12 weeks?
A break of 6 weeks or less pauses the count. A break of more than 6 weeks at the same workplace starts it again, on the GOV.UK page checked on 23 October 2026.
Does approving a timesheet make the client the employer?
No. Approval agrees the hours. Employment status is the contract.
Sources
- GOV.UK, When you are an agency worker, checked 23 October 2026
- GOV.UK, Equal treatment, checked 23 October 2026
Agencies · Working time · Umbrella companies · Key Information Document