The Agency Workers Regulations 12-Week Rule: How to Track It Per Assignment
Under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, an agency worker earns the same basic pay and conditions as a direct recruit once they've worked in the same role for the same hirer for 12 continuous calendar weeks. Those weeks can come from one assignment or several. The rule sounds simple. It's easy to get wrong, because the clock isn't just a count of weeks since the start date.
Here's how the weeks are counted, which breaks pause the clock and which reset it, and how agencies keep a reliable week-12 date for each worker at each hirer, alongside the other dates every placement brings.
12 weeks
continuous calendar weeks, same role, same hirer
6 weeks
a break of any kind up to this long pauses the clock
£60,000
top civil penalty per illegal worker
How the 12 weeks are counted
Regulation 7 counts calendar weeks, and any week with some work in it counts in full. A worker who does one shift on a Friday has used that week. The weeks can come from one assignment or several, as long as the role and the hirer stay the same.
A new role only restarts the count if the work is substantively different and the agency has told the worker in writing what the new role is. Move someone from one pick line to another in the same warehouse, doing much the same job, and nothing restarts.
Breaks that pause the clock
Some breaks don't reset the count. The clock stops during the break and starts again when the worker comes back. Regulation 7(8) lists them below. Pregnancy-related absence and maternity, adoption or paternity leave go further. Under regulation 7(6) the worker counts as still working for the planned length of the assignment, so those weeks add to the 12.
Breaks that pause, not reset, the qualifying period
- ✓
A break for any reason of up to 6 calendar weeks
- ✓
Sickness or injury, for up to 28 weeks
- ✓
Pregnancy and maternity in the protected period (these weeks also count as worked)
- ✓
Statutory or contractual leave (maternity, adoption and paternity leave also count as worked)
- ✓
Jury service, for up to 28 weeks
- ✓
The hirer's planned shutdowns, such as a Christmas or summer closure
- ✓
Strikes and lock-outs
Any other break wipes the slate. The weeks already worked don't carry forward, and the count starts again from zero.
⚠️The most common mistake is treating a pause as a reset. Say a worker has 10 weeks, takes 5 weeks off between assignments, then comes back to the same role at the same hirer. They reach week 12 after two more weeks, not twelve.
Why spreadsheets struggle with this
A spreadsheet can hold a start date and add 84 days. What it can't easily hold is the history that decides the real date. Which weeks had work in them? Was that gap sickness, or just a break between assignments? Did anyone tell the worker about the role change in writing? Many recruitment and payroll systems have AWR tracking built in. If you run one, let it do the sums.
What usually sits outside those systems is everything around the date. The consultant and the payroll team need to know week 12 is coming. Someone has to agree pay and conditions with the hirer before it arrives. And later, you'll want to find out who knew what, and when.
A practical tracking set-up
One record per worker per hirer
The 12 weeks belong to one worker, at one hirer, in one role. Keep a record for each of those combinations with the start date, the week-12 date and a note on any pausing breaks.
Reminders before week 12, not on it
Equal treatment has to be in place from the start of week 13. If you haven't got the comparator pay rate from the hirer by week 10, payroll is already squeezed. Remind the consultant at weeks 8, 10 and 11, and payroll at week 11.
Re-date the record when a pausing break happens
When a worker goes off sick or the hirer shuts for two weeks, push the week-12 date back by the length of the break and write down why. That note is what a tribunal or a client audit will ask to see.
The other dates in every placement
The 12-week rule is one clock among several that start when you place a worker:
Recurring dates for UK agency workers
| Item | Rule | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AWR qualifying period | 12 continuous calendar weeks, same role, same hirer | Pausing breaks under reg 7(8) |
| Right-to-work follow-up check | On or before the date time-limited permission expires | Statutory excuse lasts only until the expiry of the checked permission |
| Gangmasters licence | Valid one year; reminder 6 weeks before expiry | Now issued by the Fair Work Agency (formerly GLAA) |
| DBS Update Service | £15 a year; register within 30 days of issue | Employers can check status online with consent |
| Client-required qualifications | Per certificate | Copies must be obtained and offered to the hirer where a role legally requires them |
Right-to-work follow-up checks
If a worker's permission to work runs out on a set date, your statutory excuse runs out with it. You have to check again on or before that date. The civil penalty is up to £60,000 per illegal worker, and the Home Office code of practice starts at £45,000 for a first breach. From 1 October 2026, the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 brought workers, individual subcontractors and online matching (platform) services into the right-to-work rules. It also made businesses in a labour supply chain liable in some cases. How that hits a given agency deal depends on the contracts. Hirers are being told to ask agencies for proof of their checks, so have it ready.
The Fair Work Agency
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority closed on 7 April 2026. Its work, and that of the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, moved to the new Fair Work Agency. The FWA now issues gangmasters licences. Each lasts one year, and the FWA emails a reminder six weeks before expiry. Let a licence lapse and you must stop supplying workers in regulated sectors until you get a new one.
Qualifications the role requires
Regulation 22 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 covers roles that legally need a qualification or licence. The employment business must get copies and offer them to the hirer. Those documents, such as an SIA licence or a CSCS card, expire too.
How ExpiryEdge helps
ExpiryEdge holds each of these as a dated record against the worker. The consultant or compliance lead is named on it and gets reminders by email, SMS, WhatsApp, Slack or Teams. Workers upload renewed documents through a link, with no account to create. If a file is wrong or unreadable, you can reject just that one. The timestamped trail shows when each reminder went out and when each document came in. That's what a client or the Fair Work Agency will ask for. Read more on our temporary staffing compliance page.
ℹ️ExpiryEdge doesn't work out pay, and it doesn't replace the AWR engine in your payroll or recruitment system. It makes sure the week-12 date, the right-to-work follow-up and every certificate has an owner and a reminder, with proof that someone dealt with it.
Frequently asked questions
Under regulation 7(8): any break of up to 6 calendar weeks, sickness or injury up to 28 weeks, statutory or contractual leave, jury service up to 28 weeks, the hirer’s planned shutdowns, and strikes or lock-outs. Pregnancy and maternity breaks, and maternity, adoption or paternity leave, go further: those weeks count as worked. Other breaks reset the count.
Only if the new role is substantively different and the agency has informed the worker in writing of the new role. Moving someone to similar work with the same hirer does not restart the qualifying period.
On or before the date the worker’s time-limited permission to work expires. The statutory excuse only lasts until the expiry date of the permission you checked.
The Fair Work Agency, which took over the functions of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority on 7 April 2026. Licences are valid for one year, and a reminder is sent six weeks before expiry.
