New rules come into effect this autumn to safeguard the working rights of temporary workers. 

But are employers ready for the legislative changes and who will actually benefit from them? The new legislation will protect temporary staff from being exploited as cheap labour and it follows lengthy debates between unions and employers on whether temporary staff should be afforded the same benefits and rights as permanent employees.

In line with an EU directive, a high-profile compromise was agreed between the CBI, TUC and BIS which will work to offer greater protection to temporary workers

Which is believed to comprise around 1.5 million people in the UK. The objective of the changes will be to bring parity of rights between temporary workers employed by agencies and those permanent staff employed directly by businesses.

In practice, this means that after twelve weeks in one role with the same employer, the temporary worker will be fully entitled to parity of basic pay with staff who are directly employed by the business. 

This will include extra entitlements and the hourly rate, along with other working conditions. They will also benefit from 'day one rights', which will begin when their assignment does and include access to staff canteens, childcare, transport and the right to be kept up to date about permanent roles being advertised within the business.

However, some are concerned that the new rules will create extra bureaucracy and work, particularly within agencies. And others are keen to avoid an impact on the flexible nature of temporary staff and see this market shrink.

A report by REC shows that flexible staffing is predicted to remain an economic growth linchpin, however, so these concerns may be unfounded as businesses seek to take on extra temporary workers'rather than commit to further permanent roles in the ongoing challenging economic climate. 

Industry confidence does seem to be increasing slowly and the benefits of a flexible workforce are becoming more widely valued. Experience shows thattemporary workers' are often shed first during the difficult times, but taken back the most speedily when growth returns again.

The rules may also provide a welcome opportunity for all businesses to review their employee policies in general and ensure that they are up to date with requirements. Some businesses will have hundreds of agency workers on their staffing lists, some of which may have been there for many years. For such businesses, it will be time to take stock and decide how they wish to make changes to comply with the new rules.