No immediate repeal of AWR following Brexit White Paper

Recruiters hoping for an immediate repeal of Agency Worker Regulations (AWR) post-Brexit will be left disappointed following government’s publication of its White Paper on Brexit yesterday, employment lawyers say.

The European Union regulations that came into force back in October 2011 give temporary agency workers the same basic rights, after 12 weeks in the same assignment, as those on permanent contracts of employment in a comparable role.

A week ahead of the UK’s vote to leave the EU last June, lawyers told Recruiter Brexit would not result in an immediate repeal of European legislation such as the AWR.

And after looking at the White Paper, Dr Sybille Steiner, partner solicitor at law firm Irwin Mitchell, told Recruiter The Great Repeal Bill, referred to in the White Paper, will convert EU law derived from the European Communities Act into domestic law, meaning the same EU directives will continue to apply for now. This includes those directives concerning agency workers and working time until such time as the government decides which laws to keep, amend or repeal.

Christopher Tutton, partner at law firm Constantine Law, adds: “The Agency Workers Regulations are likely to stay unchanged on Brexit, though successive governments would be free to amend the AWR in the future.”

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