Businesses may be put off using agency workers after a Court of Appeal case increased uncertainty about whether or not temps are employees of the firms using them.

Rada Kemp, senior employment solicitor at law firm Trowers and Hamlins, said the case of SP Bunce v Postworth could lead to agency workers claiming unfair dismissal against end users.

The case failed to clarify temps’ employment position and this could add weight to other judgements that have argued that the end user could be the temp’s employer.

In the case, a temp argued unsuccessfully that the agency was her employer. The judges’ decision suggested that if she had appealed that the end-user business was the employer, she may have succeeded.