Retail Sector AWR Impact

Impact of the Agency Workers Regulations on the Retail sector

The Retail sector is struggling in terms of smaller shops closing down.  Figures to be published by the British Independent Retailers Association will show that although the rapid rate of decline over the past two years has begun to slow, the estimated 330,000 stores operated by family firms and small businesses are still closing at a faster rate than shops are opening.

Despite this, spending on temporary agency labour within retail is beginning to increase in comparison to 2010.

Research by LDC for Bira indicated that in 2009, twice as many independent retailers closed as opened. In 2010, for every four independent retailers that closed, three opened, while this year, 3,400 have closed and 3,160 have opened. The gap is decreasing so there are signs of recovery; however the retail industry is still not yet as strong as it previously was.

The average number of weeks a temporary agency worker will work is more than twice the qualifying period of the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR). In some cases workers were on the same assignment for over three years. On average the same temporary agency worker will be supplied by more than one agency and work at various different locations.

Businesses need to find a way to keep a record of the length of time a temporary agency worker has been working for them, but they also need to ensure the same worker isn’t working at different sites or being provided by various agencies, as this will all contribute to the AWR 12 week qualifying period.