Many agency workers in the UK are earning less than the minimum wage because a growing number of employment agencies are illegally charging inflated transport, accommodation, clothing and meal costs to the temps on their books, according to a report published by the TUC today (Wednesday 23 February 2005).

‘Below the minimum: Agency workers and the minimum wage’ - published the week before the Council of Ministers is due to debate the European Temporary Agency Workers Directive - says that regulations which came into force in 2003 to protect agency workers from exploitation by unscrupulous employment agencies are doing little to prevent abuse, particularly that of migrant workers.

The TUC report says that dodgy agencies are routinely making deductions for cashing pay cheques, for transport, and for providing clothing and safety equipment, to such an extent that the hourly rate for many agency workers falls to well below the legal minimum of £4.85 set down by the minimum wage.

Under minimum wage legislation, agency workers have a right to bring complaints against an employment agency if they believe they are being charged unfairly for accommodation or other items. However, because many workers remain unaware of their rights and are terrified of losing their jobs and their accommodation, most stay silent. For the same reasons, the DTI’s Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate receives few complaints, says the TUC report.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The current regulations which are designed to protect agency workers from abuse at the hands of rogue agencies are clearly doing nothing of the sort. Agency workers deserve a better deal than many of them are getting at the moment. Vulnerable workers need protection and the Government should give its full support to the European Directive so that the legal standing of UK agency workers is improved.'

‘Below the minimum: Agency workers and the minimum wage’ argues that the EU Directive would create a climate where it would become much more difficult for unscrupulous employment agencies to break the law at the expense of vulnerable agency workers. The Directive would also give agency workers improved job security, pay, working time, holiday and maternity rights.

In ‘Below the minimum: Agency workers and the minimum wage’, the TUC is calling on the UK Government to:

Honour its commitment to support the principle of the EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive and seek an early agreement on the Directive with other EU Member States;

Withdraw from the coalition - currently consisting of the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Malta - that is blocking progress on the Directive;

Increase the resources available to DTI inspectors so that any agency flouting the law can be prosecuted successfully.