The agency workers will be included in a prohibition of zero “operators” contracts in the context of ammunition in the government’s reform bill, includes the BBC.
The new rules will mean that agency workers will have to be offered a contract guaranteeing a minimum number of hours per week.
This is one of the many additions to the bill on employment rights that will be described on Tuesday.
While the unions have welcomed the inclusion of the workers of the agency in the ban, the Confederation of Recruitment and Employment (REC), which represents the sector, said that the change should not “undermine” flexibility “that zero hour contracts offer to certain workers.
The workers of the agency who choose to be on zero hour contracts will also be made eligible for compensation if their work quarters are changed in the short term, it is included.
Although the modifications will not denounce what “short notice” means.
There are about one million agency staff in the United Kingdom, working in areas such as warehouses, hospitality and NHS.
The government of labor undertook last year to prohibit “zero hours operating contracts” within the framework of the bill on employment rights.
The minimum hours offered in a contract to the workers of the agency will be calculated according to the average number of hours they work normally.
The BBC understands that the government has not yet decided if it will be based on a reference period of 12 weeks or more.
The unions have campaigned so that the workers of the agency were included in legislative changes to prevent employers from going around the proposed rules of zero in the hiring of agency staff.
Paul Novak, secretary general of the unions’ congress, said that the government was right to fill this “gap”.
He said that workers from the agency “constitute a significant proportion of zero workforce and also need protections against bad work practices”.
But the REC said he was concerned about change.
Its deputy director general, Kate Shoesmith, said that people chose agency work “for the flexibility he offers at one point and at a stage of their lives” and that the new rules should not undermine this.
She added that time should be given “to ensure that legislative changes are not conflict with existing and hard protections for agency workers”.
The REC “would continue to work with the government to ensure this,” she said.
The BBC understands that the government will table 250 amendments on Tuesday.
They will include the doubling of the penalty imposed on companies that engage in so -called “fire and rehtling” practices.
This means that if they fail to consult the employees properly before rejecting, then rehiring them on less favorable conditions, they could be forced to pay the worker 180 days of compensation in relation to the current payment of 90 days.
Changes also contain a commitment to prolong sickness remuneration to workers who earn less than £ 123 per week from the first day of their illness.
They will be entitled to 80% of their average weekly profits or their statutory salary – which is currently £ 116.75 per week – the lowest.
Currently, to qualify for statutory health remuneration, a worker has been sick for three days in a row.
There will also be changes in the rules concerning the recognition of unions and the capacity of unions to take industrial measures.
The government proposes that workers will have to give their employers 10 days of warning of any strike action – rather than the notice of 14 days existing.
Currently, there may be a ballot for union recognition if 10% of the workforce is a member of a union.
The government had consulted on lowering it to 2%, but the proposed amendment will not indicate a figure and will simply give the Secretary of State the power to reduce the 10%threshold.
Novak said that changes concerned “the creation of a modern economy that works for workers and business” and that the conduct of standards “will prevent good employers from being undermined by bad, and will mean that more workers will benefit from a union voice”.
Several groups of companies have criticized the government for not having provided more details on the functioning of legislation in practice.
It is unlikely that they will be satisfied by what is in the amendments.
Craig Beaumont, Executive Director of the Federation of Small Businesses, said that “whoever hoping to see the government is seriously going back to the concerns of small employers seem to be disappointed at the moment”.
He said: “There is a huge gulf between the declared objectives of this bill and the negative impact of the real world on jobs and growth.”
