Abolition of the Swedish derogation exemption

In a major victory for trade unions, the Swedish derogation exemption was abolished from 6 April 2020. There was widespread abuse of these provisions. It was clear that these contracts were rarely, if ever, entered into at a worker’s request.

The “Swedish derogation” was found in regulation 10 of the AWR (now repealed). Regulation 10, AWR removed the right to equal pay (not equal holiday and working time rights) for qualifying arrangements. Specifically, there had to be a permanent contract with pay between assignments (at least 50% of the pay for the last assignment or the National Minimum Wage for the hours of the last assignment, whichever was greater).

Since 6 April 2020, all agency workers are entitled to the same pay as a permanent employee of the hirer after twelve weeks in the same role with the same hirer.