What rights will I be entitled to with AWR?

• Equal Pay to that of a comparable employee
• Commissions, bonuses and over time rates 
• Annual leave
• Night work
• Rest periods and breaks 
• Access to staff facilities; i.e. canteens, childcare schemes and transport
• The right to hear about vacant job opportunities 

What AWR doesn’t cover

• Pensions
• Redundancy payouts 
• Sick pay
• Loyalty schemes or long term-service rewards
• Any payment relating to maternity, paternity or adoption leave

Working out the AWR qualifying period

• The 12 week period is triggered when a temporary candidate works in the same job with the same body, that provides supervision and direction of staff, this varies depending on the type of education establishment.

• The week comprises of 7 days starting with the first day of the assignment, regardless of how many days or hours worked (minimum of 1 hour per week).

• The 12 week rule still applies if you work at the school through a different agency, you will still qualify. You must inform agencies and schools when this happens. 

The AWR Qualifying Clock

The regulations provide a number of circumstances where breaks in the assignment prevent you from qualifying the 12 week period.

Think of the qualifying period as a clock.  Gaps in assignments of over 6 weeks will mean the clock is reset to 0, paused or starts again depending on the reason for the break. 

1. Reasons the AWR clock resets to zero
A break between assignments, with the same school or role, of 6 weeks or more (excludes annual leave, maternity leave).

For the role to be classed as substantively different there must be a distinction in:

• Skills
• Pay
• line manager
• working hours
• Responsibility  

The teaching of different subjects is not classed as a role change

2. Reasons the clock is paused

The clock will be paused if you have a break:

• For less than 6 weeks
• Up to 28 weeks if you are off sick
• Annual leave you are entitled to