What Was the Swedish Derogation?
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 said temp workers should get equal pay after 12 weeks. But Regulation 10 created a loophole: agencies could pay less if they gave a small payment between jobs. In reality this meant thousands of workers earned hundreds of pounds less every month for doing the exact same work as permanent staff.
The BT Case
Around 2,000 agency workers at British Telecom (supplied by Manpower) were paid significantly less than permanent colleagues while handling 999 emergency calls. Many had no real choice — they had to accept the lower-pay contract or get no work at all.
How It Was Finally Stopped
After seven years of campaigning by the Communication Workers Union and the 2017 Taylor Review, the government abolished the Swedish Derogation on 6 April 2020. The change was estimated to cost hiring companies up to £380 million a year in higher wages.
What This Means Today
This scandal shows how small legal loopholes can create huge unfairness. Even big, well-known agencies used it. The good news is that when workers and unions push hard enough, bad rules can be changed.
Important:I lived through similar agency problems myself. That’s why I built Sprint — so you can see only serious agencies and apply faster, without falling into the same traps.