Agency Workers - Mind The Gap

The question of whether a person supplied by an agency to another business ("an end-user") can ever become an employee of that end-user has been considered by the appeal courts, most recently in the case of Muschett v HM Prison Service. The early cases indicated a willingness to imply a contract between the agency worker and an end user, where an examination of the relationship revealed features typical of an employee/employer relationship. However, the test which the Court of Appeal has favoured since the 2008 case of James v London Borough of Greenwich is one of "necessity". In that case, the Court of Appeal:

1. Confirmed that the mere passage of time will not result in an implied contractual relationship between the individual and the end-user.