What Is a Pay Between Assignments Contract?
A PBA contract paid agency workers between jobs in return for an AWR equal-pay exemption. The exemption ended on 6 April 2020.
A pay between assignments (PBA) contract was a permanent contract of employment between an agency worker and a temporary work agency, under which the agency promised to pay the worker in the gaps between assignments. It was the arrangement behind the Swedish derogation: in return, regulation 10 of the original Agency Workers Regulations 2010 switched off the equal-treatment right in regulation 5 so far as it related to pay. Other equal conditions, such as working time and annual leave, still applied after the 12-week qualifying period.
The contract had to be entered into before the first assignment and set out in writing the rate of pay or how it was calculated, the likely locations, expected, maximum and minimum hours, and the nature of the work. It also had to state that the worker had no regulation 5 pay rights while it lasted. Between assignments the agency had to take reasonable steps to find suitable work, propose the worker for it, and pay a minimum amount set by regulation 11: at least 50% of the worker's basic pay in their best-paid pay reference period (in the last 12 weeks of the previous assignment, or during it if it was 12 weeks or shorter), and never less than the national minimum wage for the hours worked in that reference period.
The exemption ended on 6 April 2020. The Agency Workers (Amendment) Regulations 2019 omitted regulations 10 and 11 for every contract, existing and new. PBA contracts were not converted or cancelled: the employment contract carried on, and only the pay exemption fell away. For each contract in force on that date, the agency had to give the worker a written statement by 30 April 2020 saying that the original statement no longer had effect and that the worker was entitled to equal pay after completing the qualifying period.
No agency can rely on a PBA contract to avoid equal pay today. Every agency worker in England, Wales and Scotland who completes the qualifying period is entitled to it; the AWR 12-week rule guide explains how that period is counted.