AWR FAQs for Schools
A quick guide to the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) and what they mean for you when booking Educators through Opogo. For the full legal detail, see Agency Workers Regulations 2010: guidance - GOV.UK and DofE Guidance
1. Understanding AWR
What is AWR?
- AWR stands for the Agency Workers Regulations 2010. In simple terms, it's the law that says an agency worker who's been in the same role, at the same school, for 12 weeks becomes entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as if you'd hired them directly yourself.
How is the qualifying period calculated?
- The 12 weeks are counted in calendar weeks, any week where the Educator works at least one day counts towards the total, even if it's just a single day.
For example, if an Educator covers, 1 day a week at your school, each of those weeks still counts, so 12 individual Mondays over 12 weeks reaches AWR just the same as one full time 12-week block
What is the Educator entitled to before and after the 12-week period?
- From day one, regardless of the 12-week clock, an Educator is entitled to access the same facilities as your permanent staff (e.g. staffroom, car parking, canteen) and to be told about any relevant vacancies at your school.
After 12 weeks, they become entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as a permanent member of staff doing the same job would receive, including matching pay scale, and equivalent working hours and holiday entitlement.
Why AWR matters?
- We believe educators we place deserve to be paid fairly. Most agencies often charge a percentage of salary, we charge a fixed service fee, so we have no financial interest in what a candidate earns. When an educator reaches their 12-week qualifying period, we ensure their pay is uplifted to exactly what they're entitled to under AWR.
We work closely with our schools to keep them protected. AWR places a legal obligation on schools to provide accurate information about comparable permanent staff pay and we'll guide you through everything we need. This matters, because if it goes wrong, a school can be held liable for all back pay owed plus an award of up to £5,000 per worker.
We're here to make sure it never gets to that point.
2. Pay Scales & Comparators
We're an Academy, so we can set our own pay scale for teachers, how does AWR affect us?
Academies aren't automatically bound by the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) in the way-maintained schools are, and many academies set their own pay policies. But AWR doesn't care which pay policy you use, it simply asks: what would a permanent teacher, with this level of experience, doing this exact job at your school actually be paid? Whatever that figure is under your own policy becomes the number the Educator is entitled to once they hit 12 weeks.
They're working for us as a Supply Teacher with no planning or marking involved (for example PPA cover), do we still need to pay them on the M Scale?
Not necessarily. AWR compares the Educator to whoever would genuinely be doing that same work as a permanent member of staff, so if the role is specifically day-to-day cover with no planning or marking responsibilities, the fairer comparison is often to a cover supervisor rate, not a full teaching rate. What matters is that the comparison reflects the real duties involved, and that you can explain how you reached that figure if asked.
3. Continuity & Clock Resets
Does the AWR clock pause or reset?
Not every break affects the clock in the same way:
Paused but not reset (accrued weeks are saved and resume on return)
- Breaks under 6 weeks pause the clock, it resumes upon return
- Sickness or injury pauses the clock up to a max of 28 weeks
- Maternity pauses the clock until they return (no upper limit)
- Paternity leave pauses the clock until they return (no upper limit)
- Jury Service pauses the clock until they return (no upper limit)
- School holidays, school closures or industrial action
Resets the clock (back to zero)
- Breaks of over 6 weeks, unless due to the protected reasons above
- There was a substantial role change
Does moving the Educator to a different class or year group reset the clock?
No, if they're still at your school doing broadly the same kind of role, moving them between classes or year groups doesn't reset anything. The clock tracks continuity of the role at your school, not the specific timetable.
If they're entitled to AWR at one school, can we book them at their previous rate at another school in our Trust or Local Authority?
No, the qualifying period carries over, so the Educator would keep the entitlement they'd already built up.
What if the Educator previously worked at our school directly, not through an agency, does that count?
Previous time spent in the same or a very similar role at your school is worth mentioning to Opogo, since it may count towards continuity even if it happened outside an agency arrangement.
What if the Educator was already building up time toward AWR with a different agency at our school before moving to Opogo?
Yes, this counts too, AWR tracks the Educator's time in the role at your school, not which agency happened to place them there. If you're aware of prior placements through another agency, please let us know so we can factor that in.
4. Compliance & Liability
What happens if an Applicant isn't paid in line with AWR, and who's liable?
Both the agency and the school can be held responsible, depending on where the failure sits.
Can we replace the Applicant with someone else because we can't afford the AWR uplift?
You're free to end a placement and bring in someone new, that's a legitimate staffing decision. What you can't do is use that as a routine way to avoid ever paying the uplift, for example by swapping Educators out right before they reach 12 weeks and repeating the pattern. That kind of pattern is exactly what the anti-avoidance rules are designed to catch, and it can carry its own penalties.
What if the Educator says they're happy with their current rate and want to stay in the same role?
Unfortunately, AWR entitlement can't be waived, even with the Educator's agreement, so the placement either needs to move to the correct rate or come to an end. There's no version where they can simply opt out.
5. Process & Recordkeeping
AWR Process
Opogo tracks the AWR clock as standard for every candidate. That said, we rely on you to flag anything we might not otherwise be aware of, for example: prior placements at your school.
Before a candidates AWR clock hits 12 weeks, we will send you an email requesting information for comparator pay and conditions and uplift the candidates pay if required in line with the information you have provided from the day the candidate hits 12 weeks or end the placement we don’t recieve this information.
What records do we need to keep?
It's good practice to keep a record of the comparator pay information you've provided for each role, and who confirmed it, in case it's ever queried later.
Have a question that isn't covered here? Get in touch with your Opogo team and we'll be happy to help.
