Can agency or temporary workers claim compensation after an accident at work?

By Ian Morris | Updated June 22nd, 2023

98 questions have been answered on this subject - ask us your question

Temporary or agency employed persons often ask us whether they have the same rights if they are injured at work as full-time or contracted staff members. In simple terms, the answer is yes, they do, and can pursue a no win no fee claim for compensation just like their full-time, contracted colleagues. It also does not matter whether you still work for the employer, you can make a claim for any accident at work if the injuries sustained were a result of employer negligence.

Many of those working on temporary contracts or via agencies are not given the correct training, risk assessment or support and hence are in fact more likely to be injured at work. It’s important to remember that employers have responsibilities, and these cover full-time, part-time and temporary agency staff working for them.

Who do you claim against, the agency or the employer?

After an accident, agency workers can be unsure who is responsible for looking after them and who they can make a claim for compensation against. All employees are governed by the same health and safety at work regulations, though if you work through an agency, there are potentially two parties responsible for your injuries. Generally speaking, the business for whom you were working at the time of an accident rather than the agency who provide you the job, is the party against whom a claim will be made. However, there could also be some liability against the agency. Therefore, it is wise to ensure that you report your accident to both parties.

The employer you are sent to has responsibility to ensure you are properly and safely inducted in to the workplace and provided with the necessary training and guidance to work safely. Agency workers should also have knowledge of company procedures, how to access support and how to report any incidents and where to seek first aid assistance, for example. Employers have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which to work and as a worker, your responsibility is to follow the working practices and safety training guidance provided to you.

If you are an agency or temporary worker and you have been injured in an accident at work because your employer has not provided you with the right training, or failed to ensure that you could work safely with the correct PPE to minimise the risk of injury, we can help you make a claim.

What agency workers should do after an accident at work

Agency staff should follow the same steps after an accident at work as their permanently employed colleagues. Decent employers should already have steps in place to ensure that you can properly record and report any accident in the correct manner. Of course, when you are working under the placement of a 3rd party employment agency, you should also report your accident to them as well. Just ask for the accident book and ensure that the details are recorded fully and in your words.

It is also important that medical attention should be sought for any injuries sustained so you have evidence on record. One of the major benefits of making a claim is the possibility of accessing excellent rehab therapies to speed your return to work and get back to normality. Our specialist solicitors will look to obtain such treatments for claimants if possible. Such rehab can include physiotherapy, massage therapy, osteopathy and many other kinds of intervention.

Claiming sick pay and lost income

Like any employee, agency workers are worried about losing their income whilst they are unable to work and want advice from us about this. Sadly, it is common practice for many workers, not just agency workers, that they do not receive sickness pay and therefore have to survive on Statutory Sickness Pay (SSP). With this in mind, it is important to make a claim for accident at work compensation as part of the settlement will include all lost income (the difference between SSP and the usual take home pay) during their absence from work.

With an agency or temp position, it can be harder to prove the length of time a position would have been available for, and therefore how much wages would be lost, compared to a permanent employee. However, Solicitors are well versed in the pursuit of lost earnings when claiming compensation and will ensure that all possible routes to recovering income – both past and future – are explored.

How Direct2Compensation can help

At Direct2Compensation we know your rights and can help any agency or temporary worker to start a no win no fee claim after an accident at work. We can help ensure the details of your accident at work have been properly reported and recorded in the workplace where the incident happened and also with the agency who have provided your services. If the cause of the accident was not your fault but because of employer negligence, Direct2Compensation and our solicitor partners are likely to succeed with your claim for personal injury compensation. We make sure that our claimants know how to maximise their claim and get a fair and just settlement.

If you are an agency worker or temporary member of staff who has been injured in an accident at work, or if you are looking in to this for someone who has, you should contact us today to find out more. Call us on 01225 430285, or if you prefer, . We’ll find out more about your situation and advise you as to whether or not we feel you have a viable claim for accident at work compensation.

98 questions have been answered on this subject - ask us your question

Comments & Questions

Read on for questions and advice about claiming, plus agency worker claim examples...

My son works for an agency he had a bad accident at work which he said was his fault he was driving a crane missed a log steel which landed on his legs he has had an operation and is still in hospital where does he stand claiming benefits?

For claiming benefits, he really needs to speak to the Benefits Agency as they will be able to advise him as to what he is or is not entitled to – of course, he could seek advice and support from the Citizens Advice Bureau too.

We could certainly look at whether or not he could claim compensation against the employer on the grounds of negligence. Your Son should not be so quick to say it was his fault as whilst he may feel responsible, we may well be able to identify ways in which the employer could have ensure that the accident could not happen.

We would be very happy to chat with you/him on the phone regarding this so that we could give him a better view as to his situation and possible options going forward.

I work for a temp agency and where I am working it involved using an old commercial dishwasher. On a couple of occasions the dishwasher had flooded the kitchen and I have had a couple of near misses with injury as the only option is for me to clean the floor with dish towels on my hands and knees.

Bank in October I had a small slip and near miss with injuring myself and I requested that I have the use of a mop in the Kitchen. This was ignored.

One month later the kitchen had flooded again, this time however when getting up from cleaning the floors with a dish cloth I slipped backwards and landed flat on my back. This caused allot of pain at the time and I am still having issues a week later. At the time of the incident I reported it to my employment agency and the company I was temping for. My employment agency did ask how I was and advised me not to go to work if I was unfit as a result of the injury. The company who I work for has totally ignored the incident, despite being warned a month prior of the potential for an incident. They also have not done anything to rectify the problem or supply me with PPE. The other issue being I have to clean the toilets without any sort of PPE like gloves etc.

My question is I was told as a Temp even if it was a work injury I would loose pay if I did not work, is this true. Also does the company, not the agency, have a duty of care towards ensuring I am working in a safe environment. Clearly the accident was a result of their negligence as this has been previously reported to them. They current feel it is not their problem and to date despite repeated requests for the mop and reporting my back is still causing problems they have not enquired to see if I am ok. I try to bring it up and the contact (Manager) I have just ignores me and changes the subject.

I am also not happy that I am being forced to clean toilets without the correct PPE. Surely they are responsible for this. From what I have been able to find so far this does appear to be the case. http://www.hse.gov.uk/vulnerable-workers/agency-temporary-workers.htm

It should also be pointed out that apart from Emergency Procedures I have had zero training from this company as to OH&S or anything for that matter. I now the agency has also continuously attempted to get the company to supply me a mop and PPE but still nothing eventuates. They just say we have passed your concerns on.

I want to ensure that this company is held accountable and it does not happen again to either myself or any other person who is employed under a temporary contract. As mentioned from my understanding it is the employer who is responsible to both the temporary worker and the employment agency to ensure a safe working environment and also to ensure appropriate training.

On the basis of what you have said, I would suggest that the circumstances that lead to your accident at work can be directly attributed to employer negligence and that you would have a good prospect of succeeding with a claim for compensation should you opt to pursue the same.

Although you are working as a ‘temp’, you are still afforded the same employee rights as any permanent member of staff and the usual health and safety rules apply to your situation. In this case, you have put the employer on notice of a possible hazard and that this could be resolved by the provision of a mop and bucket. Unfortunately, the employer has elected not to provide this and as a result, you have had a nasty fall. I would argue that you have a strong prospect of succeeding with a claim in this circumstance.

You mention that you will not get paid if you can’t work because of this injury. Sadly, it is likely that you will not able to claim any ‘sick’ pay if you can’t work. Certainly nearly all temporary workers receive no sickness pay as do many permanent employees also. Whilst this is not good news, what I can say is that if you did opt to pursue a claim for compensation you may be able to recover any lost income. Should you make a claim and succeed, you can claim compensation for the injuries you have sustained and you can also pursue a special damages claim to recover any lost income and other expenses caused as a result of your injuries.

Direct2Compensation would be more than happy to assist you with this matter should you wish to make a claim for compensation. Indeed, if you would like our help with this or even just want to discuss things in greater detail we’re here to help.

If at work while being in a temporary job through an agency and you have an accident, you can claim for injuries but can you also claim for the time you had off work due to the accident?

Hello

This is a really good question and one that many agency workers ask us about when they contact us to start a claim for accident at work compensation.

Agency workers are afforded the same rights as someone working on a permanent contract basis. With this in mind, if someone is injured in an accident at work as a result of negligence whilst working via an agency, they are entitled to claim compensation for their injuries and also for their losses.

With regards to losses, this would be what is known as special damages. Special damages claims include lost income, expenses and any costs caused by the injuries and accident. In the case of an agency worker, they would be entitled to claim any income lost whilst they recovered – if of course, they succeed with their claim for accident at work compensation.

Hello I had a accident at work Tuesday just gone, I work has a temporary retail assistance and I fell over a pallet that was in the warehouse and my back has been painful am off work in severe pain I wen to the doctors and they gave me pain killers which are not working am needing to go docters again to see if they have anything stronger, we have pallets in the warehouse and yellow markings up towards were they should go the one I fell over was over the yellow lines near the exit door ,just wondering if I would be able to claim?
Kind regards

We are more than happy to investigate your accident further with a view to pursuing a no win no fee claim for compensation for the injuries you sustained whilst at work. To succeed with a claim, we’ll need to demonstrate that there has been some negligence on the part of the employer and that they are therefore, responsible for causing the accident and liable for the injuries you have sustained. It sounds like we can do this given the location of the pallet and it being outside of the markings that it should be inside of.

So that we can properly assess the viability of making a claim for compensation on your behalf, we’ll need to speak with you and ask a few questions about your job, the training you’ve had, where the pallet was and whether there is an accident book entry relating to this accident.

I applied for a job Transline agency was advertising for parcel force. I was told briefly about my duties and asked if I could start ASAP. I replied yes and within 2days i was asked to start a night shift. I was greeted by the man in charge at Parcelforce who explained my duties briefly and showed me the fire exits. I was then asked to start work with an experience member of staff who would show me the ropes. I did what I was told and started unloading parcels from very large lorry’s, I found the work very hard and when i tried to gain advice from the staff member in charge of me I was told to just hurry up. After 6hrs of work I could not do no more, my back was hurting and all my shoulder and arm. I was told by another agency member who had observed me working that i had been lifting all wrong and asked if i had any manual handling training before I started work which i replied No. I left my shift early and sought medical advice who confirmed i had tendentious in my shoulder and arm and hurt my lower back, both are due to the fact i was lifting heavy items and incorrectly. I would now like to claim compensation but have been told by both Transline and Parcelforce that they are not responsible for manual handling training. Please can you advise who is legally responsible?

Firstly, from what you have said, I feel that you have a claim worthy of further consideration and we would be very happy to assist you.

As you work for an agency, there are potentially two parties responsible for your injuries. However, our view would be that Parcel Force (the workplace that you were sent to by Transline) has responsibility to ensure that you are properly and safely inducted in to the workplace and provided with the necessary training, guidance and advice to work safely. Employers have a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which to work and as a worker, your responsibility is to follow the working practices and safety training guidance provided to you.

If you were not provided with manual handling training and subsequently sustained an injury caused by lifting items, it is quite possible that your employer could be held liable for the injuries you sustained.

As with all injuries caused at work, it is important that you make sure that the details of your injuries and the cause have been properly recorded and reported within the workplace. Therefore, you should record the details of your injuries with both the Transline Agency and also at the workplace. To do this, you could request that the details are entered in to an accident book or if this is not available or allowed, you should email or write to the two parties outlining what happened to you and the lack of manual handling training.

I work in the construction site on temporary contract through an agency like an electrician’s mate and in 10.11.2015 I was involved in an accident at work. I was caught right index finger by the drill bit in the hole by my coworker and I have a bad injury. I will need surgery on my finger to repair and I will not be able to work. I call my agency to tell them about the accident and nobody answer to my call, after I text them and I receive next day from them a text:’Don’t worry are you ok’ and but still now no call from them, what should I do?

I am really sorry to hear about your accident, it sounds like a very nasty, painful injury. You mention that you are likely to need surgery and will therefore certainly be off work for a while and given that you are an agency worker, I would imagine that you will not receive payment whilst you cannot work. To this end, I feel that you should put in a claim with us.

You have taken the right steps in reporting the accident both on site and with the agency and whilst making a claim for compensation won’t immediately see you receive the money that you will be missing through lost wages, a successful claim would eventually see your losses covered and compensation paid for the pain, discomfort and distress of your injury. You can read more about finger injury claims and settlement amounts if you’d like to.

Good evening

I am a worker with Hays Specialist Recruitment Agency contracted out to a supported housing provider. I have been working in this capacity since February this year in a Homeless Hostel in Somerset and more recently in one of the provider’s supported move-on projects in Somerset. My role as Support Coordinator involves supporting people who have been homeless. I work with vulnerable people who have a range of support needs.

On Tuesday 4th November 2015 I was working at one of the projects and was bitten on the hand by a dog that was staying with one of the residents. I was posting a letter through the letterbox and there was a dog the other side. Residents are not permitted to have pets in their accommodation. I received emergency medical treatment and reported the incident appropriately. The injury is such that I can’t drive or use my left hand until it has healed suitably and I’ve had to cancel booked shifts at both projects. The injury is having some considerable impact on my day to day activities and, of course, my income.

My concern is that its not really clear who is accountable in this instance. I feel I should be compensated in some shape or form even if its just some sort of sick pay to make up for lost earnings. I don’t want to make any kind of direct personal claim to the client (or the dog!) as there was absolutely no malice involved and the clients I work with are vulnerable. It just wouldn’t be appropriate or sit well with me to put them through it.

Ultimately the organisation I’m working for as an Agency/Temp/Flexi worker, whatever I am to them, knew that clients/residents were keeping pets in their properties against project rules and their tenancies and there was a lacksadaisical approach to this by management which ultimately resulted in me sustaining this injury. My line managers are aware of the situation but we haven’t had a conversation about my financial concerns.

I would be grateful for your thoughts on this matter.

Regards

Kath

Thank you for taking the time to comment on our site, your issue and the conundrum in which you find yourself is clearly not a nice one.

Firstly, I hope that your injury settles quickly and that you make a speedy and full recovery. Injuries such as those sustained when a dog bites are nasty, sore and painful, so I hope you are not in too much discomfort.

Regarding your situation, I can confirm that agency & temporary workers have the same rights in terms of making a claim against an employer as staff who are on a permanent contract with company. Therefore, you can certainly attempt to make a claim for compensation against your employers and the business for whom you have been working for via the agency. We would gladly help you find out a little more and can link you with a specialist solicitor with whom you can discuss your situation and know a little more about your rights. We have experience of handling dog bite claims and have managed to succeed on a number of occasions. However, succeeding with a compensation claim after a dog bite injury is not always easy as there can be quite a bit of work to do to prove that someone or an organisation has been negligent and therefore liable for the incident.

I fully understand your feelings about not wishing to claim against the dog owner (or the dog!) – you are right, they are vulnerable and clearly in need of support. Further, if they have been allowed or not prevented from keeping dogs in their accommodation because someone has turned a blind eye, the liability rests elsewhere. To be honest, it would be most unlikely that you would be able to claim against the dog owner anyway as it is highly likely that they would have no funds with which to compensate you and no insurance cover in place.

On the basis of what you have said, it would appear that the employer/agency may have been negligent towards your safety by failing to implement their policies and enforce rules about animals in the accommodation. If it can be demonstrated that there was a lackadaisical and irresponsible approach to the safety and management of the workplace by the employer, you may well be able to succeed with making a claim for compensation.

Given the situation in which you find yourself – injured, unable to drive, work or lead a normal life for the time being, I believe that you should certainly attempt to make a claim for compensation.

I work in construction through an agency on a temporary contract.

Recently suffered a broken leg after a pretty serious fall. Scaffolding was wet and I slipped…

Now looking to find out what I’m entitled to exactly. The agency is my employer but the construction company is responsible for health and safety on site right?

Where do I go to and who should look after me now that I can’t work?

Many of the more ‘dangerous’ workplaces (such as construction sites and manufacturing plants) use a high number of agency workers – people employed by a 3rd party agency, but working on another companies site or premises. In cases where these workers are injured in an accident at work – such as your construction site accident – many agency workers don’t know where to go to get help or who is responsible for looking after them. Further, many people are not sure who they can make a claim for compensation against.

In most cases, agency workers are worried about losing their income whilst they are unable to work and want advice from us about this. Sadly, it is common practice for many workers, not just agency workers, that they do not receive sickness pay and therefore have to survive on Statutory Sickness Pay (SSP). With this in mind, it is important to make a claim for compensation as part of an accident at work compensation settlement will include a special damages claim – covering all lost income (the difference between SSP and the usual take home pay) during their absence from work.

Regarding who is responsible for your accident and therefore liable in any claim you decide to make for personal injury compensation, it is likely to rest with the company that own or manage the site on which you were working at the time of your accident. They would be responsible for ensuring your safety on site and should have done all they can to make the scaffolding as safe as possible. However, there could also be some liability against the agency who are your employer. Therefore, it is wise to ensure that you report your accident in the construction site accident book and also with your agency employer. For more information, have a look at how to report your accident to the right people.