The European Commission could reconsider regulations demanding equal pay for temp workers in its draft agency workers directive, believes the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

Under the proposed directive – details of which were ‘leaked’ to key players in British industry last week – temporary workers would be entitled to pay and benefits equal to their permanent counterparts.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned that proposals in the EU draft employment agencies directive could have a serious impact on the UK economy.

But REC chief executive Tim Nicholson said the organisation’s lobbying of officials in the European Commission may help soften the directive’s impact on the recruitment industry in the UK.

He said: ‘Our intensive effort, supported by government and employers’ organisers, is beginning to bear fruit, and it is not yet the time, and hopefully never will be, for a public outcry against this directive.’

More temps work in the UK than in any other EU economy, meaning the proposals – which include equal pay and pension rights – could have a particularly large impact here, according to the CBI.

Martin Gooden, temporary division manager at recruiters David Chorley International said: ‘I don’t think the impact will be as drastic as the apprehensions highlighted in the press are implying.’

But James Reed, CEO of recruitment giant Reed, said the proposals were ‘unworkable’.