Ahead of the implementation of the Agency Workers Regulations on 1 October, energy company Centrica has cut its temporary agency workforce from 1,300 to 670.

The move followed an analysis of how the company used and managed its temporary workforce.

Matt Berry, Centrica’s resourcing director, told Recruiter: “The assessment highlighted that, in a number of cases, we used temps in the business when they should have been permanent staff.”

In some cases, Berry said agency workers had worked at Centrica for over a year, and “in a small number of cases for a couple of years.” Berry added: “This wasn’t using temps as a flexible resource, this was business as usual.”

Following the review in preparation for AWR, Berry said that “at least 300” temporary workers had been reemployed as permanent staff.

Without reducing temps, AWR would have cost Centrica approximately £2m a year, mainly from extra pay, Berry said.

Centrica also decided to give its temporary agency workers equal treatment under the AWR (Agency Workers Regulations) from day one rather than wait for the 12-week qualifying period.

Berry acknowledged there was a financial cost involved, but that it was the right thing to do.

“It feels right from my point of view,” said Berry. “I wouldn’t be comfortable if there was a huge discrepancy between two people working alongside one each other simply because one was a temporary agency worker and one was a permanent member of staff,” he said

However, he added that because “a significant number of agency workers were already being paid comparably with their permanent counterparts, this should not be a major change”

The impact will also be lessened because agency workers at Centrica now have many of the day one rights granted by AWR such as access to internal job boards. Work was ongoing to assess the final impact of the decision, he added.

AWR was the catalyst for other changes to the way Centrica uses agency staff and staffing companies, said Berry.

This included a reduction in the number of staffing companies used by Centrica from 80 to 30 or less. Centrica has also appointed master vendor company de Poel to manage these staffing companies.

Berry explained that AWR highlighted the need for a co-ordinated approach to the use of temps, and this was easier to achieve with fewer suppliers, and the use of a master vendor.

“This gives us full visibility about temps across the business, so we know exactly on a day-to-day basis the number of temps we have, and the amount we pay. This is a genuine leap forward.”