New figures released today reveal that the government has won back over £125,000 in unpaid wages for agency workers since April.

The Employment Agency Standards inspectorate has won back more than twice as much money for workers since April than in the entire previous year. The gains run in parallel with a boost in the inspectorate’s powers and doubling in staff size over the last year.

Business Minister Pat McFadden said: “I’m pleased that the bigger, more powerful agency standards team is out there delivering results for agency workers.

“The recession should not be used as an excuse to deny people their employment rights, and the agency standards inpectors are a crucial tool in ensuring this.”

The cases in which EAS recovered money included:

- In June, £17,000 was recovered for four engineers in West Sussex. As a result of not being paid on time, one man had to sell his car to pay his rent. Another had to borrow money to pay his mortgage.

- Almost £30,000 owed to 55 models was recovered after a London agency stopped trading.

The EAS team has recovered money for workers in a variety of circumstances including where agencies had not paid wages owed, where money had been unfairly deducated by the agencies and where workers were charged for services by the agencies that they had not signed up to.

Reaction from industry bodies has been supportive of the EAS action. REC chief executive Kevin Green said they were “pleased to see the inspectorate taking action…we must drive workers and employers alike to use agencies which abide by the law and industry standards”.

Kirsty Craig, managing director of The Employment Agents’ Movement (TEAM) said, “This sort of behaviour does our industry no favours whatsoever and whilst most recruitment agencies more than fulfill their obligations to their temporary staff, there are others who consistently flout the law time and again. These people need to understand that they are not above the law and that appropriate action will be taken.”