Agency work vs bank work

With bank work, you sign up directly with the public sector employer and its own payroll pays you for each shift. With agency work, a private agency places you with the employer, and the agency (or an umbrella company) pays you. Agency rates are often higher per hour, while bank work usually brings the employer’s pension scheme and rates fixed to national pay scales. After 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer, agency workers get the same basic pay and conditions as comparable permanent staff.

Who you work for

On a bank, the NHS trust, council or school is your employer for each shift, even though you have no guaranteed hours. Pay, holiday and pension come from them, on their terms. Many NHS trusts run their own bank or use NHS Professionals, and councils and some school trusts run relief or casual pools that work the same way.

Agency work puts your contract with the agency. The hirer (the trust or school) tells you what to do day to day, but the agency pays you and carries responsibility for most of your rights. Some agencies pay through an umbrella company, which becomes your employer for payroll purposes and takes its own fee. Supply teaching through an agency and NHS agency nursing are the common examples.

How pay compares

	Bank	Agency
Who sets the rate	The employer, usually tied to Agenda for Change bands, NJC grades or teacher scales	The agency, by negotiation with the hirer
Hourly rate	Usually at or near the national scale for the role, plus enhancements for unsocial hours	Often higher per hour, especially for hard-to-fill shifts, though NHS agency rates are subject to caps
Pension	Public sector scheme (NHS Pension Scheme, LGPS, TPS for some supply)	Auto-enrolment workplace pension with the agency or umbrella
Holiday pay	Paid by the employer, often rolled up for irregular hours	Paid by the agency, often rolled up
Deductions	Tax, NI, public sector pension	Tax, NI, workplace pension, and umbrella fee if used

An agency headline rate can look far better than bank pay, so compare like with like. If an umbrella company is involved, its quoted rate may have to cover employer National Insurance and the umbrella’s fee before your own tax, which can leave take-home pay well below the advertised hourly figure. Employer National Insurance is 15 per cent above the secondary threshold in 2026/27. Ask for an example payslip before you sign.

Bank work in the NHS usually counts for the NHS Pension Scheme, where the employer contribution in England and Wales is 23.7 per cent of pay in total. Agency work gives you auto-enrolment, where the legal minimum is 8 per cent of qualifying earnings, with at least 3 per cent from the employer.

The 12-week rule for agency workers

From day one, agency workers can use shared facilities at the hirer (canteen, toilets, staff room, car parking where shared) and must be told about job vacancies there. After 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer, you are entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as if recruited directly: pay, holiday, working time, rest breaks and night work limits. Occupational sick pay, pension and redundancy pay are not included.

Breaks in an assignment can pause or reset the 12-week clock, depending on the reason and length. The agency worker rights guide has the detail. Bank workers have no equivalent rule because they already work on the employer’s own terms.

Holiday and rest

Bank and agency workers both get 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year, worked out in proportion for irregular hours. For leave years starting on or after 1 April 2024, holiday for irregular-hours and part-year workers can be calculated as 12.07 per cent of hours worked and paid as rolled-up holiday pay with each shift. Check that your payslip shows it separately.

The working time rules apply whoever pays you: an average of 48 hours a week over 17 weeks unless you opt out in writing, 11 hours’ rest between working days, and a 20-minute break if you work more than six hours.

Flexibility and security

You choose your shifts in both, and nobody has to offer you work. Agency work can open up a wider range of employers and locations, and an agency may have shifts when a bank does not. Bank work ties you more closely to one employer, its training and its internal vacancies, which can lead to a substantive post.

Neither gives guaranteed hours, contractual sick pay or redundancy pay as standard. The Employment Rights Act 2025 includes plans for guaranteed hours and shift cancellation pay for zero-hours workers, and for regulating umbrella companies. Both are scheduled for 2027 with no date set. The locum work guide and supply teacher guide cover the equivalents for doctors and teachers.

Where to get help

If you think an agency or umbrella company has underpaid you or deducted something it should not, ask for a breakdown in writing first. ACAS gives free advice, and the Fair Work Agency, set up in April 2026, deals with some agency and pay enforcement. A union can help if you are a member.