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Britain's temporary workforce will get the same protection as permanent employees after 12 weeks' employment under a new European Union (EU) directive agreed yesterday, it has emerged.

Students working as temps to support their studies could be interested to hear that they will now get the same pay and conditions as permanent staff.

Talks in Luxembourg thrashed out a deal on the EU's Agency Work Directive as well as updating Europe's working hours agreement – which the UK opted out of to restore on-call workers' flexibility.

Speaking to press after the 12-hour meeting of employment ministers, business secretary John Hutton declared the result a "very good deal for Britain".

"It provides a fair deal for workers without damaging Britain's economic competitiveness or putting jobs at risk," he added.

Meanwhile, earlier in the month it was reported by the Online Recruitment magazine that a Recruitment and Employment Confederation survey found a quarter of firms plan to recruit more temporary workers within the next six months due to the current economic climate.

It also revealed that 84 per cent of organisations will use temps to help them react quickly to market changes.

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