The government's decision to extend full employment rights to agency workers after 12 weeks of employment risks undermining the flexibility of the UK labour market, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Responding to today's announcement, Mike Emmott, Employee Relations Adviser at the CIPD, said:

"It is a shame that the government has ditched the sensible proposal to set up an independent commission to examine plans to extend agency worker rights. Our research shows significant employer resistance to a qualifying period of less than six months, so the government's intention to push for 12 weeks seems bound to cause a great detail of unhappiness amongst employers.

"Agency workers play a valuable role in the UK's flexible labour market. Undermining this flexibility poses a serious risk to UK jobs, and risks blocking an important pathway into work for many jobless people. At a time of economic uncertainty, and with the government committed to ambitious targets for getting more people back into work, the timing could hardly have been worse."