MANY agency workers are not aware of their rights and are afraid to raise concerns due to fears over job security, according to a new Acas report published yesterday.

The conciliation service said calls to its helpline showed that many agency employees didn’t know how much holiday pay they were entitled to or how much notice period they had.

Examples included a woman who worked for social services who complained she was “coerced” into working with vulnerable adults without proper training.

Acas chairman Sir Brendan Barber said awareness needed to be raised over how such workers were treated.

“We found examples of agency workers who were afraid of questioning their employment rights or completely unaware that they were entitled to some basic rights,” he said.

“Some workers also complained that they were asked to take on tasks that they were not qualified to handle and employers wanting to ignore the law so that they could sack people immediately.”