We currently have approx. 500 staff on our payroll but like most companies, rely on a small proportion of agency staff. 

We currently operate an opt-in scheme for direct employees to access a health cash-back scheme, this costs the company circa £6.00 per employee per month but there is no cost to the employee (unless they elect to upgrade and include partners/dependents).  This is a non-contractual benefit that is reviewed on an annual basis and can be removed without consultation.

We have today received an application to join this scheme from an agency worker who has in excess of 12-weeks service.  My question is, as this is a non-contractual benefit, does the agency worker have the right to access this?  Would we be discriminatiing under the regulations if we did not allow this?  Additionally this is administered through our internal payroll, if we are liable to offer this benefit to agency, it will be a real headache in terms of processing!

Thanks

Heather