It’s a year on from the dark days of depression when 850 agency workers at BMW’s Cowley Mini plant received their marching orders — and managers at the German company are once again upbeat about the progress of the little car.

Worldwide sales slumped to 10,120 in January 2009, but last month they were 12,181. And the headcount at the factory is returning to what it was before the job cull, at 3,700 (of whom between 250-350 are agency workers), compared to 4,200 (including 950 agency staff) a year ago.

This time last year few economists, frozen as it were in the headlights of the oncoming recession, would have predicted that matters would have recovered so much in such a short time.

But for some individual workers who lost their jobs, things have turned out less rosy.

Jamie Macfarlane, from Cowley, who lost his job at BMW a year ago, is still without a job and has just exhausted his 12 months of Jobseekers’ Allowance and gone on to other benefits.

He said: “I have lost count of the number of jobs I have applied for. But the Jobcentre and council have been really good to us. I took a course in computers and IT and now have a certificate and plan to start a business, using eBay to start with — though I have some ideas and inventions which I think will work out in time.

“I can’t even remember when I last went for a night out and of course we have to save up for anything we want — which is hard. But, strangely, I am much happier than when I worked at BMW.”

Mr Macfarlane, 29, added: “My advice to anyone finding themselves without work is to be straightforward and honest, face reality, and you will find people will be on the whole helpful and understanding.

“This time last year we thought we would be out on the streets. Some of my friends from BMW have found jobs, some haven’t, but we have all survived.”

The axe fell on his job at Cowley when his wife Jenny was working as a waitress and his daughter Matilda was 15 months old.

Now he has another daughter, Maya, seven months and Mrs Macfarlane’s maternity leave will soon come to an end.

In May last year BMW announced a change in its shift pattern and started taking on more temporary staff, using the agency Right4Staff.

BMW spokesman Rebecca Baxter said: “Most of the people we took on then were former BMW associates because obviously it made sense for us to employ people with the skills we needed.”

Now the company is looking hard at new regulations on the employment rights of agency workers — such as those dismissed a year ago — due to come into force in October next year.

Ms Baxter said: “We are examining the implications for the business. As yet it is too early to say what these may be.”

Broadly speaking, the Agency Workers Regulations will give temporary workers the same rights as permanent staff after 12 weeks in the same job. They will have broadly the same sick pay, holidays, and most other benefits as their permanent colleagues.

But Rebecca Ireland, employment lawyer at Oxford law firm Morgan Cole, said: “Even after the regulations come into force, BMW would still be able to dismiss agency workers in much the same way as they did last year if they thought fit. After all, the staff are ultimately employed by the agency not by BMW and any redress the workers might have would be from the agency, not from the company.”

Last February those 850 staff were dismissed with little notice after the weekend shift was scrapped, even though some had worked at the plant for many years.

Ms Ireland said: “The purpose of the regulations is to allow companies such as BMW flexibility while introducing more safeguards for temporary staff after 12 weeks’ service — when some might say they cease to be temporary.”

She added: “The regulations introduce more transparency to an agency worker’s position. They allow the same hourly rate as permanent staff, overtime, and shift allowance. But agency workers are still only entitled to, for instance, statutory sick pay (not any enhanced scheme the company might have). And they are not entitled to any loyalty bonuses or occupational pensions schemes the firm might have.”

Incidentally, the new regulations also make it hard for employers to take on agency staff and dismiss them as they approach the 12-week threshold (not that BMW is accused of doing such a thing). Any company judged by a tribunal as doing that will render itself liable to a £5,000 fine per case.

All in all, it has been a roller coaster year for the Mini, but the car has weathered the recession better than some competitors because of its popularity.

Now the company is planning to shed 100 permanent jobs in Swindon, where the Mini’s door panels are made, before the end of the year.

It has offered staff either a one-off payment or re-location assistance to help them move to Oxford and take up jobs here.

The management stresses that there will be no compulsory redundancies and that headcount at Oxford will not be significantly affected. Could that be because the Swindon permanent staff will replace agency staff here?

BMW spokesman Angela Stangroom said: “We think the balance between agency and permanent staff will be about the same at Oxford at the end of the year. But it’s too early to say. “After all, we don’t even know yet how many associates in Swindon will take up the offer to move to Oxford.”