Recruitment & Employment

Set up and run a safe employment agency

Employment agencies and employment businesses operate from office premises, interview candidates, manage assignments and process personal data at scale. Whatever type of employment activity you run, this is the universal spine. It takes you through your core workplace health and safety duties — including the office-based risks around display screen equipment and lone working — fire safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection.

UK-wide
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UK-wide

Related guides in Compliance & Legal

Employment agencies and employment businesses operate from office premises, conduct interviews, manage candidate databases and administer temporary assignments. The duties in this guide apply to running the operation and employing your own staff, whatever type of employment activity you carry out. Get this spine in place first, then layer the sector-specific conduct rules, agency worker equal treatment duties and — if applicable — gangmasters licensing on top.

Health and safety law here is largely devolved. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the regulator in Great Britain and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) in Northern Ireland; the underlying duties are equivalent across the UK. Work through the sections below in order.

A. Meet your general health and safety duty

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the foundation. You must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of your employees and of anyone else affected by your work. In an employment agency that means risk-assessing your office premises — display screen equipment for desk-based staff, workstation ergonomics, lone working for consultants visiting client sites, and slips and trips in reception and interview areas. If you supply temporary workers to client workplaces, you also have duties around the information you provide to workers about the risks at the hirer's site. Provide safe systems of work, and train and supervise your people.

B. Manage fire safety

Your office premises need a fire risk assessment. The responsible person must carry out and maintain it, and put fire-safety arrangements in place. The duty is devolved: the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales; the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 in Scotland; and the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 in Northern Ireland.

C. Hold employers' liability insurance

As soon as you employ anyone, you must hold employers' liability compulsory insurance — normally at least £5 million of cover — and display or make available the certificate. This is a legal requirement across Great Britain, with an equivalent duty in Northern Ireland. This covers your own staff; the hirer's employers' liability insurance covers temporary workers while they are under the hirer's supervision and control.

D. Meet your equality duties

As an employer you must not discriminate against, harass or victimise people because of a protected characteristic. In Great Britain this is governed by the Equality Act 2010; in Northern Ireland separate equality legislation applies, enforced by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. For employment agencies, this extends to how you treat work-seekers — you must not refuse to provide services, or provide them on less favourable terms, because of a protected characteristic.

E. Handle personal data lawfully

Employment agencies process personal data at scale — CVs, right-to-work documents, references, health information for certain placements, and criminal record checks where relevant. You must comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and in most cases pay the data protection fee to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This applies UK-wide. Because you handle sensitive candidate data including special category data in some cases, your data protection obligations are heightened: you need a lawful basis for each processing activity, must provide clear privacy notices to candidates and clients, set appropriate retention periods for candidate records, and ensure data-sharing agreements are in place with hirers.

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    1. Write your health and safety risk assessments

    Assess your office premises — display screen equipment, workstation ergonomics, lone working for consultants visiting client sites, and slips and trips in reception and interview areas — and put safe systems of work, training and supervision in place under HASAWA 1974.

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    2. Carry out your fire risk assessment

    Assess fire risk for your office premises under the fire-safety regime for your nation.

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    3. Take out employers' liability insurance and register with the ICO

    Arrange at least £5 million of cover before anyone starts work, and pay the data protection fee unless you are exempt.

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    4. Meet your equality and data protection duties

    Do not discriminate under the Equality Act 2010 (or separate NI equality law enforced by the ECNI), including in how you treat work-seekers. Comply with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 for all candidate and client personal data processing.

What to do next

This spine covers the duties every employment agency shares as an employer. On top of it, you need to meet the sector-specific conduct rules, agency worker equal treatment duties and — if you supply workers to the regulated sectors — gangmasters licensing:

Official sources

Authoritative health and safety and data-protection guidance.