Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (as amended)
What this means for your business
- Applies to
- United Kingdom
- On this page
- 20 compliance obligations, 1 practical guide
What you must do
20 compliance obligations under this legislation.
Management duties 13
Check qualifications, references and suitability before supplying workers for vulnerable roles
If you run an employment agency or employment business, you must obtain and share a work‑seeker’s relevant qualifications or authorisations and two non‑relative references (with the referees’ consent) before you introduce them to a hirer for a job that involves caring for vulnerable people or requires a professional licence. You also need to take all reasonable steps to confirm the person is suitable, and if you cannot fully meet these requirements you must tell the hirer what you have done and what you could not obtain.
Check work‑seeker suitability and promptly inform hirer
If you run a recruitment agency or employment business you must make all reasonably practicable checks that the job‑seeker and the employer meet any legal or professional requirements and that health‑and‑safety issues are not a risk. If you receive any information that suggests the person may be unsuitable, you must tell the hirer the same day (or next business day) and stop supplying that candidate. You must keep the hirer updated for three months after the introduction.
Do not condition work‑finding services on extra paid services
If you run an employment agency or business, you must not make a job‑seeker’s access to work‑finding help depend on them buying other services or goods. Where you do offer additional paid services, you must let the job‑seeker cancel them at any time without penalty, giving the required notice (5 business days, or 10 days for accommodation).
Ensure compliance with agency and employment business regulations
If you run an employment agency or business, you must follow every requirement of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Act 2003 and its Regulations. Breaching those rules can expose you to civil claims for any damage caused, including personal injury or death. In practice, you need to have policies and checks in place to make sure you stay compliant.
Include required information in all recruitment advertisements
When your agency or employment business publishes a job advert, you must show the full business name, say whether the role is temporary or permanent, and only advertise jobs you have the authority to fill. If you list pay rates, you also need to include the nature of the work, where it will be performed and the minimum experience, training or qualifications needed.
Keep work‑seeker information confidential
If you run an employment agency or business you must not share a job‑seeker’s personal details unless they have given you prior consent, and only for the limited reasons set out in the law (providing the job‑finding service, legal proceedings or a professional body). You also may not pass this information to the seeker’s current employer without consent, and you cannot make your service conditional on receiving that consent.
Manage contracts and payments when working with another agency
If your business is an employment agency and you need to work with another agency, you must either tell the hirer who will be paid or have a written agreement that the second agency passes any money on within 10 days and that the worker can enforce this. You also need the worker’s or hirer’s consent before you hand over any of your duties, and you must keep a single written record of the terms and give a copy to the worker or hirer.
Manage travel, accommodation and loan arrangements for work‑seekers
If your agency or employment business places a worker in a job that requires them to travel to the workplace or live away from home, you must not make them repay travel costs, must ensure suitable accommodation and travel are arranged and clearly explained, must provide free return travel if the job never starts or ends early, must give any requested information for domestic‑service or au‑pair roles, must get parent/guardian consent for any worker under 18, and must only offer loans on reasonable terms with written details.
Obtain required job details from hirer before supplying a worker
If you run an employment agency or business, you must collect all the key details about the job from the company hiring a worker before you introduce a candidate. This includes who the hirer is, start dates, job duties, health‑and‑safety risks, required qualifications, pay and any expenses. You need this information to match the right person to the role and to avoid complaints later.
Provide, record and obtain agreement to written terms before charging work‑seekers
If you run an employment agency, you must give every job‑seeker a clear written summary of the services you will provide, any authority you have to act for them, the fees, notice periods and any other conditions before you start helping them. You must obtain their signed agreement, keep the terms in a single document (or set of documents) and give them copies. You cannot change those terms without their consent, and any agreed changes must be documented and sent to them within five working days.
Provide required information to work‑seekers and hirers
When you, as an agency or employment business, propose a work‑seeker to a hirer or offer a job to a work‑seeker, you must give the hirer all the information you have about the candidate and state whether they will be employed under a contract of service, apprenticeship or a contract for services. At the same time you must give the work‑seeker full details of the job and, if you haven’t agreed a pay rate, tell them the rate they will be paid. If you can’t provide the information instantly, you must confirm it in writing within three business days, and for short‑term assignments the rules are relaxed, with full details required within eight business days if the assignment goes beyond five days.
Provide required terms in contracts with work‑seekers
If you run an employment business you must give every work‑seeker a written agreement that clearly sets out the type of employment, pay, holiday entitlement, notice periods and how and when they will be paid. This agreement must be in place before any work starts, so you need to have a standard contract template that includes all the required details.
Verify work‑seeker’s identity, qualifications and willingness before supplying
If you run an employment agency or an employment business, you must check and record that any candidate you send to a client is who they say they are, has the right experience, training, qualifications and any authorisations required for the job, and is willing to take the role. This check must be done before you introduce the candidate to the client, including for roles that involve vulnerable people.
Notifications 1
Notify work‑seekers of any fees and terms before they accept services
When your agency first offers a job‑finding or other service to a candidate, you must give them a clear notice that tells them whether the service is free or if a fee applies, what the fee is, who receives it, how it’s calculated, the right to cancel, any notice periods and any refund conditions. If you later add or change any fees, or offer a gift or benefit to encourage them to use your service, you must give an updated notice before they can accept.
Payments and fees 3
Do not charge hirers prohibited fees for work‑seekers
If you run an employment business, you must not include contract terms that make a fee payable when a work‑seeker takes a job with the hirer, unless you offer a hire‑period alternative as the regulation allows. You also must not request any payment that the rules define as a prohibited “transfer fee”. Breaching these rules can lead to tribunal claims and financial penalties.
Pay work‑seekers in full without prohibited withholding
If you run an employment agency or business that supplies workers to a client, you must not hold back any part of a worker’s wages because you haven’t been paid by the client, because they haven’t produced a timesheet, because they only worked the period they’re being paid for, or for any other reason within your control. You must pay the work‑seeker the full amount they are owed for the work they have done.
Recoup payments made under unenforceable agency contracts
If your employment‑agency contract contains a term that the regulations forbid, you can still rely on the rest of the contract but you also have the right to recover any money you paid under that unlawful term. Think of it as a safety net – the contract stays valid (except for the bad term) and you can get your money back.
Policies 1
Do not penalise work‑seekers for leaving or taking other jobs
If you run an employment agency or employment business, you must not treat a worker worse, threaten them, or force them to reveal a future employer simply because they have ended your contract or taken (or plan to take) work elsewhere. You can only enforce reasonable notice periods, recover actual losses you suffered, or withhold benefits the worker would have earned had they stayed.
Record keeping 2
Keep and retain required agency employment records
If you run an employment agency or employment business, you must keep detailed records of every job‑seeker and hirer application you receive, and retain those records for at least a year (or a year after you last provide a service to that applicant). You also need to be able to produce the records within two working days of a request.
Obtain and record work‑seeker agreement to service terms
Before you start finding work for a jobseeker, you must get their written agreement to the terms of your service – that you are operating as an employment business, the kind of work you’ll look for and the fees you’ll charge. You must give them all the written terms in a single (or clearly linked) document(s) at the same time and keep a copy. Any later changes need the work‑seeker’s written consent and must be recorded within five business days, and you cannot make continued service conditional on accepting those changes.
Practical guidance
Our guides explain how to comply with the requirements above.
Sections and provisions
36 classified provisions from this legislation.
Duties 21
- s.5 Restriction on use of additional services
- s.6 Restriction on detrimental action relating to work-seekers working elsewhere benefits
- s.10 Restriction on charges to hirers account
- s.12 Prohibition on employment businesses withholding payment to work-seekers on certain grounds An employment business
- s.13 Notification of charges and the terms of offers services or goods referred
- s.14 Requirement to obtain agreement to terms with work-seekers: Employment Businesses work-finding services
- s.15 Content of terms with work-seekers: Employment businesses entitlement
- s.16 Requirement to obtain agreement to terms with work-seekers and content of terms with work-seekers: Agencies work-finding services
- s.18 Information to be obtained from a hirer risks
- s.19 Confirmation to be obtained about a work-seeker
- s.20 Steps to be taken for the protection of the work-seeker and the hirer
- s.21 Provision of information to work-seekers and hirers of the information referred
- s.22 Additional requirements where professional qualifications or authorisation are required or where work-seekers are to work with vulnerable persons
- s.23 Situations where more than one agency or employment business is involved payment due
- s.24 Situations where work-seekers are provided with travel or required to live away from home cost
- s.27 Advertisements advertisement issued or caused
- s.28 Confidentiality services
- s.29 Records
- s.30 Civil liability
- s.31 Effect of prohibited or unenforceable terms and recoverability of monies money pursuant
- ... and 1 more duties