Instructing, causing or helping discrimination: AI vendors, recruiters and staff in Great Britain

When a hiring or workforce tool discriminates, the employer is not always the only one at risk. Vendors that configure the tool, recruiters and HR staff who run it, and managers who tell them what to do can each have their own liability under Part 8 of the Equality Act 2010. This page explains sections 110, 111 and 112 as they apply in Great Britain. For when the employer itself is liable for what staff and agents do, see employer liability for staff and agents.

The short answer: a person must not instruct, cause or induce another to discriminate (s111), or knowingly help another to do so (s112). Employees and agents can be personally liable for discrimination that is treated as done by their employer or principal (s110). Both the helper and the employee or agent have a defence if they reasonably relied on a statement that what they were doing was lawful.

Instructing, causing or inducing: section 111

A person (A) must not instruct, cause or induce another (B) to do anything in relation to a third person (C) that contravenes the Act's main provisions, including Part 5 (work) (s111(1) to (3)). Inducement may be direct or indirect, and attempting to cause or induce counts (s111(4) and (8)).

• Relationship needed: the section applies only if A is in a position to commit a basic contravention in relation to B, for example as B's employer (s111(7)).
• Who can claim: B, if B is subjected to a detriment as a result; C, if C is subjected to a detriment as a result; or the Commission (s111(5)).
• No need for the discrimination to happen: it does not matter whether the basic contravention occurs (s111(6)).

Example: an employer tells a member of its HR team to set a screening tool to reject applicants over a certain age. The instruction itself can be a contravention, and the HR employee can claim if they are treated badly for refusing, even if the filter is never switched on.

Knowingly helping: section 112

A person must not knowingly help another to do anything which is a basic contravention (s112(1)). It is not a contravention if A relies on a statement by B that the act does not contravene the Act, and it is reasonable for A to rely on it (s112(2)). B commits a criminal offence if B knowingly or recklessly makes such a statement that is false or misleading in a material respect, punishable by a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale (s112(3) and (4)).

For an AI vendor or consultant, the key word is "knowingly". A vendor asked to build a filter it knows will screen out a protected group is in a different position from one whose tool is misused without its knowledge. Getting a written statement from the client that a requested configuration is lawful can support the reliance defence, but only where relying on it is reasonable.

Employees and agents: section 110

An employee or agent contravenes section 110 if they do something that is treated as done by their employer or principal under section 109(1) or (2) and that amounts to a contravention of the Act by the employer or principal (s110(1)). It does not matter that the employer escapes liability by showing it took all reasonable steps under section 109(4) (s110(2)). An employee or agent has a defence if they relied on a statement by the employer or principal that the act was lawful and it was reasonable to do so; an employer or principal who knowingly or recklessly makes a false or misleading statement of that kind commits an offence (s110(3) to (5)).

So a recruiter acting as an employer's agent, or a manager who uses a tool to make a discriminatory decision, can be named personally alongside the employer.

Practical points

• Employers: put configuration requests to vendors and staff in writing and check them against the Equality Act before sending; an unlawful instruction is a contravention in itself.
• Vendors and recruiters: keep a record of what clients asked for, query any request that turns on a protected characteristic, and do not rely on a client's assurance where it is plainly unreasonable.
• Staff: if told to set up or run a tool in a way you believe discriminates, raise it in writing; detriment for refusing can give you a claim, and raising it is also protected against victimisation.

For the main discrimination rules and employer liability see the Equality Act and AI at work, and for agencies recruitment agency rules.

This page covers Great Britain and is general information on the law as at 2 November 2026, not legal advice.