Recruitment agencies, AI job matching and the Conduct Regulations

Recruitment agencies and staffing firms increasingly use software to screen CVs, rank candidates and match them to roles. In Great Britain the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 set rules on fees, terms, checks and information that apply however the matching is done. This page sets out the main ones for work-seekers and for the businesses that hire through agencies.

The short answer: an agency or employment business generally cannot charge a work-seeker for finding them work (s6), must agree terms before providing services (reg 14), and must not introduce or supply anyone to a hirer until it has the information and confirmations needed to select a suitable person (regs 18 to 22). A matching tool can help with that work, but the duties sit with the agency or employment business.

Agency or employment business

The Regulations use two terms (reg 2):

• an agency provides services to find people employment with a hirer;
• an employment business supplies people employed by the employment business to act for and under the control of a hirer (temporary staffing).

A work-seeker is anyone to whom an agency or employment business provides, or holds itself out as able to provide, work-finding services, which include services given by providing information. Whether a particular job platform is an agency or employment business depends on the definitions and exclusions in section 13 of the Act, so check those for the specific model.

No fees for finding work

Except in prescribed cases, an agency must not request or receive any fee from a person for finding or seeking to find them employment, and an employment business must not charge its workers for finding them assignments (s6(1)). Breaking this is a criminal offence (s6(2)). The prescribed exceptions include agency fees for finding work in occupations listed in Schedule 3 to the Regulations, which may only be taken out of earnings from the work found and do not apply where the agency also charges the hirer (reg 26).

Agencies may offer other paid services, such as CV writing, but cannot make their work-finding services conditional on the work-seeker using those paid services or buying goods. A work-seeker who uses them can withdraw without penalty on five business days' notice (ten for accommodation) (reg 5). Where any fee-charging service or goods may be provided, the first offer of services must state which services are free and give details of the fees, and a further notice is needed if fees are introduced or changed (reg 13).

Terms agreed before services start

Before first providing work-finding services, an employment business must obtain the work-seeker's agreement to its terms, record them in a document and give copies before services begin, unless the person has been given a written statement of employment particulars under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (reg 14). The terms must include (reg 15):

• whether the work-seeker is employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship or a contract for services, and the terms that apply;
• an undertaking that the employment business will pay for work done whether or not the hirer pays it;
• notice periods for assignments;
• the pay rate, or the minimum rate it reasonably expects to achieve;
• pay intervals and holiday entitlement and pay.

Terms cannot be changed without the work-seeker's agreement, and continued services cannot be made conditional on agreeing to a change (reg 14(4) to (6)). Rules in a platform's sign-up flow need to match this.

Leaving and working elsewhere

An agency or employment business must not subject a work-seeker to a detriment, or threaten to, because they ended their contract or, for an employment business, took up work with someone else, and must not require them to say who their future employer is (reg 6). For an employment business this protection does not cover work-seekers it employs under a contract of service or apprenticeship. Losing benefits they would have had, recovering losses from work agreed but not done, and a reasonable notice period are not a detriment. An automated system that, for example, deprioritises someone because they took a job elsewhere should be checked against this rule.

Checks before introducing or supplying someone

Before introducing or supplying a work-seeker to a hirer, the agency or employment business must:

• have obtained enough information from the hirer to select a suitable work-seeker, including the type of work, location, hours, known health and safety risks, the experience, training, qualifications and authorisations needed, and expenses (reg 18);
• for an employment business, have confirmed the work-seeker's identity and that they have the required experience, training, qualifications and authorisations, and for both, that the work-seeker is willing to do the job (reg 19); an agency must confirm identity and qualifications too where the role involves working with vulnerable people;
• have taken reasonably practicable steps so both sides know of legal or professional requirements for the role, and made reasonably practicable enquiries that the placement would not be detrimental to either side (reg 20(1)).

For roles working with, caring for or attending vulnerable people, there are further duties, including obtaining copies of relevant qualifications and two references from people who are not relatives (reg 22). A vulnerable person includes anyone under 18 (reg 2). See also job references.

A ranking or matching score is not, by itself, a confirmation of identity, qualifications or willingness. The confirmations and information have to be actually obtained.

When suitability concerns come up

If an employment business gets information giving reasonable grounds to believe a supplied work-seeker is unsuitable, it must inform the hirer and end the supply without delay. If the information only suggests they may be unsuitable, it must inform the hirer and make further enquiries. An agency that learns a person it introduced is or may be unsuitable must tell the hirer, for three months after the introduction. "Without delay" means the same day or, if that is not reasonably practicable, the next business day (reg 20(2) to (7)).

Information to both sides

When proposing a work-seeker, the agency or employment business must pass the hirer the information it has on identity, qualifications and willingness, and an employment business must say what type of contract the worker will have. When offering a position, it must give the work-seeker the information it has about the hirer and the role, and an employment business that has not agreed a fixed pay rate must say what it will pay. Anything not given on paper or electronically must be confirmed that way within three business days. There are shortcuts for repeat placements and for assignments of five business days or less (reg 21).

Records and enforcement

Agencies and employment businesses must keep records sufficient to show they comply, including particulars of applications from work-seekers and hirers, generally for at least a year (reg 29). Failing to comply with regulations made under section 5 of the Act is a criminal offence (s5(2)), and a breach that causes damage can be sued on (reg 30).

Practical steps

• Agencies and staffing firms: map each duty above to a step in the matching workflow, and make sure required confirmations are obtained and recorded, not inferred by the tool.
• Keep free work-finding separate from any paid extras, and give the fee notice with the first offer of services.
• Hirers: expect the agency to ask about the role, hours, risks and requirements, and to give you the work-seeker information it holds.
• Work-seekers: you should not be charged for being found work in most occupations; ask for the terms in writing before an employment business places you.

Supplying workers for farm work, shellfish gathering or food processing and packaging also needs a licence; see gangmaster licensing. If a client asks for a screening set-up that would discriminate, see instructing or helping discrimination. For the Equality Act duties on job-finding and matching services, see employment service-providers. For the rights of agency workers once placed, see agency workers. This page is general information on the law in Great Britain as at 2 November 2026, not legal advice.