Staffing Agencies near you

GOV.UK guidance on the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 explains that an employment business must agree written terms with a work-seeker before providing services, covering the type of employment, a description of the work, the rate of pay, notice periods and holiday entitlement.

The same guidance notes that employment agencies and businesses cannot charge workers for job-finding services, except in the entertainment and modelling sectors, and that transfer fees to hirers are permitted under Regulation 10 on specified conditions, provided the hirer is offered the alternative of an extended period of hire instead of paying a fee.

GOV.UK states the Fair Work Agency is the state regulator for employment businesses and agencies in England, Scotland and Wales, operating since 7 April 2026, and publishes its enforcement policy statement and complaints route.

GOV.UK explains that from the day an agency worker starts, they have a worker's employment rights and access to shared facilities and services provided by the employer, giving canteens and food and drinks machines as examples. Those are day one entitlements and do not depend on any qualifying period.

After 12 weeks in the job, GOV.UK states that an agency worker qualifies for the same rights as someone employed directly, and that this is known as equal treatment. The entitlements it identifies include equal pay matching that of permanent colleagues in the same role, automatic pension enrolment and paid annual leave.

In practice, the clock is the thing people get wrong. Agree in writing who tracks weeks accrued, what happens when an assignment is broken and resumed, and how a change in the role is treated. The hirer usually has to supply the comparator information the agency needs to price equal treatment correctly.

GOV.UK guidance states that since 6 April 2020, Regulation 13A requires employment businesses to give a temporary work-seeker a Key Information Document before terms are agreed, setting out how they will be engaged and information about pay. GOV.UK also publishes separate key information document guidance for agency workers paid through umbrella companies.

Where an umbrella company is in the chain, GOV.UK describes it as a business often used by recruitment agencies to pay temporary workers, with the umbrella company employing the worker and paying wages through PAYE. The agency finds the work; the umbrella is the employer.

GOV.UK tells workers to check that the National Insurance and pension contributions taken off gross pay are always employee contributions and not employer contributions, and that the deduction amounts on the payslip match the amounts shown in their personal tax account. Hirers should ask their supplier to confirm the whole chain in writing, because a supply chain you cannot describe is one you cannot check.

Set the booking out in writing each time: role, site, hours, rate, start date and expected duration. Verbal bookings are where week counting and rate disputes begin.

Timesheet approval is the hirer's control point. Decide who signs, how quickly, and what happens when a shift is disputed. Late approval delays a temporary worker's pay, which is the fastest way to lose reliable people.

Ending an assignment is a contractual matter between the agency and its worker, not a dismissal by you, but how it is handled still matters. Give the notice your terms require, tell the agency the reason honestly, and do not discuss performance directly with the worker as though they were your employee.