Key information document for agency workers

If you’re an employment business, you must supply a key information document to each of your agency workers before you reach an agreement on terms with them.

Legislation

From 6 April 2020, regulation 13A Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 requires employment businesses to provide a “key information document” (KID) to agency workers before agreeing contractual terms with them. This doesn’t apply to agency workers who already had existing terms with you before 6 April 2020, but it does apply to any new agency workers who sign up with you from 6 April 2020 onwards. The KID is intended to improve transparency of information for agency workers, particularly around pay.

KID requirements

The KID must have the title “key information document” at the top of the first page and include information about: (1) the type of contract the agency worker will be employed or engaged under; (2) your identity; (3) who will normally pay the agency worker (if not you); (4) the rate of pay, or minimum pay rate you reasonably expect to achieve for the agency worker; (5) pay intervals; (6) any statutory costs and deductions; (7) any other costs and deductions affecting pay; (8) any fees for services or goods; (9) entitlement to annual leave and holiday pay; and (10) any entitlement to other non-monetary benefits. It must also include a representative example statement which illustrates, as actual figures for a single prospective pay period, gross pay, any statutory costs and deductions to pay, any other costs and deductions to pay, any fees to be charged for services or goods and net take home pay.

Key information document

Our Key Information Document for Agency Workers is designed to ensure that you comply with all these requirements. You can use it both where the agency worker is taken on through PAYE and where they provide their services through their own personal service company (PSC). However, it’s not suitable for use where the agency worker is paid through an intermediary or umbrella company, as regulation 13A requires different content in the KID in that scenario. The figures in the KID don’t need to be completely reflective of what an agency worker may actually go on to earn in an assignment (so they don’t need to be revised for every new assignment), but rather they should demonstrate how a proposed rate of pay is affected by any fees and deductions made. However, they must clearly reflect the minimum amount of pay you expect to achieve for an agency worker.

The KID will need to be updated for a new assignment as and when the information recorded in it changes, e.g. if there’s a new deduction to be made. The law states that the KID must be written in a clear and succinct manner, presented in a way that’s easy to read and be a maximum of two sides of A4-sized paper when printed. If the contents of the KID change before formal terms are agreed with the agency worker, you must issue a revised version. In addition, if any details change after terms have been agreed with the agency worker, you must provide an updated KID within five working days of the change.