Employment Agencies (and employment businesses)
Key points § Under the Employment Agencies Act 1973 (as originally enacted), employment agencies and employment businesses could not legally operate without a licence. With the coming into force on 3 January 1995 of the relevant provisions of the Deregulation & Contracting Out Act 1994, that requirement no longer applies. However, the former licensing provisions of the 1973 Act have since been replaced by other statutory controls (as explained later in this section). § Under the 1973 Act, the term 'employment agency' means one thing; and 'employment business', another (see Note below). However, the distinction is of no particular relevance in the present context – the more so as most employers consider themselves to be dealing with an 'employment agency' whether seeking to recruit permanent staff or looking to hire the services of an agency 'temp'. To avoid confusion, the term 'employment agency' is used throughout this section to encompa...