Our Regulator

The Employment Agency Standards inspectorate was created in 1976 to regulate employment agencies previously regulated by local authorities. From 1976 until 1994 EAS operated a regime which required all agencies to have a licence. Up until 2005 EAS regulated agricultural and food processing agencies.

Regulation for these sectors was taken over by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA).

The legislation establishing the regulator:

• The regulator was set up in 1976 to enforce the provisions of the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the associated Conduct of Employment Agencies and
• Employment Business Regulations 2003 (amended 2007). The Employment Act 2008 came into effect in April 2009.
• The regulator’s statutory remit or objectives:

EAS’s Mission is:

• “To work with agencies and employers to raise standards within the industry and to ensure compliance with employment rights, particularly for vulnerable agency workers.”

This review was conducted before the increase of EAS powers from the 2008 Act came into effect in April 2009.

The regulator’s budget:

• £1.056m for 2009-2010 (excluding costs such as accommodation, marketing and legal advice). Number of staff (including breakdown of policy and frontline staff):
• 31 staff in total, 24 regional based inspectors (some part -time), 3 managerial staff (who also carry warrant cards and carry out inspections) and 4 administrative staff in the Inspectorate Support Team. EAS does not have policy, legal, marketing or infrastructure support staff within their organisation. Instead, these are supplied when required by the Employment Relations (ER) Directorate or by professional teams of specialists in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)1, the host organisation for EAS.

The sectors and EAS regulates a total of 17,000 businesses

The Red Snapper Group was inspected by our regulator in 2008

The EAS were located within the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which has since become the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills