SiteIt's half three on a Thursday. Your night shift fitter has rung in sick for the rest of the week. You call the agency and say you need "a multi-skilled engineer for nights, starting tomorrow".
They say leave it with us. At 9pm an engineer turns up. They're a good mechanical fitter. Your fault list is all servo drives and a PLC that drops comms.
Nobody broke any rules. But the booking was set up to fail from the first phone call.
Most hirers think the Conduct Regulations belong to the agency. They do, mostly. They still shape what you give the agency, what it has to check, and what it owes you back. Used properly, they're the best tool you have for getting the right engineer through the gate.
What the agency has to get from you
The full name is the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. An agency that supplies temporary engineers is an "employment business" in the regulations.
Regulation 18 says an agency can't supply anyone until it has "sufficient information from the hirer to select a suitable work-seeker" (regulation 18). The list includes:
- who you are and what your business does
- the start date and how long the work will last
- the type of work, where it is and the hours
- any risks to health or safety you know about, and what you've done to control them
- the experience, training and qualifications you think the job needs
- any expenses paid to or by the engineer
GOV.UK's guidance adds that the agency should ask about the PPE the engineer will need (Conduct Regulations guidance).
Read that list again as a hirer. It's a booking checklist, handed to you by the law. "Multi-skilled, nights, tomorrow" covers about a third of it.
So give them the rest. Name the kit: the make of the PLC, the drive family, the robot cell. Say which faults are open. Say if there's a permit to work system or a confined space. If the job needs a qualified electrician or someone with a forklift ticket, say so. The more you put in, the less chance of a good engineer turning up for the wrong job. We go further on this in what you can realistically ask a multi-skilled engineer for.
What the agency has to check
Before supplying anyone, the agency must confirm two things. It must confirm their identity. And it must confirm they have "the experience, training, qualifications and any authorisation" you consider necessary, or the law requires (regulation 19). It must also confirm the engineer is willing to do the job.
The GOV.UK guidance says evidence of these checks must be kept. It also says the right to work counts as an authorisation required by law. We cover that in right to work checks for agency and contract engineers.
Where the law or a professional body says the job needs a qualification, the agency must get copies and offer them to you (regulation 22). Take the offer. Ask for the copies before the engineer arrives.
What the agency has to tell you
When the agency puts an engineer forward, it must pass on everything it has about those checks. It must also tell you how the engineer is engaged: on a contract of employment or a contract for services (regulation 21).
That can be done on the phone. But it must be confirmed in writing by the end of the third business day*. For short bookings of five business days* or less, a name and written confirmation that the checks are done is enough. If a short booking runs past five days, the full details follow by the end of the eighth business day*.
Our view: don't wait three days. On a breakdown you want the confirmation before the engineer sets off, not after they've gone home.
If something comes up
Regulation 20 works in your favour. If the agency learns something that gives it "reasonable grounds to believe" the engineer is unsuitable, it must tell you and end the supply "without delay" (regulation 20). That means the same day, or the next business day if same day isn't possible. If the information only suggests a problem, the agency must tell you and start asking questions.
The agency must also make reasonable enquiries so the placement doesn't harm your interests or the engineer's. So a decent agency asks awkward questions about your site. Answer them.
Limited company engineers can opt out
Plenty of contract engineers work through their own limited company. Regulation 32 lets the company and the engineer agree that some of the protections don't apply. They have to give that notice before the introduction, and the agency must tell you (regulation 32). The agency can't make an opt-out a condition of finding work.
If you're told an engineer has opted out, it changes what the agency owes. It doesn't change what you owe them on site. Your health and safety duties to people on your site stay the same whoever pays them. See contractors on site: what you owe them before they start.
Two rules hirers trip over
Strikes first. An agency must not supply someone to do the work of a person on official strike, if it knows or ought to know about the strike (regulation 7). If your own fitters are in dispute, say so when you book.
Then fees. The rules "do not regulate the amount of fees" an agency charges you, says the guidance. But if it wants a transfer fee when you take an engineer on yourself, it has to offer you an extended hire period instead (regulation 10). We explain how that works in temp to perm: hiring an agency engineer you like.
Who checks the agencies
Since 7 April 2026, the Fair Work Agency has been the regulator for agencies in England, Scotland and Wales. It took over the old Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate. Breaking the rules is a criminal offence that carries a fine.
You'll rarely need to go that far. Knowing the rules is mostly about asking for the right things at the right time.
What to do on Monday
- Write a one-page booking sheet built on the regulation 18 list: kit, open faults, hours, hazards, tickets needed.
- Tell every agency you use that you want written confirmation of checks before the engineer sets off.
- Ask for copies of any qualifications the job needs by law, every time.
- Find the transfer fee and extended hire terms in each agency's terms of business, before you need them.
* The three-business-day, five-business-day and eighth-business-day time limits are correct as of 20 October 2026. Check the Conduct Regulations on legislation.gov.uk and the GOV.UK guidance for the latest.