From 6 April 2020, agency workers must be provided with this document prior to them signing up for an assignment, including where they are paid via an umbrella company. In practice this will mean that the Key Information Document should be one of the first things agency workers receive.

A KID will give you a number of pay related facts, along with other details about your engagement. Where you are paid through an umbrella company, provided the KID is completed correctly, you should be better able to fully track the difference between the gross amount paid by the agency to the umbrella company and the net sum that you receive.

If you don’t get a KID, you should complain to the EAS.

Know Your Employer is about doing research and due diligence into a potential employer, much like they might do to you through interviews and document checks etc. Here are some basic tips to knowing your employer:

Do research on the company online – look at their website as well as on websites like Glassdoor, for company reviews, if applicable.

Check that the company is registered with Companies House.

Search media sources such as news articles for previous press releases about the company

The idea here is to get a feel for the employer, how they work and what their values are to ensure that a) they are a legitimate organisation and b) they are the kind of employer that you would feel comfortable working for.

Agency workers should check for information about the agency unless they work through an umbrella company, in which case they should check for information about the umbrella company.