You Place Thousands a Month. How Many Did You Actually Verify?
recruitment businesses in the UK
traditional cost per background check
to verify with Certifyd
The reality of staffing agencies in the UK.
Identity verification for staffing agencies must work at scale and at speed. Certifyd’s Organisation management lets staffing agencies register each worker as a member with a defined role, their identity cryptographically bound to their device. At each assignment, the worker’s identity, active agency membership, and right-to-work status are verified in real time — not assumed from a check that was done weeks or months earlier. Every placement creates a tamper-proof audit record that satisfies both client requirements and Fair Work Agency compliance.
UK staffing agencies place over a million workers annually across warehousing, hospitality, care, construction, and office environments. Each placement carries right-to-work liability. The standard approach — verify at onboarding, then assume compliance for every subsequent assignment — creates a growing gap between the check that was done and the person who shows up at the client’s site.
At £50–200 per traditional background check, agencies spending thousands annually on verification still face a fundamental problem: the check proves a person’s identity at one point in time. It does not prove that the person arriving at the client site today is the person who was checked. With high worker turnover and frequent substitutions, this gap is not theoretical — it’s operational reality.
The Fair Work Agency (launching April 2026) will consolidate employment enforcement powers and increase inspection frequency across staffing agencies. Agencies that can demonstrate real-time, per-assignment identity verification — with tamper-proof records — will be better positioned for compliance. Agencies relying on photocopied passports in filing cabinets will face increasingly uncomfortable audits.
This is broken.
Here's why.
Onboarding verification doesn’t prove the person arriving at the client site is the person who was checked.
Traditional background checks cost £50–200 each, and some still get skipped under time pressure.
Worker substitutions happen daily — the person who shows up may not be the person who was booked.
The Fair Work Agency will demand per-worker, per-assignment compliance evidence — not just onboarding records.
Simple verification.
Every time.
Agency registers as an Organisation on Certifyd and adds each worker during onboarding
Each worker registers their device, creating a cryptographic identity bound to their phone
At each assignment, the worker verifies at the client site — confirming identity, agency membership, and right-to-work status
A tamper-proof record is created for every placement: who, when, where, and under the agency’s authority
Ready to see it in action?
Book a demo or tell us about your needs.
“At £50–200 per background check, we were spending thousands a year just to verify temps. Some checks got skipped. That’s the reality for millions of small businesses.”— Director, temp staffing agency
Common questions.
Traditional background checks cost £50–200 per person and are conducted once at onboarding. Certifyd provides ongoing, real-time identity verification at every assignment for a fraction of the cost. Workers register once — their device-bound identity persists across all placements. There’s no per-check fee for repeat verifications, and no manual paperwork. The cost saving compounds with every subsequent assignment.
The worker’s Certifyd identity belongs to them — it’s bound to their device, not to your agency. When they leave, you revoke their membership in your Organisation. They can then be added as a member of their new agency. Their cryptographic identity remains consistent, but their organisational affiliations reflect their current employment. This is seamless for the worker and instant for both agencies.
Yes. Agencies can share verification records with clients, confirming that a placed worker’s identity and right-to-work status were verified at the point of assignment. This gives clients audit-ready compliance evidence without requiring them to conduct their own checks. For clients working with multiple agencies, Certifyd provides a consistent verification standard across all suppliers.
Right-to-work statuses change — visas expire, share codes lapse, and time-limited permissions end. Certifyd records the worker’s right-to-work status at each verification event. When a status change occurs, the agency updates the worker’s membership record, and subsequent verifications reflect the current status. This creates a complete timeline of right-to-work verification events for audit purposes.
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Verify every placement, every time
Book a demo to see how Certifyd works for your team, or tell us about your verification needs and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.
Read: Walk-In Compliance Audit Prep