The Key Information Document for agency workers

Matt Stephens, Founder · Published 23 October 2026 · 5 min read · UK employment law · Checked against GOV.UK on 23 October 2026

Before an agency worker agrees terms, the employment business has to give them a Key Information Document: who pays them, the expected rate, the deductions, and a worked example of take-home pay. Shiftbrook does not issue that document.

A short document, given before the terms

GOV.UK's page on what an agency must give you, checked on 23 October 2026, says that before looking for work the agency must give a key information document and written terms of engagement. The key information document is a short explanation of how the person will be paid and what deductions apply. It has to include the minimum rate they can expect, a sample of take-home pay after things like National Insurance, Income Tax or private healthcare, who is paying them, any fees, and any benefits. Written terms cover whether the engagement is a contract for services or a contract of employment, the notice period, the pay and the holiday entitlement.

The worker does not have to be given a key information document if they already agreed terms before 6 April 2020. A change of terms has to be given as a new document. The source is What your agency must give you. The regulation is regulation 13A. The guidance for employment businesses was last updated on 7 April 2026, when the Fair Work Agency replaced the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and the GOV.UK page says an updated version of that guidance is still to come.

What the regulation asks for

The document is separate from any other document. It carries the title Key Information Document. It says it sets out key information about the relationship, points to where further detail lives, and includes contact details for the officers a worker can contact if they are worried about a breach. It identifies whether the work-seeker is employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship, or a contract for services. It names who will normally pay them. It states the rate, or the minimum rate the employment business reasonably expects to achieve. It states how often they are paid, the deductions required by law, any other deductions, any fees, any non-monetary benefits, and holiday. It includes a representative example for one pay period: gross pay, deductions, and what is left.

That example is an estimate. It is not a wage calculation inside a rota product, and it is not something Shiftbrook stores.

What this is not

Shiftbrook does not issue a Key Information Document. It does not store worker documents. It does not know the rate, because a shift has no rate. It does not know the umbrella, the deductions, or the fee. Umbrella companies are a PAYE question from 6 April 2026, checked on the same day as this article. Agency Workers Regulations are the 12-week equal treatment question. Both sit beside the document. Neither is produced by publishing a shift.

When you are offered a job, the agency also has to give a written statement with the start date, the likely length, the type of work, expenses, the location, the hours, health and safety risks, and any experience or training required. The location and the hours are the part a rota can show later. The statement itself is still yours to give.

What a published shift can and cannot stand in for

A shift in Shiftbrook has a site, a date, a start and an end. It can later show the location and the hours you already put in the written statement. It has no rate. It has no deduction, no fee, no umbrella and no sample of take-home pay. Those belong in the Key Information Document, which you write and give before the terms. Publishing the week does not send that document. Approving the week does not update it. If the rate changes, the new document is yours to issue. The product will not notice.

The same limit applies to worker documents. There is nowhere in the account to store the Key Information Document, the written terms, or a right-to-work check. Keep those with the records you already keep. The rota is the week. The agencies page says the same boundary in product language, and client sign-off is only the hours after the week has been worked.

What this means for your rota

Publish the site and the hours you have actually agreed, so the week on the phone does not contradict the statement you already gave. Do not treat the published shift as the Key Information Document. Do not treat an approved timesheet as take-home pay. The agencies page stops at the pin, the clock and the client's approval. How to start a staffing agency is the operational sequence. The document in this article comes before either of those, and it comes from you.

The first organisation is free for up to 5 staff. The paid plan is £3 per user per month, with a £15 minimum. You can use the paid plan for 14 days before the first payment, and that period does not ask for a card. That sentence is about the software price. It is not a pay example for a worker, and it is not a substitute for the document regulation 13A describes.

Does Shiftbrook create the Key Information Document?

No. It is a document from the employment business to the work-seeker. The rota does not generate it.

When does the worker have to receive it?

Before they agree the terms that will apply between them and the employment business. GOV.UK says a worker who already agreed terms before 6 April 2020 does not have to be given one for that existing agreement.

Is the document the same as the written terms?

No. It is separate. The written terms cover the engagement. The Key Information Document is the short explanation of pay and deductions.

Related

General guidance for UK employers, not legal advice.