Ecosystem · August 2026

A verified recruiter is not a guaranteed recruiter

When a recruitment agency joins Contractor, something specific has been checked and a great deal has not. This page says which is which, because a single badge that implies everything was guaranteed would be the most useful lie on the platform.

Applies to: Every agency on Contractor
Reviewed: On entry, and on report
Guarantees: None

Contents

What is on this page

01 · What verification covers

Item by item, what was checked and what was not

This is the whole of it. Anything not in the confirmed column has not been confirmed, and the platform will not imply that it has.

Five items confirmed, six explicitly not. The badge stands behind the first five only.
What	Exactly what is claimed	Status	Why the limit
Legal existence	That the company is registered and its registration was current when checked	Confirmed	Registration can lapse afterwards
Named contacts	That real, identifiable people are accountable for the account	Confirmed	People leave
Sector licensing	Where a licence or registration is required to place workers, that it was held	Confirmed	Requirements differ by market and change
Client references	That at least one client confirmed a working relationship	Confirmed	A reference is one client's view, not a pattern
Platform rules	That the agency accepted the representation and conduct rules in writing	Confirmed	Accepting a rule is not following it
Solvency	Whether the agency can pay you, now or in six months	Not checked	Contractor is not a credit reference agency
Commercial terms	What margin it takes, or whether its terms are fair	Not checked	Terms are between you and the agency
Payment record	Whether it has paid contractors on time in the past	Not checked	No verifiable source exists for this
Individual recruiters	The conduct of any particular person at the agency	Not checked	A company check says nothing about one employee
Placement quality	Whether the roles it presents are real, suitable, or well described	Not checked	Judged case by case, by you
Outcome	That any introduction will lead to an interview, an offer, or work	Not checked	No platform can promise this

A confirmation is true as at the date it was made. An agency's registration can lapse, its people can change, and its terms can change the week after it joins.

02 · The review

What happens before an agency is admitted

The review is deliberately narrow and deliberately documented. A wider review would be more reassuring and less honest, because Contractor cannot audit an agency's conduct in advance.

Checked before admission

Checked: Company registration, verified against the register rather than a supplied document
Checked: A named, contactable individual who is accountable for the account
Checked: Any licence or registration the market requires in order to place workers
Checked: At least one client willing to confirm a working relationship
Checked: Written acceptance of the representation rules and the conduct rules
Checked: That the agency is not the subject of an unresolved report from another part of the ecosystem

This list is short on purpose. Every item on it can be evidenced, and evidence is what a badge should mean.

Not checked, and not implied

Not checked: Financial standing, solvency, or ability to pay you
Not checked: The margin taken, or whether commercial terms are reasonable
Not checked: History of paying contractors on time
Not checked: The conduct or competence of individual recruiters
Not checked: Whether the roles presented are accurately described
Not checked: Whether any introduction will lead anywhere

Contractor could pretend to check some of these. It would be cheaper for the agency, more comfortable for the platform, and worse for you.

03 · The record

What you can see about an agency before you agree to anything

The purpose of showing this is not to reassure you. It is to give you enough to ask a better question.

Confirmed on the record

Registered company name and number
Date the review was completed
Which specific items were confirmed
Any licence held, and its scope

Visible activity

Whether the agency currently has live mandates
Which professional areas it works in
Whether it is representing you, and for what
How long it has been on the platform

Deliberately absent

A star rating or score
A ranking against other agencies
Testimonials the agency wrote about itself
Any figure the platform cannot source

Reported, not hidden

Whether an unresolved report is open against the agency
Whether a previous confirmation has lapsed
Whether the agency has been removed and readmitted
Whether it declined to answer a diligence question

04 · Representation

Nobody represents you without your agreement

Being sent to a client without knowing is one of the most common complaints in contract recruitment, and it is the specific thing this design exists to prevent.

An agency asks to represent you
You see the request and the role
You agree, or you do not
Only then is your record released
The representation shows on your record

Agreement per opportunity vs blanket agreement

Agreeing to be represented once is not agreeing to be represented forever. Consent attaches to an opportunity, so an agency cannot keep sending you out on the strength of a conversation you had in March.

What you release vs what the agency already had

Agreeing releases the parts of your record set out in the Privacy Policy, and no more. Identity documents are never released; only the status of the check. The agency's own notes about you remain the agency's, and it answers for them separately.

Withdrawing consent vs undoing what happened

You can withdraw agreement at any time and future sharing stops. It does not reach back into a submission already made, and the agency remains responsible for what it holds. Withdrawal is visible on your record so there is no dispute about when it happened.

Visible representation vs being quietly on a list

Every agency acting for you appears on your own record. If you cannot see it there, it is not authorised, and that is worth reporting.

05 · Your diligence

What to ask an agency, whatever its badge says

Verification narrows the range of things that can go wrong. It does not remove your own judgement, and these questions are where that judgement actually gets applied.

About the role

Is this a confirmed requirement or a pipeline you are building?
Have you been given the role by the client, or are you speculating?
Who is the end client, and when will you tell me?
Has anyone else already been submitted for it?

About the money

What is the client paying, and what am I being offered?
What is your margin, as a figure or a percentage?
What are the payment terms, and who pays me if the client is late?
Are there deductions I have not been told about?

About the process

How many stages, and over how long?
Will you tell me if I am rejected, and why?
Do you hold my CV on file after this role closes?
Who at your firm is accountable if this goes wrong?

About the relationship

Are you representing me exclusively for this role?
What happens if I find the same role directly?
How long does your claim on an introduction last?
Is any of that in writing?

06 · When it goes wrong

Reporting an agency, and what happens next

A review on entry is worth little without a route afterwards. This is the part of the design that decides whether verification means anything a year in.

01
Report it
Reports can be made about representation without agreement, misdescribed roles, undisclosed deductions, pressure, or conduct. A report names the agency and describes what happened.
02
It is recorded against the agency
Not against you. A report does not affect your record, your availability, or your standing, and an agency is not told who reported it unless you agree.
03
The agency is asked to answer
With a deadline. Declining to answer is itself recorded and is visible on the agency's record.
04
A finding is made
Either the report is not substantiated, or it is. Where it is, what is shown on the agency's record changes.
05
Confirmation can be withdrawn
A confirmation that no longer holds is removed rather than quietly left in place. Removal is visible, and so is readmission.
06
Patterns matter more than incidents
One report may be a misunderstanding. Several of the same kind is a finding about how the agency operates, and is treated as one.

Not yet operational

The reporting route, the investigation standard and the removal process described above are the intended design. The platform is not live, so none of them has been exercised. When the first report is handled, what actually happened should change this page.

07 · Editorial standard

How a new recruiter is announced

An announcement that an agency has joined is a marketing moment for the agency and a risk moment for the contractor. The standard below decides which one wins.

An announcement will say

The agency's registered name and number
Which items were confirmed, and when
Which professional areas it works in
That nothing beyond those items was checked

It will not say

Trusted, leading, top, or premier
Anything about quality of service
Anything the agency told us but we did not verify
A number of placements we cannot source

It will be written by

Contractor, not the agency
Without the agency approving the wording
To the same length whoever the agency is
Without payment of any kind

And it will not be

Sold as a sponsorship slot
Ranked or promoted above another agency
Removed because the agency asked
Repeated as news when nothing has changed

08 · Your next step

What this means for you

See where requirements are opening What an agency can see about you

Contractor Ecosystem is published by Contractor, part of the MyResource ecosystem. A verification confirms only the item named and only as at the date shown. It is not an endorsement of an agency, a statement about its solvency or commercial terms, a guarantee of the conduct of any individual recruiter, or a prediction of any outcome. Nothing on this page is legal or financial advice.