Bio-D: agency labour compliance audit | Compliance.One

Bio-D asked Compliance.One to audit its recruitment agencies and assess the processes, systems and records supporting its agency workforce. The review identified four areas for minor corrective action and delivered a documented report within 24 hours.

About Bio-D

Bio-D is an independent manufacturer of environmentally responsible cleaning and laundry products. Its focus on ethical standards made independent scrutiny of recruitment suppliers a natural part of its approach to responsible business.

Why independent assurance was needed

Bio-D wanted to assess whether its agencies were meeting regulatory requirements and agreed terms, completing necessary worker checks and treating workers responsibly. The audit provided a structured way to assess supplier evidence and identify gaps requiring action.

What the audit assessed

The audit examined legislative and regulatory compliance, agreed terms of business, worker pre-employment checks and engagement arrangements. It also reviewed insurance held by labour providers and sub-suppliers, and how agencies treated worker pay, benefits and statutory employment rights.

The review covered recruitment best practice and service-level agreements, alongside ethical processes for financial disclosure and handling grievances.

Evidence reviewed

Each supplying agency was asked for evidence across 14 documents:

• Pre-audit questionnaire
• Certificate of incorporation
• VAT registration certificate
• Evidence of PAYE registration
• Confirmation of business insurance
• Template registration forms and worker contracts
• Health and safety, equal opportunities and diversity, and environmental policies
• Complaints policy and procedure
• Modern Slavery Statement
• ISO certificates, if held
• Membership certificates, such as ALP, REC or APSCo

The programme described in the case study covers all supplied workers through six-monthly checks of recruitment partners' processes, systems and records.

Four areas for minor corrective action

1. Worker contracts: agencies needed to include the required clauses in workers' contracts.
2. Assignment confirmation: agencies needed to ensure workers had an email address and received an assignment confirmation containing the job or brief assignment details.
3. Health and safety information: assignment confirmation emails needed to include health and safety information.
4. Agency Workers Regulations information: assignment confirmation emails also needed to include the relevant Agency Workers Regulations information.

The findings gave Bio-D and its supplying agencies a clear, documented basis for corrective action. The supplied case study identifies these actions; it does not report a separate completion date for their implementation.

Client feedback

“[Compliance.One] conducted a supplier audit for us and were very professional but easy to work with. The audit was well documented and provided in a report within 24 hours. I would not hesitate to recommend [Compliance.One] to other companies who need to outsource their audit requirements.”

Heather Nixon
Quality & Regulatory Manager, Bio-D

Download the Bio-D case study (PDF)