Checks & records
What is a compliance file?
A compliance file is the set of records an agency holds for a worker evidencing that they were entitled and qualified to do the work they were placed in — checks, qualifications, references and agreed terms.
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<img src="https://agencyoptix.co.uk/glossary/compliance-file/diagram.svg" alt="compliance file — diagram from AgencyOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://agencyoptix.co.uk/glossary/compliance-file">What is a compliance file?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://agencyoptix.co.uk">AgencyOptix</a>
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</figure>Its value is entirely in when it was built. A file assembled before placement demonstrates that the checks informed the decision; the same documents gathered afterwards demonstrate only that they exist.
Client audits are the usual forcing function, and they tend to sample. A firm with ninety-five per cent of files complete will still fail an audit that happens to pull three of the incomplete five per cent.
Documents expire at different rates, which is what makes a file a live object rather than an archive. A file complete at placement can be non-compliant three months later without anything having been removed from it.
What goes wrong in practice
- Files completed retrospectively when an audit is announced.
- Expiry dates held in the document rather than in a system that raises them.
- Documents stored without recording who verified them and when.
- No single view of which files are currently short of what, so gaps are found by sampling rather than by looking.