Conduct & regulation
What is a Key Information Document (KID)?
A Key Information Document is a short document an employment business must give an agency work-seeker before agreeing terms, setting out who pays them, the rate, deductions and an illustrative net figure.
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<img src="https://agencyoptix.co.uk/glossary/key-information-document/diagram.svg" alt="key information document — diagram from AgencyOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://agencyoptix.co.uk/glossary/key-information-document">What is a Key Information Document (KID)?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://agencyoptix.co.uk">AgencyOptix</a>
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</figure>It exists because pay through an agency arrangement is frequently not what it appears. Between assignment rate, umbrella arrangements, deductions and holiday treatment, a headline figure can differ substantially from what reaches a bank account.
It must be provided before terms are agreed, which is the part most often missed. Issued after the worker has started, it has documented the arrangement rather than informed the decision it exists to inform.
It needs reissuing when the information in it changes materially. A worker moved onto a different pay arrangement mid-assignment is in the situation the document was designed to prevent.
What goes wrong in practice
- Issued at onboarding after terms were already agreed verbally.
- Not reissued when the rate or the pay arrangement changed.
- Illustrative figures copied between workers rather than reflecting the actual arrangement.
- An umbrella arrangement described without the deductions that make its headline rate misleading.