Recruitment agencies handle a significant amount of personal data — identity documents, right-to-work evidence, DBS results, bank details — and that comes with data protection obligations under UK GDPR. This is general background information, not tailored legal advice.
Why this matters more for temporary staffing
Because temporary workers may be placed with multiple agencies or hirers over time, their personal data can end up duplicated across several systems unless there's a deliberate approach to how it's stored and shared, increasing the number of places a data breach could occur.
Collect only what's needed
A common data protection principle is only collecting and retaining data that's actually necessary for the purpose — holding onto documents or details beyond what's needed for compliance and payment creates unnecessary risk without added benefit.
Secure storage matters as much as collection
Documents like identity evidence and bank details need to be stored securely, with access limited to those who genuinely need it — not accessible broadly across an organisation by default.
Retention periods should be deliberate
Data shouldn't be kept indefinitely by default. Having a clear retention policy — how long records are kept after a placement ends, and when they're deleted — is part of handling this responsibly.
Worker access and transparency
Workers generally have rights around their own data, including understanding what's held about them. Being able to show a worker their own compliance record transparently is both good practice and consistent with data protection principles.
Sharing data between agencies
Where agencies collaborate (such as in a staff exchange arrangement), what worker data is shared, with whom, and on what basis should be clear — not an informal exchange with no defined boundaries.
How Meet Resources approaches this
Meet Resources stores worker compliance data centrally with access controls appropriate to each party's role, gives workers visibility into their own records, and only shares relevant compliance status (not raw documents indiscriminately) with agencies and hirers considering a placement.
Read our privacy policy for the specifics of how we handle data.