What Is a Key Information Document?

A Key Information Document (KID) is a short statement of key terms that an employment business must give a temporary work-seeker before agreeing terms with them. You can build one with the free Key Information Document generator. The duty is in regulation 13A of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 and has applied since 6 April 2020, to work-seekers who register on or after that date.

The duty falls on employment businesses, the firms that supply temps to work for hirers, not on employment agencies that only find people permanent jobs (see employment business vs employment agency). Where the work-seeker is a third party such as an umbrella company, rather than the worker or a company the worker controls, the person who will do the work must get the KID too.

The document is tightly specified. It must be headed "Key Information Document", be separate from any other paperwork, and fit on a maximum of two sides of A4 when printed. It sets out, among other things, the type of contract, who will pay the worker, the rate of pay or the minimum rate the employment business reasonably expects to achieve, how often pay is made, the deductions and fees that apply, and a representative example of take-home pay for one pay period. It must also give the contact details of the enforcement officers the worker can complain to, now the Fair Work Agency. Under regulation 13A(9)(b), it may not contain any other items of additional information.

If the details change after terms are agreed, the employment business must issue a revised KID by the end of the fifth business day after the change.

The rules apply in England, Wales and Scotland. The Fair Work Agency's overview of the Conduct Regulations and gov.uk's KID guidance and templates explain them in plain English.