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[Jasper9]

In many years of dealing with 100's of recruitment agencies, I have on only two occasions been required to provide proof of ID. The first time this happend, it started off with Passport, NI number, PAYE notice of coding, and proof of address utility bill.  I reluctantly gave copies of these but when asked to also hand over my driving licence so this too could be copied (to prove I had one!) and copies of my qualifications and training certificates, I abandoned it and asked for the information to be return and all records destroyed. I have never used this agency since.

Last week another agency required me to "register"  with them, despite already having my CV. 
They said:

Prior to working on your behalf to find you employment ****** ******** are required by law (Conduct of Employment Agencies & Employment Businesses Regulations 2003) to highlight to you our terms of business.
******* ********  will need confirmation of your acceptance of these terms prior to working on your behalf. 
We have also taken the time to include a candidate registration form that if filled out, will help us to offer an even better service to you by matching your needs with any potential employers.
We also require you to supply proof of ID prior to introducing you to potential employers. Please provide one or more of the following forms of ID:

·       Drivers License
·       Utility Bill
·       Bank Statement
·       National Insurance Card
·       National ID Card
.       A UK Birth Certificate
·       A UK Passport

They then replied when I said that no other agency had required this

It is a requirement for me as a recruiter to have valid proof of identity on file before submitting your CV to any clients.
In compliance with the new regulations in place under the Employment Agencies Act, I will require proof of identification before submitting your details to any clients.
If other agencies are failing to obtain this information then they are not being compliant and could be heavily fined.

We are members of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), the Association of Recruitment Consultants (ARC) and the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo). We act with professionalism, integrity and work in line with all UK legislation pertaining to the recruitment industry.
·   

Why are all the agencies NOT Complying not being  "HEAVILY FINED? 
Why would anyone be prepared to go through all this trouble when the likelihood is that you will never hear from the agency again anyway?
What next?  DNA testing, chip implants or tattoo bar coding at birth? The world has gone mad!

[Jason]

The law states that it is the employers responsibility to check people's eligability to work in the UK, so maybe the recruitment agency were providing this service to its client, however it is against the law to discriminate so if they didn't ask you to prove your eligability to work in the UK but they did ask someone with a foreign sounding name then they could be fined under discrimination law, so they have to ask everyone, or are choosing to ask everyone as they probably tell their clients that this is a service they provide.

Recently there was a change and agencies recruitng for permanent placements no longer have to check this but they probably choose to.

[Jasper9]

How recently was the law changed and do you have any reference for the change please?

[Jason]

Hiya, it was a change to the REC conduct regulations, not actual law I think it's always been the legal responsibility of the employer to check, however in Oct 2010 the conduct regulations changed, here's a link to the news release http://www.rec.uk.com/press/news/1237

specifically it says

Agencies retain an obligation to check a candidate’s identity, obtain copies of qualifications and two references but only for those candidates working with vulnerable persons. There is no longer a need to carry out these checks for other roles where there is a legal requirement to have qualifications as this will be the responsibility of the client.

But REC advise (as far as I can tell) continuing to have the checking procedure in place as a contractual term between recruiter and hirer.