Circumstances in which fees may be charged to work-seekers
26.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), the restriction on charging fees to work-seekers contained in section 6(1)(a) of the Act(1) shall not apply in respect of a fee charged by an agency for the service provided by it of finding or seeking to find a work-seeker employment in any of the occupations listed in Schedule 3.
(2) Where paragraph (1) applies, subject to paragraph (5), any fee charged by the agency may consist only of a charge or commission payable out of the work-seeker’s earnings in any such employment which the agency has found for him.
(3) Paragraphs (1) and (7) shall not apply where the agency, or any person connected with it, charges a fee to the hirer in respect of the service of supplying or introducing that work-seeker to him.
(4) In any case in which the agency is connected with the hirer, paragraphs (1) and (7) only apply if, prior to the provision of the service in respect of which the fee is to be charged, the agency informs the work-seeker of the fact that it is connected with the hirer.
(5) Paragraph (2) shall not apply to any fee charged to a work-seeker by an agency in respect of the inclusion of information about the work-seeker in a publication provided that—
(a)the publication is wholly for one or both of the following purposes, namely the purpose of finding work-seekers employment in, or providing hirers with information about work-seekers in relation to, any of the occupations listed in Schedule 3; and
(b)either—
(i)the only work-finding service provided by the agency or any person connected with it to the work-seeker is the service described in this paragraph; or
(ii)the fee charged to the work-seeker amounts to no more than a reasonable estimate of the cost of production and circulation of the publication attributable to the inclusion of information about that work-seeker in the publication; and
(c)in addition to the requirements in regulations 13, 14 and 16, in so far as they are applicable, the agency has, before it entered into the contract with the work-seeker by reference to which the fee is to be charged, made available to him a copy of a current edition of the publication (or, where the publication exists only in electronic form, given him access to a current edition of the publication) in which it is offering to include information about him.
(6) The restrictions on charging fees to work-seekers contained in section 6(1)(a) of the Act shall not apply to any fee consisting of a charge to a work-seeker in respect of the purchase of or subscription for a publication containing information about employers provided that —
(a)this is the only work-finding service provided by the agency or any person connected with it to the work-seeker; and
(b)the agency has made available to the work-seeker a copy of a current edition of the publication (or, where the publication exists only in electronic form, given him access to a current edition of the publication) in advance of the work-seeker purchasing or subscribing for it.
(7) The restriction on charging fees to work-seekers contained in section 6(1)(a) of the Act shall not apply in respect of a fee charged by an agency for the service provided by it of finding or seeking to find a work-seeker employment where—
(a)the work-seeker in question is a company; and
(b)the employment is in an occupation other than any of those occupations listed in Schedule 3.
Section 6(1) as originally enacted was prospectively substituted by the Employment Relations Act 1999 (c. 26), Schedule 7, paragraphs 1 and 3.