For UK employers, HR teams and recruitment agencies
Check every job advert against UK law before it goes out.
The Assurance Register reads your advert against 50 named UK rules, fixes the routine lines for you, and gives you a dated record of the check. Less risk from what your adverts say, and more of the right people applying.
Free checks every month. No sign-up. Nothing to install.
Why it matters now
A job advert can break the law without anyone meaning it to.
Acas warns that wording such as "recent graduate" or "handyman" can discriminate, even if you did not intend to.
Acas, Advertising a job, June 202658% of UK businesses find employment law hard to comply with, and 65% say keeping up with which rules apply to them is a burden.
Department for Business and Trade, Business Perceptions Survey 2024From 1 October 2026, people have 6 months instead of 3 to bring an employment tribunal claim.
GOV.UK, Employment Rights Act timelineWhat you get
Six reasons to check every advert.
Less risk for whoever writes the advert
Wording the law does not allow is found before anyone applies, and every check leaves a dated record.
More of the right people applying
It asks for the things that give people a reason to apply: pay, flexible working and a way to ask for adjustments.
Fits the way you already work
Paste the advert, check it, and copy the checked version back to wherever you publish. Nothing to install.
50 rules of UK law
Across ten areas, including Northern Ireland's own law and the agency rules.
Kept in line with the law
The rules are reviewed on a published calendar, so you do not have to keep up yourself.
Something to show for it
Agencies can hand each client evidence of the check. Employers get a complete advert that stands out.
Made for your side of hiring
Whichever side of the advert you are on.
I hire for my own business
- Checked against equality law, right to work wording, data protection, the minimum wage and more
- Plain English, with the fix written for you
- A record to keep with each advert
I recruit for clients
- Conduct Regulations checks: agency name, temporary or permanent, and what a stated rate needs beside it
- Fees to work-seekers flagged
- A record for every client advert, to hand to your client
The full detail
Everything the Assurance Register does, and the evidence behind it.
Most advert tools score your wording. The Assurance Register checks it against UK law.
Everything the page summarised above, in full: the rules, the fixes, the evidence and the record, for employers and HR teams.
Every client advert has to meet the Conduct Regulations as well as equality law. Check both, fix them, and give your client a record that you did.
Free checks every month, no sign-up. Sure fixes can be undone; you approve the rest.
Why it's different
Built for UK law, not adapted to it.
The best-known job advert tools score wording for bias and inclusion. That is useful, but it is not the same as checking the law your advert has to meet in the UK. The Assurance Register does that, rule by rule, and tells you plainly which findings are law and which are good practice.
UK law, rule by rule
50 rules across ten areas: who can apply, Northern Ireland's own law, advertising someone else's job, whether the advert is accurate, pay and how you are employed, right to work, data protection, working with children and criminal records, regulated work, and telling people the pay. Every finding quotes your words and names the rule.
Law kept apart from good practice
Three plain labels: Must fix, Should fix and Have a look. Good practice is never presented as a legal duty, so your team knows what really matters and what is optional.
Fixes, not just flags
Routine lines are added in standard wording, and rewrites wait for one press. You are never left with a list and no answer.
It never invents facts
Pay, hours, contract type and check levels come from you. Where you have named a lawful exemption, it records that you did and does not second-guess it.
A signed record of every check
Every check ends with a PDF record of what was checked and what you decided, signed by Second Lens.
Useful evidence for an equality action plan, where inclusive job descriptions are a recommended action.
Helps you keep the records regulation 29 expects, and gives REC auditors something to see.
You stay in charge
Only 1% of people in a CIPD poll would trust AI to make important work decisions alone; 63% would trust it to inform them. The Assurance Register proposes. You decide.
Kept up to date for you
The law keeps changing. You don't have to keep up.
Since April 2026, five changes have touched how UK job adverts should be checked, and a sixth arrives on 1 October. The Assurance Register tracks them on a published calendar and updates its rules by review and release, so you don't need to be an employment law expert to get your adverts right.
- 1 April 2026
Minimum wage rises to £12.71
Pay in adverts is checked against the rates in force on the day of the check.
- 6 April 2026
Umbrella company tax liability
Agencies are reminded where an advert mentions an umbrella arrangement.
Agencies - 7 April 2026
Fair Work Agency begins
The agency rules now cite the new regulator's guidance.
Agencies - 1 September 2026
New school safeguarding guidance
School adverts in England are checked against the 2026 edition.
- 1 September 2026
Supervised volunteers need checks
Now law in England and Wales. Northern Ireland is changing its own law separately. The rules tell the difference.
- 1 October 2026
Revised right to work code
Tracked for you. The right to work rule moves to the new code in a rule set release.
Coming next
A change calendar, not guesswork
Minimum wage every April, school safeguarding guidance every September, Employment Rights Act changes every quarter and Northern Ireland changes every month. The next full review is due on 1 December 2026.
Every record names its rule set
Each record prints the rule set version and the minimum wage rates in force on the day, so an advert checked today can still be explained next year.
Plain English, fix included
You don't need to know the law behind a finding. It is explained in everyday words and the fix is written for you. The rule and the law behind it are one press away for anyone who wants to look it up.
The scale of the problem
The same few problems turn up in advert after advert.
We tested the Assurance Register on 3,706 different live UK job adverts from two job boards between 8 and 18 September 2026. The figures below are today's rules run on the 643 different adverts of 8 September, the day we hold every result for.
About these figures
One job board in the sample is mostly tech and corporate roles and the other leans to agency, warehouse, care and education work. Age, nationality, unpaid work and years of experience are judgement checks, taken from that day's documented run. Accuracy has not yet been measured on independent test data. The agency figure is from 1,085 adverts on a board that leans to agency work, checked as agency adverts on 15 September 2026; in a smaller sample from another board, 8 of 9 agency listings did not say temporary or permanent.
What we found most often
The risks that happen
Rarely a courtroom. Usually a quieter cost.
Your adverts are regulated, and now someone is checking.
Good people walk away
Over-50s who had applied for jobs said adverts that sounded aimed at younger people had put them off, while 1 in 5 businesses with 10 or more staff report difficulty recruiting.
Centre for Ageing Better, 2018 survey; ONS, March 2026
Your advert becomes evidence
An advert is part of how you decide who to offer a job to, so it can be the basis of a discrimination claim, and discrimination compensation has no upper limit. It is read first when something else goes wrong.
Equality Act 2010 s.39; EHRC Employment Code; GOV.UK. Northern Ireland has its own laws, with express rules on adverts.
Action plans become mandatory
Employers with 250 or more staff in Great Britain can publish equality action plans now, and they are due to become mandatory from spring 2027. Inclusive job descriptions and advertising flexible working are among the recommended actions.
GOV.UK, 4 March 2026; Employment Rights Act 2025
Pay in adverts may become law
A July 2026 government consultation proposes making employers give pay information in job adverts.
GOV.UK, Equal pay and pay discrimination consultation, July 2026
A regulator that can come to you
The Fair Work Agency now enforces the agency rules in England, Scotland and Wales, and says it will use warning letters, prohibition orders and prosecution. In Northern Ireland the regulator is the Employment Agency Inspectorate.
Fair Work Agency enforcement statement, August 2026; Department for the Economy (NI)
The basics get missed
More than half of 1,085 adverts from a job board that leans to agency work left out whether the work was temporary or permanent, which regulation 27 requires in every agency advert.
Live UK adverts checked as agency adverts, 15 September 2026; Conduct Regulations 2003, reg 27
Breaches are criminal
Breaking the Conduct Regulations is a criminal offence with an unlimited fine on indictment, and a tribunal can ban someone from running an agency for up to 10 years. Records must be kept for at least a year.
Employment Agencies Act 1973 ss.3A and 5; Conduct Regulations 2003, reg 29
Claims can name the agency
If a client asks for a discriminatory advert and the agency runs it, both can be liable. The equality regulator gives exactly that example, and discrimination compensation has no upper limit.
Equality Act 2010 ss.55, 111 and 112; EHRC guidance on advertising
Who carries the risk
The organisation that writes the advert carries its risk.
Placing or publishing a discriminatory advert is unlawful, and it is the employer's advert. You are also liable for what your staff write for you unless you took all reasonable steps to prevent it, and for what agents write with your authority. A check before every advert goes out is a practical step, and the record shows you took it.
When you write or run an advert for a client, the client and your agency can both be liable for it, and a breach of the Conduct Regulations is yours alone. A check before every advert goes out lowers the chance of wording that puts either of you at risk, and the record shows you took the step.
Problems found while they cost nothing
Age-coded wording, nationality requirements, unpaid work, missing agency statements and minimum wage shortfalls are found before anyone applies, not after a complaint.
Fixes you can defend
Every rewrite is marked, so you can see exactly what changed and explain it if asked.
A record of the step you took
Equality guidance tells employers to keep the job advert as part of their recruitment records, because a tribunal can draw conclusions where records are missing. Each check ends with a dated PDF record of what was checked and what you decided.
What a check does not do
A check lowers the chance of unlawful wording and helps you show the steps you took. It does not remove anyone's liability, and it is not legal advice.
Better adverts, better hires
A reason for clients to choose you
A clearer, lawful advert reaches more of the right people.
Checked adverts are a USP to your clients.
The same fixes that lower your risk make the advert work harder. The evidence is strongest where the government has run trials.
Clients buy candidates, and they also buy the confidence that nothing you publish in their name will come back on them. A dated record on every client advert is something you can show them and your competitors cannot.
19% to 30% more applicants
In government trials on Indeed covering almost 100,000 employers, adverts that offered flexible working drew 19% to 30% more applicants. At Zurich UK, advertising roles as open to part-time, job share or full-time work raised the share of women applying for senior roles by 19%, from 31% to 37% of applicants. The Assurance Register asks whether your advert says anything about flexible working.
Government Equalities Office and Behavioural Insights Team, 2021; Zurich trial, 2020
Stand out where 4 in 10 adverts don't
About 4 in 10 UK adverts on Indeed gave no pay in August 2026. Government guidance rates stating the salary range as an effective action. The Assurance Register asks for a pay figure when an advert has none.
Indeed Hiring Lab open data, August 2026; GOV.UK guidance, 2025
More qualified people applying
47% of businesses with recruitment difficulties blame a lack of qualified applicants, and 44% of employers with hard-to-fill vacancies lost business to competitors. Wording that can put people off, such as age-coded words or years of experience with no reason given, risks narrowing the pool you most need.
ONS, March 2026; DfE Employer Skills Survey 2024
Compliance you can show, advert by advert
Hand each client the record for their advert: the rules checked, what was fixed and what you decided. It turns "we're compliant" from a claim in a pitch into evidence on file.
Ready when a client or buyer asks
Public sector frameworks such as the Crown Commercial Service's temporary staffing framework require full compliance with the Conduct Regulations and regular audits of key processes. Clients can check your record with the regulator before letting you onto a framework.
Adverts that reach more people
Government trials found adverts offering flexible working drew 19% to 30% more applicants. A clearer, complete advert with pay and a way to ask for adjustments gives more of the people your client wants a reason to apply.
About these figures
Figures are from the sources named, not from the Assurance Register. What a better advert does for your own hiring has not been measured by us.
How it works
Paste. Fix. Approve. Keep the record.
Four steps, and nothing to install or integrate.
- 1
Paste your advert
Checked against 50 rules across ten areas of UK law. It works out whether the job is in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland and applies the right law, and it looks deeper at work with children and regulated work.
Checked against equality law and the Conduct Regulations: agency name, temporary or permanent, what a stated rate needs beside it, and fees to work-seekers.
- 2
Routine fixes happen by themselves
About 4 in 10 issues are fixed for you with standard wording, such as a way to ask for adjustments or a line pointing to your privacy notice. In our live test, the automatic fixes alone more than halved the adverts that still needed a fix.
- 3
You approve the rest
"Take it to 100" walks you through what is left, one decision at a time, at about 30 seconds each, so a few minutes an advert. Facts only you know, like pay, hours or contract type, are asked for.
- 4
Get your signed record
Every check ends with a signed, dated record: evidence that you checked the advert before you published it.
Every check ends with a signed, dated record, the kind of evidence regulation 29 and REC audits look for.
As pasted
Before
With Assurance Register
Fully fixed
The figures behind the chart
Automatic fixes assume your contact, your privacy notice link and, for agencies, your business name are saved in your details. Figures are today's rules on the 643 live adverts of 8 September 2026.
The same 643 adverts at each stage, by the most serious label left on each
| Stage | Must fix | Should fix | Have a look | Nothing found | Would be clear (modelled) | Should fix or Must fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As pasted (measured) | 5 | 586 | 51 | 1 | Not modelled | 91.9% |
| After automatic fixes (measured) | 5 | 274 | 312 | 52 | Not modelled | 43.4% |
| If you answer the questions (modelled) | 5 | 274 | 25 | 52 | 287 | 43.4% |
| Fully fixed (modelled) | 5 | 4 | 48 | 52 | 534 | 1.4% |
The third row is a model, not a measurement. It assumes you answer every question (pay, hours, contract type and flexible working) and offer flexible working: then 339 of 643 adverts (52.7%) would have nothing left to look at. If flexible working is not offered, 202 of 643 (31.4%). Answering does not change the 43.4% at Should fix or Must fix, which is mostly years of experience with no reason given (274 adverts), a decision only you can make.
The fourth row is a model too. It takes the third and adds the one decision that holds nearly all of those: years of experience given a reason or removed, which Take it to 100 asks you about. Then 9 of 643 adverts (1.4%) would still have a Should fix or Must fix, the like-for-like figure beside the 91.9% as pasted. What is left in those 9 is wording only you can change, such as a nationality or age requirement. Nothing else is assumed.
What you get
Everything in a check.
Out of 100, and honest about it
The score shows what came from your advert as pasted, what the automatic fixes added and what your answers added. It is not a compliance score, and it says so.
Decisions one at a time
Every open point is a card: keep a change or take it out, add a missing line, or answer a question. Each card says why it was flagged and which law is behind it.
As pasted, fixed and answered
Switch between your advert as you pasted it, after the automatic fixes and after your answers, and copy whichever version you want to publish.
A record others can verify
An auditor, client or adviser can check a record for themselves.
One licence key for everyone
A licence key is shared by your team from one monthly allowance, with a record of when each check on it was run. Anyone can remove the key from their device, after confirming.
Guide me
A step-by-step guide walks a new user through their first real check on their own advert, from pasting it to taking the record.
The right law for the place
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are worked out from the advert. A Northern Ireland advert is never checked under the Equality Act.
"Report" on every finding
If a finding is wrong for your advert, say so in one press. Reports go to the people who maintain the rules.
Desktop, phone or tablet
It runs in the browser. Your organisation, contact and privacy link can be remembered on your own device, only if you tick to agree.
Your proof
Due diligence you can show, not just describe.
Questions about an advert usually come months later, when nobody remembers what was checked. Every check ends with a signed record of what was checked and when, made at the moment you checked it.
- Advert
- Warehouse Operative, Wakefield
- Checked
- 14 September 2026, 10:42
- Rules applied
- 26 of 50, rule set 3.7+1.5
- Rates used
- National Minimum Wage in force from 1 April 2026
- Findings
- 1 must fix, 2 should fix, 4 have a look
- Changes
- 5 applied, 1 undone
- Text fingerprint
- before 4f2a…c81b · after 9d70…a3e5
- Signature
- ECDSA P-256 · key ak_7b31f0c4e9d2a558
- Signed by
- Second Lens, with the time from our own clock
Illustration of the record's contents.
That you looked, before you published
The record is created on every check, not on request. It names the rules checked, the rule set version, the rates in force and the date, and it lists what was found and what you decided.
Change one character and it shows
Anyone can open the verify page, drop in the PDF and see whether anything in it has changed since it was made. The check runs in their own browser. The time on the record comes from our own clock rather than an independent timestamping authority, and the record says so.
The only copy is yours
We do not store your advert or your record, so the PDF you download is the only copy. Keep it with the advert, where an adviser, an equality action plan or a tribunal can find it.
We do not store your advert or your record, so the PDF you download is the only copy. File it against the client and the role, ready for regulation 29 record keeping and REC auditors.
What the signature does not do
The signature covers what was checked and when. It does not prove an advert was lawful, and it is not a qualified signature from a certifying authority.
Your data
Where your adverts go.
Screens and presses, never adverts
The Assurance Register logs which screens are opened and which buttons are pressed, for 30 days, to keep it working. No advert text is ever in that log.
A job advert, and little else
A check sends the advert and the details written into it (your organisation, contact and privacy notice link) to our server and to an AI model for the wording check. Nothing about applicants is asked for, and there is nowhere to put it.
Nothing from a check is kept
Adverts and records are not stored, so we cannot reissue one. Hosting is on Netlify and the wording check uses Anthropic's model service. An operations log with no advert text is kept for 30 days. A data processing agreement is available.
About personal data
Job adverts are written to be published, so a check rarely involves personal data. The record holds what was checked and when, and it stays with you.
Doing it yourself
Checking adverts yourself costs more than it looks.
You can check adverts by hand, ask a general AI chat tool, or pay a solicitor. Each works, and each has a cost that is easy to miss.
Your time, and knowing what to look for
Someone has to know 50 rules across ten areas of law, keep up with changes, and read every advert against them. Most small firms have no one whose job that is.
Hidden cost: expertise, time and missed changes.
Fast, but you check the answers
In June 2025 the High Court in England dealt with two cases where AI produced case law that did not exist: five fake authorities in one, eighteen in the other. Lawyers were referred to their regulators and ordered to pay costs. The SRA now warns that relying on an AI output is no defence. Independent testing found wrong or misleading answers to more than 1 in 6 legal research questions even for the best specialist tools.
Hidden cost: ongoing seat fees, writing prompts, and checking every answer yourself.
The gold standard, priced like one
The 2026 guideline hourly rates, which courts in England and Wales use when assessing costs, run from £288 an hour outside London to £579 for the heaviest commercial work in London. One firm quotes £250 to £410 an hour for an experienced employment solicitor.
Hidden cost: every advert, every time.
What checking by hand costs you now
About this calculator
The starting values are examples only, so put in your own figures. It shows what checking costs you now, not a promised saving.
How it compares
| Feature | Inclusive-language tools | General AI chat | Solicitor review | Assurance Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main job | Score wording for bias and inclusion | Draft or rewrite text when asked | Expert advice on your situation | Check adverts against UK law and fix them |
| UK law, rule by rule | Not their main focus | Only if you know what to ask, and answers need checking | Yes, for each advert you send | 50 named rules on every advert, across all four UK nations |
| Agency regulations | Not their main focus | Only if you know what to ask | Yes | Regulation 27 checks built in |
| Fixes the advert | Suggests alternative words | Rewrites when asked | Advice you then apply | Standard lines added, rewrites for one press, facts never invented |
| Kept up to date | Updated for their own focus | Depends on training date and web search | Yes | Rules updated on a published review calendar |
| Record of what was checked | Analytics dashboards | Chat history | Advice letter | A signed record on every check, which anyone can verify |
| Published cost | Applied (now owned by Phenom) £200 a licence a month on the government Digital Marketplace; the US tools are priced in dollars, Ongig from $4,900 a year, Textio by quote | ChatGPT Business is billed in dollars: $25 a seat a month, or $20 paid yearly, two seats minimum, plus UK VAT | £288 to £579 an hour, 2026 guideline rates for England and Wales | Free checks every month, no sign-up. Plans for teams below |
Inclusive-language tools include Textio, Ongig, Datapeople and Applied. Costs and features come from published 2026 reviews, vendor pages and the government Digital Marketplace; they change, so check current details. Guideline hourly rates are what courts use to assess costs, not a price list.
Coming soon: the Assurance Register API
Put the checks inside the systems you already use.
For organisations that publish adverts at volume: applicant tracking systems, job boards, recruitment agencies, large employers and public bodies. The same 50 rules, the same fixes, the same questions and the same signed record, sent and returned by your own software. The API is built and opens to licence holders soon. The guide shows exactly how it works.
No team to hire first
You don't need developers to build a checker, an experience designer to design the screens, or an employment lawyer to write and maintain the rules. Your developers connect to the API, and the rules, the fixes, the questions and the record come ready.
Checks where adverts are written
Check an advert when it is saved in your applicant tracking system, before it goes to a job board, or in a scheduled run over everything live. Results come back as data, so they appear in your own screens, in your own style.
People only where they are needed
Standard lines, such as a way to ask for adjustments or a pointer to your privacy notice, are added automatically. Facts only the advertiser knows, such as pay, hours or contract type, come back as questions to route to the right person, and are never made up.
The law changes, your integration does not
The rules follow the minimum wage each April and the Employment Rights Act changes as they take effect. Nothing in your system has to change when the law does, and every result names the rule set it used.
A signed record for every advert
Each check can end with the same signed PDF record as this site, built and signed on our side, so the evidence does not depend on your code. Anyone can check it on the verify page.
Your key, and nothing kept
Every request carries a key issued to your organisation, and we keep only a hash of it, never the key. A key can be switched off, replaced or withdrawn at once. Nothing about a check is stored. Designed against the NCSC's 2025 guidance on securing APIs.
Build or plug in
Building it yourself costs more than the build.
The government's own API standards put it plainly: "It's faster and simpler to reuse an existing API than build one from scratch." A checker is not a one-off project. The law it checks keeps moving, and someone has to move with it.
| What it takes | Building your own | The Assurance Register API |
|---|---|---|
| People | A developer, a designer and someone who knows UK employment law. Median full-time pay: £56,914, £48,629 and £56,977 a year | Your developers connect it. The rules, the wording and the record are done |
| On top of pay | Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000, and at least 3% pension on qualifying earnings | In the plan |
| Keeping up with the law | Your own tracking: a new minimum wage every April, and 9 dated changes on the Employment Rights Act timeline to January 2027 | Rules updated by review and release, and every result names its rule set |
| Four nations | Separate law for Northern Ireland, and differences in Scotland and Wales, to research and maintain | Worked out from each advert |
| Evidence | Whatever your system logs | A signed, dated record anyone can verify |
| Security | Yours to design, test and keep up to date | A key for each organisation, switched off at once if needed, and nothing about a check stored |
| Time to first check | Months of design, build and legal review | As long as it takes to connect, with a step-by-step guide |
How we worked this out
Pay is ONS median gross annual pay for full-time employees, 2025, for programmers and software development professionals, web design professionals, and solicitors and lawyers. National Insurance and pension are the employer rates for 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027. Your own costs will differ.
How it will work
Send the advert. Get back the fixes. Keep the record.
- 1
Send the advert
From your own system, with who is advertising and how applicants reach them, signed with your key.
- 2
Get back the fixes
The corrected advert, every finding with its rule and reason, and the questions only the advertiser can answer.
- 3
Send the answers
Pay, hours or contract type, from whoever knows them. Answering is free and does not use another check.
- 4
Keep the signed record
A dated PDF, signed by us, for your recruitment records or for your client.
You pay for checks, not calls
Only the check itself is counted. Answering questions, accepting fixes and making the record are free, and a check that fails is not charged. A retry of the same request is never counted twice.
Priced for volume
API access will come with the Organisation plan, and as a volume plan for platforms that serve many employers. Prices will be published before launch.
Test keys from day one
Test keys work exactly like live ones and are never charged, so your developers can build and test the whole conversation before a single real advert is checked.
Opens an email to us. Tell us your organisation, roughly how many adverts you publish a month, and the systems you use. Nothing is stored on this site.
Plans
Start free. Grow into a plan.
Pasting an advert costs nothing. A check uses one of your checks, and a check that is refused, or fails before any result comes back, uses none.
Free
Free checks every month, and more for answering a few questions. The count starts again at the beginning of each month. No sign-up.
The PDF record. Every rule, every time.
Price to be confirmed
100 checks a month on one licence key, shared by everyone in your team who uses it. For recruiters posting several roles a week, and in-house teams without a lawyer on call.
The PDF record. Every rule, every time.
Talk to us
Unlimited checks, up to 10 house checks of your own run beside the law, and a data processing agreement on request. For businesses that hire at volume, multi-site employers and agencies, as well as schools, care providers and public bodies. API access when it launches.
The PDF record. Every rule, every time.
About prices
No tie. A month means a month, and stopping takes one email. Prices exclude VAT, which is added at the rate in force on the day of the invoice.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Will it fit into how we work now?
Yes. There is nothing to install or connect, and it runs in the browser on a desktop, phone or tablet. See "How it works" above.
Is there an API?
Not yet. It is being designed now. See "Coming soon: the Assurance Register API" above, where you can register interest.
How long does a check take?
The check itself takes seconds. Routine lines are added for you, and what is left is a short list of decisions. The product estimates about 30 seconds a decision, so a few minutes for a typical advert where a person needs to review something. That is the product's own estimate, not a measured average.
Why not just ask ChatGPT or another AI chat tool?
You can, and for drafting it is useful. For checking an advert against UK law it has four gaps: it only checks what you think to ask about, it may not know recent changes unless it searches for them, it can state the law confidently and be wrong, and it leaves no dated record of which rules were checked. See "Doing it yourself" above.
How is it different from Textio, Ongig, Datapeople or Applied?
Those tools are built to score wording for bias, inclusion and readability, and they are good at it. The Assurance Register is built around UK employment law: equality law, the agency Conduct Regulations, minimum wage, right to work wording, criminal records, safeguarding and Northern Ireland's own laws. It separates what the law requires from good practice and keeps a record of every check. Some organisations will use both.
Does it lower our risk?
It lowers the chance that an advert goes out with wording the law does not allow, and gives you a dated record of the step you took. It does not remove anyone's liability. See "Who carries the risk" above.
How accurate is it?
Every finding quotes the exact words from your advert and names the rule, so you can see why it was raised. The code-based checks give the same answer every time. The judgement-based checks have not yet been measured on independent test data, so we do not publish an accuracy figure yet. Routine fixes we are sure of are made for you and can each be undone; everything else waits for you, and nothing is published but by you. If a finding is wrong for your advert, "Report" sends it to the people who maintain the rules.
How does it keep up with changes in the law?
On a published calendar, set out under "The law keeps changing" above. Every record prints the rule set version it used.
Do I need to know employment law to use it?
No. Findings are in plain English with the fix written for you, and "Guide me" takes you through your first check.
What is the signed record, and what is it worth?
A PDF made at the end of every check, listing what was checked and what you decided, with a fingerprint of the advert text before and after. Second Lens signs it, so any later change shows. See "Your proof" above for what it does and does not prove.
Can someone else check a record is genuine?
Yes, on the verify page, in their own browser. See "Your proof" above.
Is the Assurance Register only for job adverts?
Job adverts are where it starts, and they are what this page is about. The Assurance Register is the Second Lens record of recruitment compliance, so the same record extends to other recruitment documents as they are added. Nothing on this page describes anything beyond adverts.
Is this legal advice? Will it make my advert compliant?
No to both. It checks your advert against a defined set of rules and tells you plainly what it found. "No issues found" means no issues against those rules on that date. For a specific legal problem, speak to a solicitor.
Does it cover Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales?
Yes. The place is worked out from the advert. Northern Ireland adverts are checked against Northern Ireland's own equality and fair employment laws. Where Scotland and Wales differ, for example on criminal records and school safeguarding, rules that do not apply there are not run. The agency rules cover Great Britain; Northern Ireland has its own agency regulations.
We are a recruitment agency. What extra does it check?
The Conduct Regulations: the agency's full name, whether each role is temporary or permanent, and what a stated pay rate must have beside it. It also flags fees charged to work-seekers and reminds you where an advert mentions an umbrella arrangement. Each check leaves a record of the kind regulation 29 and REC audits look for, and one you can hand to your client.
Can my team share it?
Yes. One licence key is shared by everyone who uses it, from one monthly allowance. See "Everything in a check" above.
Can we add our own rules?
Yes, on the Organisation plan. Up to 10 house checks of your own, such as tone of voice or benefits wording, run alongside the fixed legal rules. They are shown as advice and never mixed up with the law.
What happens to what I paste?
Nothing is stored: not the advert, not the corrected advert, not the record. See "Where your adverts go" above.
See what your adverts look like.
Check your next advert free, before it goes out. Free checks every month, no sign-up, and a record you keep.
Check your next client advert free, before it goes out. Free checks every month, no sign-up, and a record you can hand to your client.
Sources
- Assurance Register live advert tests, 8 to 18 September 2026: 3,706 different live UK job adverts from the Arbeitnow and Reed job boards (1,530 + 1,085 + 307 + 784 new adverts across four rounds), 12,413 checks counting repeats. Headline rates: today's rules run on the 643 different adverts of 8 September 2026 (Arbeitnow), with judgement-based findings (age, nationality, unpaid work, years of experience) from that day's documented run. Each advert is counted once, by the most serious label left on it (Must fix, Should fix or Have a look), among the rules that apply to it. Agency figures: the 9 adverts read as agency listings, checked as agency adverts; and 1,085 Reed adverts checked as agency adverts on 15 September 2026, where at least 562 did not say temporary or permanent.
- ONS, Vacancies and jobs in the UK, September 2026; ONS, Business insights, 5 March 2026.
- Department for Education, Employer Skills Survey 2024.
- Government Equalities Office and Behavioural Insights Team, advertising jobs as flexible with Indeed, 2021; Zurich Insurance field trial, 2020; GOV.UK, advertise flexible working arrangements in job adverts.
- Indeed Hiring Lab, pay transparency open data, UK, August 2026; GOV.UK, increase transparency for pay; GOV.UK, Equal pay and pay discrimination consultation, July 2026.
- Centre for Ageing Better, written evidence to Parliament, citing its 2018 survey of workers who had applied for jobs since turning 50.
- Equality Act 2010, sections 39, 55, 109, 111 and 112; EHRC Employment Statutory Code of Practice, paragraphs 3.32 to 3.33, 10.8 and 16.44 to 16.46; EHRC, advertising and equality law; GOV.UK, if you lose an employment tribunal case.
- Northern Ireland: Sex Discrimination (NI) Order 1976, article 39; Race Relations (NI) Order 1997, article 29; Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998, article 34; Conduct of Employment Agencies (NI) Regulations 2005, regulation 27; Employment Agency Inspectorate.
- Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, regulations 27 and 29; Employment Agencies Act 1973, sections 3A and 5; GOV.UK, overview of the Conduct Regulations 2003.
- Fair Work Agency enforcement statement, August 2026.
- Crown Commercial Service, RM6277 framework specification; REC Code of Professional Practice: guide to compliance.
- GOV.UK, equality action plans, 4 March 2026.
- CIPD, poll on trust in AI at work, January 2025.
- SRA warning notice on the misuse of AI, citing R (Ayinde) v Haringey LBC and Al-Haroun v Qatar National Bank [2025] EWHC 1383 (Admin).
- Stanford RegLab, reliability of AI legal research tools; AI Law Librarians review, February 2026. US-based testing, cited for the error rate only.
- ChatGPT Business pricing, OpenAI Help Centre; UK reseller summary, checked August 2026.
- Guideline hourly rates 2026, England and Wales, Courts and Tribunals Judiciary; Fosters Legal, employment solicitor fees.
- Applied job description tool, Digital Marketplace; Textio review 2026, index.dev; Ongig, job description software 2026.
- Acas, Advertising a job, updated 30 June 2026.
- Department for Business and Trade, Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2025, 2 October 2025.
- ONS, Labour demand volumes by SOC 2020, UK, 25 September 2026, official statistics in development.
- ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2025, table 14.7a, provisional, 23 October 2025: SOC 2020 codes 2134, 2141 and 2412.
- GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2025 to 2026; The Pensions Regulator, making contributions.
- GOV.UK, API technical and data standards, updated 19 July 2024; NCSC, Securing HTTP-based APIs, April 2025.
- Department for Business and Trade, Business Perceptions Survey 2024.
- GOV.UK, Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act timeline.
Check an advert
What is checked
Prices and who it is for
Start free, and grow into a plan. We do not store your adverts or your check records on any plan: the PDF you download is the only copy.
Who it is for
What every plan gets
- Every rule, every time. There is no cut-down rule set on a cheaper plan.
- The corrected advert, with every change marked and undoable in one press.
- A timestamped PDF of what was checked and what changed, with a reference number that also sits at the foot of the advert.
- Pasting an advert costs nothing on any plan. A check uses one check, and a check that fails or is refused uses none.
- Nothing about a check is stored: not the advert, not the corrected advert, not the record.
Coming soon: the Assurance Register API
For organisations that publish adverts at volume: applicant tracking systems, job boards, recruitment agencies, large employers and public bodies. The same 50 rules, the same fixes and the same signed record, sent and returned by your own software. It is being designed now and is not yet available.
Answer a few questions and get more checks
Telling us how adverts are checked where you work, how you see the risk and what you want this to do raises your allowance. Fifteen questions, each a single press. It is the only place in this product that asks for a name or an email address, and it says so on the form.
A few questions
Admin console
Checking is switched off
Overview
Rates over this period
Who says they are looking
Sharing
The eight numbers, this period
Applied changes undone, by rule
Check what the server sees
Press this from the browser you are reading it in. It reports the address this deployment sees you at, which header it read it from, and what it recorded for every other connection. Nothing is stored.
Give a connection its checks back
Copy an address from the list above. This puts that connection's count of checks back to nothing and changes nothing else about it.
Nothing was recorded on this day.
Operations events
Whether it is open
Whether a check runs at all, whether it runs on a phone and a tablet, and what a visitor is told while it does not. Nothing here touches what a check looks for.
Checking is on
Phones and tablets are on
How many checks
How much one person gets before the function refuses them, tier by tier. These are the numbers the allowance on the front of the product is counting against.
Check limits are on
These numbers are kept, and apply again the moment limits are turned back on.
What a check runs
The model settings for a check, and the statutory rule set it is read against. Three of these are yours to set. The rule set changes by a review and a release, never by a switch.
How many times an advert is checked
Applying a change without asking
Changes are applied without asking
And above what confidence
What a check runs against
Showing somebody how
The guide walks somebody through their first real check on their own advert: where to paste it, what the score means, how to answer the questions, and what to do with the record at the end. It rings the next control and says what pressing it will do. Nothing is demonstrated and nothing is faked.
The guide is offered
How the words look
The face every word is drawn in, on every page: the check screen, the verify page, the legal pages and this console. Each option below is drawn in itself. Visitors see a change the next time a page loads. References, hashes and codes stay in the fixed-width face so they still line up, and the sealed record is always in Helvetica, which every PDF reader has built in.
House checks, your own
Your own wording, checked alongside the law and never able to pass for it. A house check carries no citation, counts nothing towards the score, and is marked as yours everywhere it appears.
Every change, newest first
What was saved, when, and what was in force before it. Nothing on this screen changes anything.
Issue a licence
Copy this now. It cannot be shown again.
-
Every licence issued
Nothing has been issued yet.
Nothing matches that.
Backup and restore
A backup is a single file holding everything this instance knows about its licences: every live licence, every check ever run on each of them, and the record of any that were deleted. It is what an audit would be run against, so it is deliberately everything rather than the keys alone.
It is encrypted with the passphrase you type here, which is never sent anywhere and is never stored. Lose it and the file cannot be opened, by you or by us.
Whether the API is open
The API is off
The website's own checks are not affected by this switch. The site's master switch, under Settings, stops the API as well.
The API's address: https://ar-api.secondlens.co.uk/v1
The maximum rate, and the alert lines
Connections
No key has been issued yet.
Issue a key
Live
Over a period
Nothing has been reported yet.
Nothing has been flagged, nothing has been recorded, and no test run has been loaded.
Nobody has answered the questions yet.