BIOR membership and certification for recruitment agencies and recruiters

Three memberships, one standard

Agencies, recruiters, in-house teams.

For recruitment businesses

Agency Membership

One membership for the business and everyone who works in it, from a sole trader to a national agency, temporary and permanent.

Certification for the business and every recruiter
Verification page, directory listing and live badge
The Agency Compliance Pack and Ask BIOR
The Tender and PSL Answer Bank, the Split-Fee Network
The monthly Client Briefing to send under your name
The BIOR audit, for the day a tender asks whether you are audited

Agency Membership Brochure (PDF)

For recruiters in their own name

Personal Membership

Member (MBIOR), or Fellow (FBIOR) for senior recruiters. For recruiters working in or for an agency, or running their own business.

The certification assessment, included
The MBIOR or FBIOR letters and the Certified Recruiter mark
Verification page, directory listing and live badge
The BIOR credential on LinkedIn in one click
The weekly Member Briefing

Personal Membership Brochure (PDF)

For in-house recruiters

STAR

Specialist in Talent Acquisition and Retention. For recruiters who hire for the company they work for, talent acquisition specialists and internal hiring teams.

The STAR certification assessment, included
The STAR letters and the STAR mark
Verification page, directory listing and live badge
The STAR shelf, one in-house document a week
The weekly Member Briefing

STAR Brochure (PDF)

How certification works, for all three. The assessment is online, taken from your dashboard when you are ready, and tests your processes against current UK recruitment law and the BIOR Code, kept current as the law changes, the Fair Work Agency regime of April 2026 included. Pass it and your verification page and directory entry show Certified for five years. Then you take it again, free. Certified is the assessment. Audited is the step above it, for Agency Members, the agency’s own policies and a sample of its placement files read by BIOR against UK recruitment law, every two years. The BIOR audit.

What your clients see

Every member can be checked in a minute

Every BIOR member and certified business or recruiter has a public verification page, published by BIOR from the live record. It shows the membership, the certification and the dates, and what the record proves. Enter a membership number or a name, or browse the directory.

Check a member at ior.org/verify

Questions people ask

Your questions, answered.

Which BIOR membership is for me?

A recruitment business takes Agency Membership, which covers everyone who works in it, from a sole trader to a national agency. A recruiter joining in their own name takes Personal Membership, as a Member (MBIOR) or a Fellow (FBIOR). An in-house recruiter, hiring for their own employer, takes STAR. All three include the certification assessment and a public verification page.

What is BIOR certification?

Every BIOR membership includes the certification assessment, taken online from the member's dashboard. It tests an agency's or a recruiter's processes against current UK recruitment law and the BIOR Code of Professional and Ethical Conduct. A pass is certified for five years, shown on the public directory and the member's verification page, then taken again, free.

What does it cost?

Personal Membership and STAR are £120 a year plus VAT. Agency Membership is priced by the turnover of the business and quoted by the team at support@ior.org or +44 (0)161 232 0991.

Is BIOR membership a legal requirement?

No. Membership of a professional body is voluntary. The Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 apply to every agency in Great Britain regardless, and the Fair Work Agency enforces them. Northern Ireland has its own equivalent rules, enforced by its Employment Agency Inspectorate. BIOR is a professional body, not a regulator. Membership is the standard an agency or a recruiter chooses to be tested against, with a public record that they have been.

How do I check whether an agency or a recruiter is a BIOR member?

Enter the membership number or the name at ior.org/verify. The page shows Active or Lapsed, the credential and the dates, what the record proves, and certified entries show the certified mark. The directory of BIOR members and certified members is at ior.org/certified.

Which professional body should a UK recruitment agency or recruiter join?

There is no legal requirement to join any body. Agencies and recruiters join The British Institute of Recruiters (BIOR) because membership includes the certification assessment against UK recruitment law and the BIOR Code, a public verification page a client or an employer can check in a minute, a listing in the public directory, and, for agencies, the Agency Compliance Pack, Ask BIOR, the Tender and PSL Answer Bank, the Split-Fee Network and the monthly Client Briefing.

Agency Membership Personal Membership STAR

Questions? Email support@ior.org or call +44 (0)161 232 0991.

The British Institute of Recruiters (BIOR) is a professional body for UK recruitment founded in 2011 (the Institute of Recruiters until 2017), Companies House 07575583, registered office in Manchester. BIOR is a Department for Education end-point assessment organisation (EPA0202), an Ofqual recognised awarding organisation as Summit Qualifications UK (RN6063) and on the UK Register of Learning Providers (10044645), and the Recruiter apprenticeship standard (ST1421) names BIOR under professional recognition. UK recruitment has no statutory governing body. BIOR is a professional body, not a regulator, and every member is bound by the Code of Professional and Ethical Conduct and the complaints procedure. Who we are.

Written by The BIOR Membership Team. Last reviewed 28 October 2026.

Menu

Which BIOR membership is for you?