The British Institute of Recruiters
The British Institute of Recruiters (BIOR) is a professional body for UK recruitment, founded in 2011. Membership includes the certification assessment. Pass it and you are certified for five years.
BIOR exists so that a recruitment agency, or a recruiter, can show clients, employers and candidates that they work to a recognised standard, and so that anyone can check it. Three things do that work. The certification assessment tests an agency's or a recruiter's processes against current UK recruitment law and the BIOR Code of Professional and Ethical Conduct; it is taken online from the member's dashboard, and a pass is certified for five years, then taken again, free. The public directory at ior.org/certified lists every member and certified member. The verification page for every member at ior.org/verify shows, from a membership number or a name, whether the credential is active, what it is and the dates, in one minute and with nothing private shown.
The assessment is written against the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 and the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, and was developed with input from the state enforcement bodies for employment rights of the time, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, the HMRC National Minimum Wage enforcement team and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, whose functions have sat within the Fair Work Agency since April 2026, and it is kept current as the law changes.
Who can join
Recruitment businesses take Agency Membership, which covers the business and everyone who works in it and includes the company certification assessment for the business and the personal certification assessment for every recruiter. Recruiters joining in their own name take Personal Membership, as a Member (MBIOR) or a Fellow (FBIOR). In-house recruiters who hire for their own employer take STAR. Every member is bound by the Code and by a published complaints procedure.
What members get
Every member gets the certification assessment, a listing in the directory, a verification page, the BIOR credential for LinkedIn and email, and the weekly Member Briefing on what changed in employment law and what it means for their desk. Agency Members also get the working tools for a recruitment business, a document library of agreements, terms, policies and packs kept current as the law moves, the Agency Compliance Pack, Ask BIOR (a written-answers desk on the rules), the Tender and PSL Questionnaire Answer Bank, the Getting Paid Pack, the Split-Fee Network and the monthly Client Briefing to send to their own clients.
The Employment Rights Hub
BIOR publishes plain-English guidance on the Fair Work Agency and the Employment Rights Act for recruiters at the Employment Rights Hub, free to read, reviewed every week against government sources, with the date of the last review on every guide.
Questions people ask
What is The British Institute of Recruiters?
A professional body for UK recruitment, founded in 2011 and registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee (company number 07575583). Its membership includes a certification assessment, and every member can be checked publicly at ior.org/verify.
Who can join BIOR?
Recruitment businesses (Agency Membership, which covers everyone in the business), recruiters joining in their own name (Member, MBIOR, or Fellow, FBIOR) and in-house recruiters (STAR). Personal Membership and STAR are £120 a year. Agency Membership is priced by the turnover of the business and quoted by the team.
What does BIOR membership include?
The certification assessment, a listing in the public directory, a verification page, the BIOR credential and badge, and the weekly Member Briefing. Agency Membership adds the document library, the Agency Compliance Pack, Ask BIOR, the Tender and PSL Questionnaire Answer Bank, the Getting Paid Pack, the Split-Fee Network and the monthly Client Briefing.
How do I check whether a recruitment agency or a recruiter is a BIOR member or certified?
Enter the membership number or the name at ior.org/verify. The page shows Active or Lapsed, the credential and the dates; certified entries show the certified mark and the date they were last certified. Nothing private is shown. For the wider checks on any agency, Companies House, the ICO register and the documents an agency must give you, see how to check whether a UK recruitment agency is accredited or certified.
Is BIOR a chartered body?
No. BIOR is not a chartered body and has never described itself as one. In 2017 it said it hoped to seek chartered status in time; it is not pursuing that at this time. Its standing rests on what can be checked, the certification assessment that every member takes, the public directory and the verification page for every member.
Get certified
For agencies
Agency Membership includes company and personal certification for the whole business. See Agency Membership
For individuals, agency or in-house
Personal Membership and STAR include the certification assessment. See Personal Membership or STAR
The organisation
The British Institute of Recruiters is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, company number 07575583, registered office Suite 7, First Floor, Parkway 2, Princess Road, Manchester M14 7LU. Director General, Azmat Mohammed. Enquiries to support@ior.org or +44 (0)161 232 0991. BIOR's Ofqual regulated awarding and end point assessment brand is Summit Qualifications UK.
Written by The BIOR Membership Team. Last reviewed 28 September 2026.