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Worried about a job or an employer?

Effective from 29 October 2026

This page is for anyone who is worried about a job or an employer they found through OpenStaff. It lists the warning signs, says what to do, explains how to report a worry to us and what we will do, and gives the details of organisations that can help. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police.

Warning signs

These are signs that a job or an employer may not be what it should be.

You are asked for money

  • You are asked to pay for a job, an interview or a trial shift.
  • You are asked to pay for training, for a uniform or for a deposit before you start.
  • You are asked to pay for visa sponsorship, or to pay a "registration" or "admin" fee.
  • You are asked for your bank details before you have been offered the job, or asked to receive or pass on money or parcels for someone else.

Your documents are kept

  • An employer keeps your passport or other identity documents.

An employer does have to check that you are allowed to work in the UK. To do that it may ask to see your passport, or use a share code that you give it. It keeps a copy of the check, but it does not need to keep your passport or any other original document. If an employer will not give your passport back, treat it as a warning sign.

Your pay is wrong

  • You are paid less than the minimum wage. From 1 April 2026 that is £12.71 an hour if you are 21 or over, and £10.85 an hour if you are 18 to 20. Apprentices can have a lower rate. See the current rates on GOV.UK (opens in a new tab).
  • Your pay is held back, or you are made to give some of it back.
  • Your tips are kept from you. By law, all tips must be passed on to workers without deductions.
  • You are paid "cash in hand" with no payslip.

You are asked to work for nothing

  • An unpaid "trial" that is more than a short test of your skills, or that is repeated.
  • You are told to work unpaid for a while to "prove yourself".

You are told that you owe money

  • You are told that you owe money for travel, for accommodation or for being found the job, and that you must work to pay it off.
  • The debt keeps growing.
  • You have to live in accommodation that the employer provides, or the accommodation is unsafe.

You are pressured or controlled

  • You are told not to talk to anyone about your work or your pay.
  • You are not allowed to leave your workplace or your accommodation.
  • You are threatened, or someone close to you is.
  • The job turns out to be different from the advert, or you are pressed to do things that you did not agree to.

One sign by itself does not always mean that something is wrong. But you should never have to pay for a job or hand over your passport.

What to do

  1. Never pay for a job. Employers on OpenStaff are not allowed to charge you to apply, to be interviewed, to do a trial or to start work. If someone asks, do not pay.
  2. Keep your documents. Let an employer see them and copy them, but do not leave them behind.
  3. Keep a record. Save the advert and the messages. Write down names, dates, places and amounts.
  4. Tell us. The next section explains how.
  5. Get help. The organisations at the end of this page give advice, and some can take action. You can contact them whether or not you tell us.
  6. If you have already paid money or given your bank details, tell your bank straight away. GOV.UK explains how to report a scam (opens in a new tab).

Reporting it to OpenStaff

  • Use the Report button beside the job, the employer or the message.
  • Or use our report form, or email contact@openstaff.co.uk. You do not need an account, and you can report for someone else.
  • Tell us what happened, which job or business it was, and how to reach you. You do not have to be sure that something is wrong.

What we will do

  • A person at OpenStaff looks at every report.
  • We can take the advert down, and you can block the business so that it can no longer message you or invite you.
  • If other candidates may be at risk, we can suspend the employer and take down all of its adverts while we look into it.
  • Where we believe that a crime has been committed or that someone is at risk, we may pass what we know to the police, the Fair Work Agency or another authority.
  • If you gave us a way to reach you, we tell you what we did.
  • We do not tell the employer who made the report, unless you agree or the law requires it.

What we cannot do. We cannot give legal advice, get money back for you or settle a dispute about pay. The organisations below can help with those.

What our rules say. Employers on OpenStaff agree that they will never charge a candidate, will pay at least the minimum wage, will pay for any trial that is more than a short test of your skills, and will do their own right-to-work checks. Our job form refuses an advert whose base pay is below the minimum wage for workers aged 18 to 20. An advert can show less than the rate for workers aged 21 or over: if you are 21 or over, you must be paid at least that rate, whatever the advert says, unless you are an apprentice in your first year. When an employer moves you to the trial stage, we ask them how long the trial will be and whether it is paid, and show you their answer on your application. An employer that breaks those rules can be removed. See our employer terms.

We check an employer's business details before it can see any candidate. We do not visit workplaces, and we cannot check everything an employer says or does.

Who else can help

In an emergency

Call 999 and ask for the police. If it is not an emergency, you can call the police on 101.

Fair Work Agency

A government body that protects workers and makes sure that employers follow the law.

Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline

Run by the charity Unseen. Call it for help, or to report a concern about forced work, trafficking or exploitation, whether you are worried about yourself or about someone else.

Acas

Free and confidential advice about your rights at work, for example about pay and contracts.