A reader should place the agent’s stated role beside the signed written or digital service agreement and compare the services covered, payment responsibility, fee information and complaints process. UKCISA’s good-practice guide identifies signed agent–student agreements containing fee information, information about the agents themselves and complaints processes as evidence. It also asks agents to distinguish services that are provider-paid under commission arrangements and/or student-paid.
Make the comparison line by line
| Comparison point | What to extract from the stated role | What to check in the agreement |
|---|---|---|
| Services | The tasks or claimed status included in the role | Whether those activities are expressly covered and whether any limits are stated |
| Payment responsibility | Any statement about who pays | Whether services are identified as provider-paid under commission arrangements, student-paid, or both |
| Fees | Any amount or description of charges | Whether corresponding fee information appears in the agreement |
| Agent information | Any identifying or contact information | Whether the agreement includes information about the agent itself |
| Complaints | Any stated complaints or support process | Whether the agreement sets out an identifiable complaints process |
The comparison should focus on whether the two descriptions align. A broad role description does not, by itself, establish that every associated service is included in the agreement.
Resolve differences in writing
If the role description mentions an activity, payment arrangement or complaints route that the agreement does not clearly record, the reader should seek written clarification before relying on it. The questions should be specific: which services are covered, whether each is provider-paid or student-paid, what fee information applies, and which complaints process applies.
Where wording conflicts or remains incomplete, the difference should be recorded rather than resolved by assumption. A separate assurance does not automatically amend the agreement, so the reader may need to ask which wording governs.
Confirm what the comparison cannot establish
These are good-practice checks, not a determination that a particular agreement is legally binding. Neither a fee amount nor a refund rule, deadline or guaranteed result is established by the cited statements, so none should be inferred from this comparison alone.
The reader must still inspect the actual signed written or digital agreement, check any other applicable terms and confirm separately any claimed representative status. The agent’s stated role is only consistent with the service agreement to the extent that its wording matches the agreement’s scope, payment information and complaints process.