An advert in a local newspaper entitled “halifaxjobstoday.co.uk Launch of new Halifax focused jobs website…” has breached the advertiser’s code of conduct because the advertiser Johnston Press, trading as HalifaxJobsToday, did not make it clear that they are an employment agency.

Johnston Press told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that they did not operate as an employment agency, adding that they merely provided an online jobs board, featuring adverts on behalf of recruiters and at no point did they intervene and act as an employment agency.

The ASA upheld the complaint as it considered that an employment agency as defined by legislation provides information or otherwise for the purpose of finding people jobs and therefore HalifaxJobsToday was an employment agency. The advertiser’s code of conduct requires firms to make clear if they are an employment agency if their name does not make this apparent. The ASA ruled that the name HalifaxJobsToday did not make this sufficiently clear and therefore was in breach of the code.