Now That There's No Oft, Which Government Dept Do I Complain To About...

[Steve-Harrass]

unethical / antisocial behavior on the part of an employment agency?

(I've already tried my local council - their website is full of bland/irrelevant advice: no links or phone numbers to council staff who actually deal with complaints)

[woofgang]

acas?

[twix123]

If the agency is a member of a Trade Association, such as The Association Of Recruitment Consultancies, raise your issues with them.

[Buenchico]

Employment agencies are, like most private businesses, not subject to any oversight by any 'official' body.

As an analogy, if I run a pub and want to make my customers wait ages for service, then tell them that I think they're all a bunch of morons, while serving them a ridiculously over-priced drink, I'm perfectly entitled to do so. (Yes, I'll probably go out of business quite quickly but there's no official body that can do anything about the way that I choose to run my pub).

Similarly, if an employment agency is poorly run then (unless specific laws are contravened, such as those on sexual or racial discrimination) there's absolutely nothing that anyone else can do about it.