How to assess agencies for creator contracts

What to take away

What a review can and cannot assess

What a desk review can assess

This review assessed publicly available material from creator contracts agencies: published contract templates or summaries, disclosure policies, privacy notices and complaints routes. Each agency was scored against four criteria: clarity of contract terms, advertising disclosure process, data protection statements and complaints handling. Nothing behind a login or shared only under a non-disclosure agreement was assessed.

No agency was contacted, briefed or tested, and no campaign work was observed. The method mirrors the desk approach set out in our guide to creator contracts reviews and comparison methods, which explains how to keep scoring repeatable when several reviewers work on the same shortlist.

A published privacy notice is useful evidence of how an agency explains its data handling. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the UK's data protection regulator. Under the UK GDPR, check whether the notice explains what creator data is used, the purposes and lawful basis, who receives it, how long it is retained and people's rights. Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018 contains specific exemptions, not a general exemption from data-protection duties. General guidance only; individual cases need a qualified adviser.

For an England-based buyer, check that the contract's governing-law and jurisdiction clauses expressly select the law and courts of England and Wales if that is intended; an agency's English address alone does not do this. The advertising and data-protection frameworks discussed here are UK-wide, not a separate England-only disclosure code.

What a desk review cannot tell you

A desk review cannot show how an agency behaves when a campaign slips, how it handles a creator who misses a disclosure, or what it charges beyond headline rates. Delivery quality, staff conduct and unpublished pricing sit outside the method.

Vendor claims about reach, speed or awards are recorded as claims, not findings. Editorial judgement is applied only to the documents themselves: whether a contract names the platform, the payment terms and the disclosure duty in plain words.

How to weigh the evidence

Separating vendor claims from independent evidence

Treat a case study as a claim unless it names a client, a date and a measurable outcome. Independent evidence comes from primary law, regulator guidance and platform documentation.

The FCA's FG24/1 guidance on financial promotions on social media sets rules for influencers and affiliates promoting financial products, and an agency working in that sector should be able to explain it. The IAB UK SME toolkit for digital advertising planning supports planning but is not a compliance document.

For other advertising, check the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the CAP Code (the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing). The CAP Code requires marketing communications to be obviously identifiable as such. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also publishes guidance on social media endorsements; an agency's policy should explain how it makes commercial relationships clear and who approves posts before publication.

Examples of clear disclosure include “#ad” or “Ad” placed prominently at the start of a caption. Check how the process uses Instagram's Paid partnership label, TikTok's content disclosure setting and YouTube's paid promotion declaration. Platform tools should support clear disclosure, not obscure it.

Turn each claim into a document request: ask for the current contract template, written disclosure policy, privacy notice, complaints route and evidence supporting any case-study claims. Record which documents are missing, then score only material supplied. Our creator contracts selection checklist gives a reusable request format.

A scoring frame you can reuse

Score each criterion from 0 to 4, then weight it. For example, a team paying £400 a month for agency support might weight disclosure process at 35 per cent and contract clarity at 30 per cent, leaving 20 per cent for data protection and 15 per cent for complaints.

A compliance-led brand might shift 10 points from contract clarity to data protection. Record the weightings before scoring, or the result will drift towards the agency with the best-written website.

Turning scores into a decision

Red flags in published material

Missing disclosure policy, contract terms that never mention usage rights, privacy notices with no retention period, and complaints routes that lead only to a contact form are the common failures. Any one of these should pause a shortlist until the agency supplies the document. Two or more together usually mean the agency has not been asked the question before.

Questions to ask before you sign

Ask which platforms the disclosure policy covers, who signs off a post before it goes live, how long creator data is kept, and what happens when a disclosure is missed. Ask for the last three contract disputes and how they ended. The answers, not the score, decide the deal. General guidance only; individual cases need a qualified adviser.

Common questions

Does an agency review replace legal advice?

No. A review compares published documents against a scoring frame. It does not interpret your contract, your tax position or your regulatory status. Instruct a qualified adviser before signing.

How many agencies should a shortlist hold?

Three to five is workable. Fewer limits comparison, more makes scoring inconsistent. Keep the same criteria and weightings for every agency.

Can I score an agency with no published policy?

Yes, but score it zero on that criterion and ask for the document. A refusal to supply one is itself a finding.

How often should scores be refreshed?

At least annually, and whenever an agency changes ownership, platforms or contract terms. Published material goes stale quickly.