AI for recruitment screening (micro team, fair process)

By Jason Sibley

What this is for, and who it's for

This is for a small UK business hiring for one role at a time, considering an AI tool to help sort through CVs or applications, without a dedicated HR function to lean on. It matters more than most AI guides in this series because the rules here aren't just best practice — they're UK data protection law (UK GDPR, enforced by the ICO) and the Equality Act 2010, and the regulator has been actively auditing AI recruitment tools and publishing specific findings about where they go wrong. This is not tax, employment law, or legal advice — for your specific situation, get advice from ACAS, a solicitor, or your professional body. This guide is about the practical questions to ask before and while using AI screening.

What people get wrong

They assume the AI vendor has sorted compliance for them. The ICO's own audit of AI recruitment tools found tools that l