What's the difference between Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus?

Cyber Essentials is a verified self-assessment against five security controls. Cyber Essentials Plus tests the same controls with a hands-on technical audit by a licensed assessor. You must hold Cyber Essentials before doing Plus.

Do you do the work, or just assess us?

We do the work. Foresight runs the gap analysis, carries out hands-on remediation, prepares the evidence and liaises with the assessor, so you pass first time rather than paying to re-sit a failed audit.

How much does Cyber Essentials cost?

The IASME assessment fee is tiered by size from around £320 + VAT and includes £25,000 cyber liability insurance for eligible UK businesses. Cyber Essentials Plus is scoped to your estate, typically from around £1,380 + VAT.

Recruitment

AI for Recruitment Agencies: where can recruitment agencies use AI safely?

AI can save your team real hours — here’s where it genuinely helps recruitment agencies, where to be careful, and how to use it safely.

Book an AI Readiness Audit Call 0161 738 1399

Why Foresight

Cyber Essentials Plus certified
Microsoft CSP & Copilot specialists
Greater Manchester, since 2006
Honest advice — not licence-selling

Quick answer

Recruitment agencies can use AI to move faster — drafting job adverts, summarising CVs, writing candidate and client emails, and researching — but hiring decisions must stay with a human to avoid bias and unfairness, and candidate personal data must stay in secure tools. Used well, AI handles the admin so consultants spend more time with people.

Where AI helps

Practical uses for recruitment agencies

Area	Where AI fits
Adverts & content	Drafting job ads and posts — Copilot
Screening support	Summarising CVs — with human review
Comms	Candidate and client emails — Copilot
Hiring decisions	Stay with a human — to avoid bias

Doing it safely

Governance first

Candidate personal data is sensitive, and automated hiring decisions risk bias — keep a human making the call. Before rolling anything out, tidy permissions, put a simple AI usage policy in place, keep sensitive data out of public tools, and keep a human in the loop — all part of our AI Adoption service. See also IT support for professional services.

Free downloads

Start today with our templates

The same free, ready-to-use templates we use in our audits:

“Day in the Life” AI template

Find exactly where AI will save your team time.

Download →

AI Usage Policy template

A short, practical AI policy to keep your data safe.

Download →

FAQs

Common questions

Can recruitment agencies use AI?

Yes — for drafting ads, summarising, emails and research. Keep a human making hiring decisions and keep candidate data in secure tools.

Is AI safe for candidate data?

Only in secure, permission-respecting tools — never public ones. Candidate personal data is sensitive and must be handled under GDPR.

Can AI screen or shortlist candidates?

It can summarise and assist, but a human should review and decide — automated shortlisting risks bias and unfair outcomes.

Will AI replace recruiters?

No — it removes admin so consultants spend more time building relationships and placing candidates, which AI can’t do.

Put AI to work — safely

Start with a fixed-fee AI Readiness Audit and get a clear, honest plan — and the licences you actually need.

See AI Adoption as a Service Call 0161 738 1399