Rules and ethics
Part of When to check content agency rules and ethics before you brief
Before you publish a content agencies disclosure policy
How to write a content agencies disclosure policy in England: paid promotion labels, data protection duties and the records that make a campaign defensible.
What to take away
- Most teams write the disclosure policy after a campaign has gone live, then rebuild the paperwork to fit. Draft it first.
- Paid promotion must be identifiable as advertising under the CAP Code, which the Advertising Standards Authority enforces across the UK.
- Client campaign data sits inside UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, with ICO guidance covering business-to-business outreach.
- Staff and freelancers need written disclosure duties, not a paragraph in a pitch deck.
Decide what needs disclosing
Test each arrangement against one question: would a reasonable reader know it is promotional before engaging? The CAP Code requires marketing communications to be obviously identifiable. A hashtag buried after twenty others does not meet that bar.
Name the label position in the policy, not just the wording. The enforcement picture is mapped in our content agencies UK rules and compliance guide, which is worth reading before you brief a client.
Set the label standard
Pick one label per channel. Common choices are "Ad", "Paid partnership" and "Sponsored". Three variants across one campaign invites confusion.
Label standard by channel
Video
- Label placement
- On screen and description
- Who checks
- Named role
- Label wording
- One per channel
Audio
- Label placement
- First thirty seconds
- Who checks
- Named role
- Label wording
- One per channel
For video, put the label on screen and in the description. For audio, state it in the first thirty seconds. Record who checks the label before publication, naming the role rather than the person.
If a client wants a weaker label, record the request and the advice you gave. That note separates a judgement call from a lapse.
Data protection duties
Client campaigns collect data, from lead forms to remarketing pixels. The ICO's business-to-business marketing guidance explains when consent or a legitimate interest assessment is needed.
Map each campaign to a lawful basis and a retention period. Statements such as "we keep data as long as needed" will not survive scrutiny.
Older templates may still cite the Data Protection Act 1998, superseded by the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. Check client templates for that reference before reuse.
Client and staff duties
Put disclosure obligations in the client contract, not a side email. The contract should state who approves labels, who holds the records and how quickly corrections are issued.
Staff and freelancers need the same duties in writing. A contributor who posts without a label creates the same risk as a campaign manager who forgets one.
Professional bodies take a similar line. The CIPR's professional code of conduct expects members to be transparent about paid arrangements, a useful benchmark even where membership is voluntary.
Campaign rules can differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our guide to content agencies UK regulations in England sets out the England position.
Worked example
An agency runs a paid partnership for a client. The fee is £6,000, split as £4,500 to the agency and £1,500 to the creator. The creator posts without a label.
A complaint reaches the ASA. The agency must produce its policy, the signed contract, the label approval and the brief. Two of the four are missing.
The cost is not the fee. It is the staff time spent rebuilding records, plus the reputational damage when the client asks why the label was absent. For example, a team spending fifteen hours at £50 an hour loses £750 of billable capacity.
Review and record keeping
Review the policy every six months and after any complaint. Platform features and guidance move faster than annual reviews assume.
Keep approval trails for at least two years, stored where the client can retrieve them. Assign one owner, because shared ownership is how disclosures get missed.
This is general guidance only. Individual campaigns and contracts need advice from a qualified solicitor or compliance adviser.
Common questions
Does a disclosure policy need to cover organic posts?
It should cover any post with a commercial connection, including gifted products and affiliate links. Fully independent editorial content sits outside the policy, but document why.
Who is responsible if a creator omits a label?
The agency and the brand can both be held responsible for advertising they commissioned. Put the duty in the contract and verify the post before it goes live.
How long should we keep disclosure records?
Two years is a workable minimum for approval trails and client instructions. Longer periods may be needed for data protection records.
Does the policy differ across the UK?
Advertising rules apply UK-wide, while some data and contract points differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. State the England position and flag where it varies.
