Referral fees for marketing agencies: what the rules actually say

Agencies refer constantly: the web developer who can't do paid media, the PR firm whose client needs a rebrand, the freelancer network trading leads. Commissions of 10% to 15% of first-year fees are a common shape, and nothing in UK law forbids them. The obligations are the quiet, general ones. Bribery Act 2010: disclosed commission is fine; concealed payments intended to corrupt a recommendation are not, and the Act's reach is long. Contract: retainer agreements with larger clients often include conflict clauses that an undisclosed kickback would breach. And reputation, which in a referral-driven industry is the actual currency. The one-line disclosure — 'we have a commercial arrangement with the firm we're recommending' — costs nothing and converts a potential embarrassment into ordinary business. Most clients read it as a sign you have a real network. Which you do.

Here is the hazard specific to marketing. Under section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, communicating an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity — a financial promotion — is a criminal offence unless you are FCA-authorised or the promotion is approved by an authorised firm. Maximum penalty: two years' imprisonment. Agencies touch this whenever a client is a financial adviser, a wealth manager, a lender, or anything crypto-shaped: the landing page you wrote, the paid social ad you launched, the email sequence you automated can each be a financial promotion. The safe operating rule is that the authorised client signs off every piece before it ships, and your contract says compliance approval is theirs. Since October 2023 the net tightened further around cryptoasset promotions specifically. This is not a corner to learn about from a regulator's letter.

Separate question: your e-commerce client just sold the business, and you know an adviser. Can you make the introduction and take a fee? Yes. Making introductions to authorised firms is permitted for unauthorised businesses, and being paid for them is too. The boundary is behavioural: introduce, never advise. 'Meet this authorised adviser' is safe; 'you want that in a pension before April' is regulated advice from an unregulated agency, which is the same criminal statute as above wearing different clothes. Then the housekeeping: get the person's agreement before passing their details (UK GDPR applies to referrals like any other data share), disclose the fee to them plainly, and record the arrangement in writing with the adviser — trigger, amount, duration. Three sentences of process. A recurring revenue line many agencies never think to build.