This article offers a critical review and evaluation of the statutory environment in which recruitment agencies and businesses ply their trade in the United Kingdom (UK), with specific reference to the employment of overseas teachers. It focuses especially on teachers recruited from the Commonwealth over the period 1999-2005, a significant time during which the regulation of recruitment agencies and part-time working conditions was being prepared by both European Union (EU) and UK law-makers. Reviewing the status of relevant international statutes and case law, this research points to the need for stronger regulation of recruiters and their clients--schools and local education authorities--despite significant efforts in this direction by the UK in the formulation of its Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 and in the adoption of a Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol in September 2004.