Most employers come to an agency because something has gone wrong: a contract has landed early, a team is short before a busy period, or a permanent hire has fallen through. That pressure makes it tempting to go with whoever answers the phone first or quotes the lowest rate. A bit of homework at the start saves a lot of trouble later, so here is what we would look at if we were in your position.
Start with what you actually need
Before you speak to anyone, be clear about the work. How many people, for how long, on what shifts, and with which tickets or licences? A warehouse that needs ten pickers for a six week peak has very different needs from a site manager looking for a CSCS carded labourer who can start tomorrow. Write it down in a few lines. A good agency will ask you these questions anyway, and if they do not, that tells you something.
It also helps to decide up front if you want temporary cover, a temp-to-perm route or a straightforward permanent hire. Some agencies are strong in one and weak in the others, so ask what proportion of their work looks like yours.
Questions worth asking any agency
You will learn more from a twenty minute conversation than from any brochure. These are the questions we suggest putting to every agency on your shortlist:
- Which sectors and roles do you supply most often, and in which areas of the country?
- How do you find candidates, and how quickly can you usually fill a role like mine?
- What checks do you carry out before someone starts: right to work, references, licences, cards, DBS where relevant?
- Who employs and pays the workers, and how are they paid?
- Who will be my day to day contact, and what happens out of hours if someone does not turn up?
- What insurance do you hold, such as employer's liability and public liability?
- What are your terms if I want to take a temporary worker on permanently?
Listen for specific answers. "We have a big database" is not the same as "we placed four forklift drivers in that area last month and two of them are available".
Compliance is your problem too
When an agency supplies workers, it normally carries out the right to work checks and handles pay, but a poor agency can still leave you exposed. Ask to see how they check documents and how they keep records. For security work, every operative doing licensable activity needs a valid SIA licence for the right sector. On construction sites, most principal contractors expect CSCS or equivalent cards. If the agency is vague on any of this, move on.
Agencies in the UK operate under the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. If you work in agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering or the processing and packaging of those products, the agency will also need a licence from the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. You can check current requirements on GOV.UK.
Charge rates and margins, explained simply
The charge rate is the hourly amount the agency invoices you. It is not the same as what the worker takes home. Broadly, it is made up of three parts:
- The worker's pay rate, which must be at least the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for their age.
- Employment costs the agency has to pay on top, such as employer's National Insurance, holiday pay, workplace pension contributions and, for larger businesses, the Apprenticeship Levy.
- The agency margin, which covers their staff, compliance work, insurance, payroll and profit.
When you compare quotes, ask each agency to break the charge rate down in this way. If one is far cheaper than the rest, something has to give. Usually it is the worker's pay, holiday pay being rolled up incorrectly, or workers being pushed onto arrangements that cut corners. A transparent agency will happily walk you through the numbers.
Red flags to watch for
Most problems we hear about from employers who switched to us started with one of these signs:
- They cannot or will not explain how their charge rate is built up.
- They promise to fill any role, anywhere, the same day.
- Workers arrive without the documents, cards or licences you were told they had.
- Pay complaints from workers start reaching your supervisors.
- There is no named contact, or calls go unanswered when a shift falls through.
- The terms of business are missing, unclear or keep changing.
Give it a trial and review it
You do not need to hand over your whole requirement on day one. Start with a few roles, agree what good looks like (attendance, quality of work, speed of replacement) and review it after a few weeks. A decent agency will welcome the feedback and fix problems before you have to raise them twice.
If you are weighing up options for temporary staffing or a permanent hire, we are glad to talk it through with no obligation. You can get in touch with our team and we will give you straight answers to every question on this list.
