How to
How to hire without paying a 20% agency fee
A 20% agency fee is £5,000 on a £25,000 hire and £9,000 on a £45,000 one. Four routes avoid it. Advertising direct with a job board costs whatever you negotiate, because none of the big boards publishes a rate. A flat-fee multi-board advert is published and costs £99 to £599 +VAT, but leaves all the screening with you — a median of 26 candidates worked per hire. A flat-fee managed search costs £1,500 to £4,000 +VAT and does the screening for you. Your own network and referrals cost nothing but rarely cover a specialist role. The choice comes down to two questions: what the role pays, and whether anyone in your business genuinely has evenings free.
What the fee actually is
Before choosing a route, it helps to see the number you are avoiding. Contingency agencies typically charge 15–25% of first-year salary:
| Salary | At 15% | At 20% | At 25% |
|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | £3,750 | £5,000 | £6,250 |
| £30,000 | £4,500 | £6,000 | £7,500 |
| £35,000 | £5,250 | £7,000 | £8,750 |
| £45,000 | £6,750 | £9,000 | £11,250 |
| £60,000 | £9,000 | £12,000 | £15,000 |
Two things worth knowing before you rule it out. Those rates are negotiable, especially on volume. And contingency means you pay nothing if they never fill it — the risk of a failed search sits with them, which is a real thing you are giving up when you move away from it.
Route 1 — advertise direct with a job board
Cost: whatever you negotiate. None of the major UK boards publishes a rate — we checked Reed, CV-Library, Indeed and Totaljobs in a browser on 6 September 2026 and not one of the four published a price we could read. You will be speaking to a salesperson.
Good for: a role with a deep active pool, when you already have an account and a relationship.
The catch: one board reaches one audience. If you do not already know which board works for your role, you are buying a guess.
Route 2 — a flat-fee multi-board advert
Cost: published, and low. Hiring People's Starter at £99, AWD online at £224 +VAT, ours at £399, £499 or £599 +VAT for a 28-day listing. No commission when you hire.
Good for: most straightforward roles where you have someone to work the applications. Office manager, administrator, warehouse, customer service, many junior finance roles.
The catch, and it is the whole catch: nobody reads the applications for you.
The number that decides between routes 2 and 3
Across the 46 roles we filled and publish in full:
| Stage | Candidates |
|---|---|
| Sourced and screened | 1,542 |
| Presented to the client | 235 |
| Client interviews | 143 |
| Hires | 51 |
A median of 26 candidates worked per hire, of whom about 15% were worth presenting. Most of those calls happen after 6pm, because the candidate is at work during the day.
That is the honest cost of a £99 advert. Not the £99 — the twenty-six conversations. If a manager or coordinator genuinely has those evenings, take route 2 and keep the money. If they have the intention but not the hours, the applications sit unread for ten days, the strong candidates accept something else, and you buy a second advert in six weeks.
Route 3 — a flat-fee managed search
Cost: a fixed fee by salary band rather than a percentage. Ours is £1,500 to £4,000 +VAT with a 100% refund if the role is not filled. Recruitment Revolution publish £2,495 to £5,995 +VAT. Flat Fee Recruiter's Proactive Outreach is £1,500.
Good for: roles at £30,000 and above where nobody has the screening time, and anything where the candidates you want are not actively applying.
The saving, concretely: on a £45,000 hire, £3,000 against £9,000 at 20%. On a £60,000 hire, £4,000 against £12,000. The percentage climbs with the salary; the work does not.
The catch: you generally pay up front, so ask what happens if the role is never filled and get the answer in writing. It is the single clause that separates otherwise similar offers.
Route 4 — your own network
Cost: nothing, plus a referral bonus if you run one.
Good for: roles where your existing team knows the market — trades, care, hospitality, most junior roles.
The catch: it works until it does not, and it quietly narrows who you hire. Fine as a first port of call, unreliable as a strategy.
How to choose, in two questions
1. What does the role pay?
- Under £25,000 — routes 2 and 4 first. The percentage you are avoiding is small enough that a good local agency may still be worth it.
- £25,000 to £45,000 — route 2 if you have screening time, route 3 if you do not. This is where the decision is genuinely live.
- Above £45,000 — route 3. The saving against a percentage is thousands, and the candidates you want are rarely applying to adverts.
2. Who is doing the screening, by name?
If you cannot name the person and point at the hours in their week, do not buy advertising, whatever it costs. That is the mistake we see most often, and it is expensive in a way that never shows up on an invoice.
A worked example
An office manager in Manchester at £32,000. A 20% agency fee is £6,400.
- Route 2: a £399 advert. Office manager is a role with a deep active pool in a city that size, so an advert will produce applications. Budget an evening a week for three weeks to work them properly.
- Route 3: £2,000 +VAT — the £30,000–£44,999 band — with the screening done for you and a full refund if it is not filled.
Either beats £6,400. Which one is right depends entirely on the answer to question two.
Related: is flat fee cheaper than an agency for a £45,000 hire, which UK companies charge a fixed fee, and how to write a job advert that works.
Frequently asked questions
How can I hire without paying a 20% recruitment agency fee?
Four routes. Advertise direct with a job board and screen the applications yourself. Buy a flat-fee multi-board advert, published at £99 to £599 +VAT, and still screen yourself. Buy a flat-fee managed search at £1,500 to £4,000 +VAT, where a recruiter screens and shortlists for you. Or hire through your own network and referrals, which is free but unreliable for specialist roles.
How much is a 20% agency fee on a UK hire?
£5,000 on a £25,000 salary, £7,000 on £35,000, £9,000 on £45,000 and £12,000 on £60,000. Contingency rates usually sit between 15% and 25%, and they are negotiable — particularly if you are hiring several roles a year.
How do I hire an office manager without using a recruiter?
Office manager is one of the roles where doing it yourself works best, because there is a deep pool of active candidates in most UK cities. Buy a multi-board advert from £99 to £599 +VAT, write the advert around the specific systems and responsibilities rather than generic phrasing, and set aside real time to work the applications within 48 hours of them arriving.
Is it cheaper to hire without an agency?
On fee, almost always. On outcome, only if someone actually does the work an agency would have done. Across our own filled roles it took a median of 26 candidates worked to produce one hire, and only about 15% of those were worth presenting. If nobody has those hours, the cheap route costs more in an unfilled seat than it saves in fees.
Do flat-fee recruiters charge commission on the salary?
No. The fee is agreed before the search and does not move with the salary agreed. That is the whole point of the model, and it is why the saving against a percentage grows as the role gets more senior.
Sources
Want the fixed price for your role?
Advertise it yourself from £399 +VAT, or hand the whole search to a dedicated recruiter with Guaranteed Hire — a flat fee by salary band with a 100% refund if the role is not filled.
See Guaranteed Hire Advertise a job
Or call 0161 327 2895.