Cost
How much do recruitment agencies charge in the UK?
Most UK recruitment agencies work on contingency and charge a percentage of the successful candidate's first-year salary, commonly 15–25%. On a £40,000 salary that is £6,000 to £10,000 plus VAT for one hire, and the fee rises every time the salary does. Retained search is usually 20–33% split into instalments, and flat-fee providers charge a fixed amount per role regardless of salary — ours runs from £399 +VAT to advertise a role yourself up to £4,000 +VAT for a fully managed search.
The three ways UK agencies charge
Contingency — a percentage, paid on success
The dominant model for permanent hiring. The agency is paid only if you hire someone they introduced, and the fee is a percentage of that person's first-year salary — most commonly 15–25%, higher for specialist or scarce skills.
| First-year salary | At 15% | At 20% | At 25% |
|---|---|---|---|
| £30,000 | £4,500 | £6,000 | £7,500 |
| £40,000 | £6,000 | £8,000 | £10,000 |
| £55,000 | £8,250 | £11,000 | £13,750 |
| £75,000 | £11,250 | £15,000 | £18,750 |
All plus VAT. The structural point is easy to miss: the fee is indexed to the salary, not to the work. Filling a £55,000 role is not meaningfully harder than filling a £40,000 one, but it costs £3,000 more.
Retained — a percentage, paid in stages
Used for senior and confidential appointments. Typically 20–33% of package, split across three payments — on instruction, on shortlist, on placement. You are buying committed capacity rather than a lottery ticket, which is the right structure for a role only a handful of people in the country can do. The first instalment is generally non-refundable.
Flat fee — a fixed price per role
A fixed amount regardless of salary. The range in the market is wide because the label covers two genuinely different products:
- Advertising only. Your role is written up and posted to job boards; applications come to you and you do the screening, interviewing and offer management. Ours is £399–£599 +VAT for a 28-day listing.
- Managed search on a flat fee. A recruiter writes the advert, headhunts, screens, interviews and presents a shortlist — the contingency service, priced as a fixed amount. Ours runs £1,500–£4,000 +VAT by salary band, with a 100% refund if the role is not filled.
What hiring actually costs, according to CIPD
Employers are often quoted eye-watering cost-per-hire figures. The best-sourced UK number comes from the CIPD's Resourcing and talent planning report 2024, which asked employers to estimate their own cost per hire including in-house resourcing time, advertising and agency or search fees:
| Group | Median cost per hire |
|---|---|
| Senior managers / directors | £2,000 |
| Other employees | £1,500 |
CIPD is explicit that the sample is small — 246 and 207 respondents respectively, to an accuracy of ±20% — and that variation between organisations is high. The senior figure has fallen from £3,000 in 2022.
Those medians are lower than the £5,000–£6,000 numbers that circulate in recruitment marketing, and worth knowing precisely because they are the figure an employer will compare your quote against.
The comparison that matters
For a single £40,000 hire:
| Route | Typical cost | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Contingency agency at 20% | £8,000 +VAT | Interview the shortlist |
| Flat-fee managed search | £1,500–£2,000 +VAT | Interview the shortlist |
| Flat-fee advertising | £399–£599 +VAT | Screen, shortlist and interview yourself |
| Fully in-house | Your time | Everything |
The gap between rows two and three is not a discount — it is a different amount of work landing on you. Our own pipeline data puts a number on that work: about 26 candidates screened for every hire. If you have the hours, advertising is the cheapest sensible option. If you do not, the question is whether that screening is worth £8,000 or £1,500.
What to ask before you sign anything
- Is the percentage applied to base salary or total package? The difference on a role with a car allowance and bonus can be thousands.
- What exactly triggers the fee? "Introduced" can be defined broadly enough to cover a candidate who later applies to you directly.
- What does the rebate actually pay? Cash back, or a credit against another search? Over what period, and does it survive a redundancy?
- What happens if the role is not filled? On contingency, nothing is owed — but nothing has been guaranteed either. Ask what commitment exists.
- Is the price the price? Advertising, psychometrics and background checks are sometimes billed separately.
Where we sit
We publish our prices because a fixed fee that has to be quoted on a call is not really fixed. Advertising is £399, £499 or £599 +VAT depending on the package. Guaranteed Hire — the managed service — is £1,500 to £4,000 +VAT by salary band, with a 100% refund if we do not fill the role. Roles above £80,000 go to a retained search at £6,000 +VAT.
Whether that is better value than 20% depends entirely on the salary you are hiring at. At £25,000 the gap is small. At £55,000 it is roughly £9,000 for the same outcome.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage do recruitment agencies charge in the UK?
Contingency agencies most commonly charge 15–25% of the candidate's first-year salary, with specialist and executive search running higher. The percentage is usually applied to base salary, though some firms apply it to the total package including bonus and car allowance — worth checking before you sign.
How much does it cost to hire someone in the UK?
CIPD's 2024 survey put the median cost per hire at £1,500 for most employees and £2,000 for senior managers and directors, including in-house time, advertising and agency fees. Those medians sit well below the figures often quoted in the market, and CIPD itself notes the sample is small and the variation high.
Is a recruitment agency fee negotiable?
Usually, yes — particularly on multiple roles or exclusivity. What is rarely negotiable is the structure: a percentage fee still rises with salary, and a discount on a percentage is still a percentage.
Do you pay a recruitment agency if the person leaves?
That depends entirely on the rebate clause, which is where most disputes start. Read what triggers it, how long it lasts, and whether it pays cash back or only credits a replacement search — those are very different promises.
Sources
More hiring guides
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.
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