Most UK recruitment agencies charge 15% to 30% of a candidate’s first-year salary, with headhunters going up to 30%. On a £35,000 hire, that’s £5,250 to £10,500. Flat-fee services charge the same amount regardless of salary, Get Staffed’s runs from £249.
That’s the short answer. Below is where the number actually comes from, what the other fee models look like, and what the same hire costs if you don’t use a percentage-based agency at all.
What percentage do recruitment agencies charge?
Standard permanent placement fees sit between 15% and 30% of the role’s first-year salary. Where you land in that range depends on how hard the role is to fill: entry-level and high-volume roles sit at the bottom, specialist and senior roles at the top.
Here’s what that looks like in pounds:
| First-year salary | At 15% | At 20% | At 25% | At 30% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25,000 | £3,750 | £5,000 | £6,250 | £7,500 |
| £35,000 | £5,250 | £7,000 | £8,750 | £10,500 |
| £45,000 | £6,750 | £9,000 | £11,250 | £13,500 |
| £60,000 | £9,000 | £12,000 | £15,000 | £18,000 |
| £80,000 | £12,000 | £16,000 | £20,000 | £24,000 |
All figures plus VAT.
The fee is tied to the salary, not to the effort — a £60,000 hire isn’t twice the work of a £30,000 one, but at the same percentage it costs twice as much.
What the UK’s largest agencies actually charge
The table above is illustrative , a standard percentage applied to a round salary. Public company accounts give a real number to anchor it against.
Hays plc, one of the UK’s largest recruitment agencies, reported net fees of £972.4m for the year to 30 June 2025, with 38% generated from permanent placements, around £369.5m, across c.43,000 permanent placements. This is roughly an £8,600 fee per permanent placement, blended across every salary level, sector and region Hays operates in. That’s Hays’ own reported figures divided out, not an industry estimate.
PageGroup reported gross profit of £769.5m for full year 2025, against more than 140,000 total placements (their “lives changed” metric, permanent and temporary combined). That gives a blended average of roughly £5,500 per placement, pulled down by lower-margin temporary work. PageGroup doesn’t publish permanent placements separately from temp, so their permanent-only average is almost certainly higher than this blended figure, but there isn’t a clean way to isolate it from what they disclose. Treat this one as a rougher steer than the Hays number.
| Agency | Period | Avg. fee per placement | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hays plc | FY2025 (to 30 Jun 2025) | ~£8,600 | Permanent placements only |
| PageGroup | FY2025 | ~£5,500 | Blended, perm + temp |
Sources: Hays plc FY2025 Annual Report & Accounts (year to 30 June 2025); PageGroup plc Full Year 2025 results. Per-placement averages calculated by dividing each company's own reported figures — not disclosed directly by either company.
The three ways agencies charge
Contingency: you pay only if they place someone
Contingency is the most common model, the agency is paid a percentage of salary, but only once a candidate they introduced accepts the role.
Typical range is 15% to 25%, with several agencies racing to fill the same brief. Nothing is owed if no placement is made, but nothing is guaranteed either. There will often be a claw back % agreed if a candidate leaves shortly, up to 1 year, after joining.
Retained search: staged payments for hard-to-fill roles or strategic relationships
Retained search has become more popular with recruiters as it allows them to build more strategic relationships with employers, but they often ask for exclusivity on roles, moving them away from the traditionally competitive preferred supplier lists (PSL).
Fees run higher, typically 25% to 35%, because you’re paying for dedicated search time rather than a chance at a database match. The first instalment is generally non-refundable, whatever happens next.
Flat fee: one price regardless of salary
Flat-fee services charge a fixed amount to advertise and manage a role, with no percentage attached to the eventual salary.
The trade-off is what’s included. A pure advertising package puts your job in front of candidates and leaves the screening to you. A managed flat-fee service adds shortlisting, CV screening, or interview support on top, still for a fixed price.
What the same hire actually costs, by route
| Route | Cost on a £35,000 hire | What you do yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Contingency agency (20%) | £7,000 +VAT | Interview the shortlist |
| Retained search (30%) | £10,500 +VAT | Interview the shortlist |
| Get Staffed flat fee | £249–£349 +VAT | Screen and interview yourself, with AI shortlisting and a free ATS to help |
The gap between a percentage agency and a flat-fee service isn’t a discount on the same product, it’s a different amount of screening work landing on you. Whether that trade is worth it depends on whether you’ve got the hours to review applications yourself, or the tools to make that fast.
What the CIPD says hiring actually costs
The CIPD’s 2024 Resourcing and Talent Planning Report (Table 1) asked UK employers to estimate their own median cost per hire, including in-house time, advertising, and any agency or search fees:
| Role type | Median cost per hire (2024) |
|---|---|
| Senior managers / directors | £2,000 |
| Other employees | £1,500 |
Source: CIPD Resourcing and Talent Planning Report 2024, Table 1.
Those figures include every route to hire, not agency fees alone, but they’re a useful reality check against a £7,000+ contingency invoice for a single mid-level role. CIPD notes the sample size is modest (207–246 respondents) and that variation between organisations is high, so treat it as a benchmark rather than a rule.
Rebate terms: what happens if the hire leaves
Most contingency and retained agreements include a rebate period, a window where the agency owes you money back, or a free replacement search, if the placement doesn’t work out. A typical sliding scale looks like this:
| Time since start date | Typical rebate |
|---|---|
| Within 4 weeks | 100% |
| 4–8 weeks | 50–75% |
| 8–12 weeks | 25–50% |
| After 12 weeks | None |
Terms vary by agency and aren’t standardised, so this is only a common pattern, not a promise. Always get the exact percentages and trigger conditions in writing before you sign.
What to ask before you sign
Is the percentage on base salary or total package? Car allowance and bonus can change the fee by thousands.
What actually triggers the fee? Some agencies count any candidate who later applies to you directly within a set period, even without their involvement.
What does the rebate actually pay out? Cash back, or only a credit toward another search — and does it survive redundancy?
Is the quoted price the whole price? Advertising, background checks, and psychometric testing are sometimes billed separately.
What happens if the role goes unfilled? On contingency you owe nothing, but you’ve also had no guarantee anyone would be found.
Or skip the percentage altogether
If what you actually need is the advertising reach and screening tools a recruiter uses, without the salary-linked fee, that’s what Get Staffed’s flat-fee packages are built for: your job posted across the UK’s major job boards, a free applicant tracking system, AI shortlisting, and pre-qualifying questions. Pricing starts from £249, whatever the salary on the role. We offer new clients a free trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do recruitment agencies charge in the UK?
Most charge 15% to 30% of the candidate’s first-year salary for permanent roles, with the percentage rising for senior or specialist positions. Temporary and contract roles are charged differently,as a markup on the worker’s hourly or daily rate, not a percentage of salary.
What is the average recruitment agency fee?
For standard permanent roles, most contingency agencies charge between 15% and 20%. Specialist, senior, or hard-to-fill roles typically run from 20% to 30% or higher. Hays plc, one of the UK’s largest agencies, reported an average permanent placement fee of roughly £8,600 in its FY2025 accounts.
Do you pay a recruitment agency if the hire leaves?
That depends on the rebate clause in your agreement. Most agencies offer a sliding-scale refund or free replacement if the hire leaves within a set period, commonly 4 to 12 weeks, but terms and trigger conditions vary by agency and should be confirmed in writing before you sign.
Is a recruitment agency fee negotiable?
Often, yes, particularly for multiple roles or exclusivity on a single search. What’s rarely negotiable is the structure itself, a percentage fee still scales with salary, however much the headline number moves.
How much does it cost to hire someone without an agency?
CIPD’s 2024 survey put the UK median cost per hire, including in-house time and advertising, at £1,500 for most roles and £2,000 for senior managers and directors. Flat-fee job advertising services sit below that range, Get Staffed’s start from £249, but we offer a free trial to new clients.
