Recruitment agency fees for permanent hires in the UK typically run between 12% and 30% of first-year salary, per hire. Everyone knows that. What almost nobody does is add it up, because the fees arrive as separate invoices, spread across the year, signed off one at a time. Set the three sliders below to your numbers and see the annual total in one place. Fair warning: it's usually bigger than people expect. No email required. No data shared with us. Just the number that never appears on any single invoice.
THE AGENCY FEE CALCULATOR
WHAT IS AGENCY USE REALLY COSTING YOU PER YEAR?
UK recruitment agency fees for permanent hires typically run 12–30% of first-year salary, per hire.
Agency fee, per hire (shown as months of that person's salary)
Spread across invoices, it's easy to miss. In one number, it isn't
Agency fees don't get cheaper with volume, the 20th hire costs exactly the same percentage as the first.
Predictable pricing, not a fee every time
Vermelo's RPO and Embedded Talent (RaaS) models replace per-hire agency fees with fixed, predictable hiring costs, so cost per hire falls as you scale, instead of staying stuck at the same percentage no matter how many roles you fill.
How we work this out
This calculator covers permanent hiring only - contract recruitment is charged differently, as a margin on the day rate for as long as the contractor stays. For permanent fees, it's simple arithmetic on the numbers you enter: salary × fee % gives the cost per hire; that, multiplied by hires needed, gives the annual total. The "months of salary" figure is fee % × 12. It's not a quote, and it doesn't assume anything about what Vermelo would charge, that depends on volume, role complexity and model, and is worth a proper conversation. Nothing you enter here is stored or sent anywhere.
Bigger than you expected? Why agency costs get out of control, and how to bring them back covers the fixes, and the hidden costs this calculator doesn't include.
I've got my number, what next?
-
01
Want to talk about an alternative?
Fixed, predictable hiring costs instead of a fee every time. That's what RPO and Embedded Talent are built for. A 20-minute call will tell you whether it stacks up for your volume.
Book a call -
02
Is capacity the real problem?
If agency spend is high because your team can't get to the roles, the fee isn't the problem, the capacity is. The Recruitment Capacity Check tells you whether your team is sized for the hiring plan before you spend any more.
Check your team's capacity -
03
Want to compare your options properly?
RPO, Embedded Talent, MSP, advisory - our Solution Finder walks through all six models against what you're actually dealing with.
Try the solution finder
Frequently asked questions
Agency fees, how they're calculated, and what the calculator does and doesn't cover.
-
Fees for permanent hires typically range from 12% to 30% of the successful candidate's first-year salary, charged per hire - the no-placement-no-fee model most agencies work on. Fees at the higher end usually apply to senior, specialist or hard-to-fill roles; retained and executive search arrangements are often higher again.
-
Salary multiplied by the agreed fee percentage. A £45,000 hire at a 20% fee costs £9,000 - the equivalent of about 2.4 months of that person's salary, paid in fees before they've done a day's work.
-
Rarely, in a standard per-hire fee model. The twentieth hire costs the same percentage as the first, which is why annual agency spend scales in a straight line with hiring volume and why businesses with sustained hiring needs look at models with fixed or falling cost per hire, such as RPO or Embedded Talent.
-
For regular or high-volume permanent hiring, models like Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Embedded Talent (RaaS) replace per-hire fees with a predictable cost structure, so cost per hire falls as volume rises. Which fits best depends on your volume and how long the demand lasts.
-
No, it covers permanent placement fees only. Contract recruitment is charged as a margin on the contractor's day rate, paid for the duration of the assignment, which is a different cost model with its own overheads around suppliers, rates and IR35. If contractors are a big part of your spend, that's an MSP conversation.
-
It does exact arithmetic on the numbers you enter - your salary levels, your hire count, your fee percentage. What it deliberately doesn't do is quote what Vermelo would charge, because that depends on volume, role mix and model. That's a conversation, not a slider.