Employment agency registration and licence checks
Conduct regulations require records and checks for every candidate placed, kept ready for inspection rather than assembled afterwards.
For recruiters
The recruiter's year of placements, rebate periods and candidate compliance
A recruiter's fee depends on a candidate being chased, a client being updated and a compliance file that is complete before the placement starts.
No account needed to see the proposed desk.
The recurring work
What recruiters have to keep on top of
Every one of these has a date attached, a document behind it, and somebody who notices when it slips. This is what goes on the desk.
Professional indemnity renewal
Annual cover for the agency, with the limit set against the largest placement fee likely in the year.
Terms of business per client
Signed terms covering the fee, the rebate period and the introduction basis, reissued whenever a client's buying process changes.
Candidate compliance file
Right to work, qualifications, references and any sector registration gathered for each candidate before the start date.
Contract and timesheet collection
Signed contracts and weekly approved timesheets collected before the payroll cut-off, since payment depends on them.
Placement and rebate dates
Start dates, guarantee windows and rebate periods diarised so an early leaver is raised inside the window rather than after it.
Payroll RTI submissions
A full payment submission for contractor and temporary payroll on or before every pay day, with pension duties alongside it.
Client vacancy updates
Regular shortlists and status notes for each live role, because an unworked vacancy is filled by another agency.
VAT returns
Quarterly returns on the agency's own quarter ends, with placement fees accounted for in the period the invoice is raised.
Vacancy and candidate marketing consent
Data protection records showing consent or legitimate interest for every candidate held on the database, refreshed on a cycle.
What it costs to carry it
The job is a race on two fronts at once. Candidates go cold in days, clients move the goalposts, and the paperwork only matters at the point it is missing, which is the morning someone is due to start. A compliance file with a gap, or a rebate deadline noticed a week too late, takes a fee off the board after the work is done.
What the desk takes over
The desk works this list to its own schedule and reports what it did.
The candidate chase
Shortlisted candidates, submitted profiles and interview confirmations followed up on a fixed cycle until an answer lands.
Compliance chasing
Right to work, references, qualifications and contracts requested from each candidate and tracked to complete before the start date.
Placement calendar
Start dates, guarantee windows and rebate periods watched and surfaced before the date passes, not after.
Client updates
Shortlist summaries and vacancy progress notes drafted from the live file and sent on the client's own rhythm.
What stays with the recruiter
The recruiter still runs the interview, makes the judgement call and negotiates the fee. The desk runs the chasing, the diary and the record-keeping that sit around that judgement.
Questions
Can the desk check a candidate's right to work?
It requests the documents and keeps the dated record. Where a check needs an identity document held or a share code entered by hand, that step is handed to the recruiter.
How are rebate periods tracked?
Each placement carries its own start date, guarantee window and rebate end, so a leaver inside the window is raised while the claim is still live.
Does the desk hold candidate data?
It keeps the records the agency needs for compliance and lets the recruiter decide how long each should be retained. A copy stays under the agency's control.
Put the recruiter's recurring work on the desk
Start with a name, a website and one sentence about what the business does. The desk proposes the list; the recruiter corrects it.