Temporary cover and permanent staff for your care service

Three ways we can help

What we need from you to book

• The name and full address of the service, including the postcode
• The role, how many staff, and the dates and exact shift times
• Who the worker will support, and any skills or experience the shift needs, such as hoist transfers, PEG feeding or de-escalation
• Whether the worker needs to drive, and whether a car is provided
• Who they report to on arrival, where to park, and what to wear
• A named contact who can sign timesheets

For a permanent post we also ask for the job description, the salary and benefits, the working pattern and your interview dates.

How a charge rate is built

A charge rate for temporary cover is more than the worker’s hourly pay. We show you each part before you agree a rate:

Worker’s pay

The hourly rate the worker receives. It can never be below the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage for the worker’s age.

Holiday pay

The paid holiday the worker builds up for the hours they work.

Employer’s National Insurance

The employer’s contribution we pay on the worker’s earnings.

Pension

Our employer contribution when the worker is enrolled in a workplace pension.

Our margin

What covers our screening, compliance work, payroll, office costs and profit.

Rates for nights, weekends, bank holidays and short notice are agreed in advance and written into the terms. Under the Agency Workers Regulations, a temporary worker who has spent 12 weeks in the same job with you is entitled to the same pay, working time, rest breaks and annual leave as if you had employed them directly, so the rate can change at that point. We raise it with you before it happens.

What you receive with each worker

The Conduct Regulations say what we must confirm before we introduce or supply someone: their identity, their experience, training and qualifications, any registration the job needs, and that they are willing to do the work. For work with vulnerable people we must also hold copies of their qualifications and two references from people who are not relatives. Before a worker’s first shift, you receive a profile that confirms:

Identity and right to work

The documents we checked, how we checked them and the date.

Criminal record check

The type and level of check, the barred list checked, the certificate date, and whether the worker is on the DBS Update Service.

References and work history

Who gave the references, the dates of the worker’s recent care jobs, and the explanation for any gaps.

Qualifications and training

Care qualifications, the training topics completed and when.

Professional registration

NMC PIN and expiry for nurses, and registration with Social Work England, SSSC, Social Care Wales or NISCC where the role needs it.

Experience

The settings and people the worker is used to, from our interview with them.

You can ask to see the documents behind the profile at any time. Our screening page explains each check and the law behind it.

Terms agreed in writing before any introduction

We send you our terms of business when you first contact us, and nobody is introduced or supplied until you have agreed them in writing. In Northern Ireland the conduct regulations require an employment business to agree terms with the hirer first. In England, Scotland and Wales that requirement was removed in 2016, but we still work this way, because written terms protect your service and the worker.

The terms cover whether we are acting as an employment agency or an employment business, our charge rates and fees, invoicing, cancellations, transfer fees, and what happens if a worker is not right for your service.

Nothing starts until the terms are agreed. There is a plain summary on our terms page.

Send a vacancy

Use the form to send us the post, or phone the office if the shift is soon. We reply during office hours, Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:30.