Recruiters have hit back at a report that criticised the use of agency workers in the health and social care sectors, accusing it of being misleading, and not telling the whole story.

The research, led by Leeds University Business School’s Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change (CERIC), published last month concluded that temporary staff are costlier than an organisation’s own staff. It also highlighted agency workers’ lack of commitment to employers, and claimed they damaged the morale of existing employees.

John Herron, divisional director at Reed Nurse, Health & Doctor, told Recruiter that comparing the hourly rates of agency and the NHS’s own employees was misleading. “If the NHS pays staff £20 an hour and an agency pays staff £20 an hour and on top of that there’s agency commission, on the face of it, yes the agency is more expensive. However, that has to be set against the fact that the NHS doesn’t pay for pensions and sickness for its agency staff.

“When you look at it in the long-term, if it’s planned properly agency staff can be a cost efficient way of hiring staff.”

Herron agreed that agency staff enjoyed the flexibility of working where and when they wanted. However, commitment cut both ways, he said. Trusts also enjoyed the ability to jettison agency staff at short notice. He suggested Trusts could build commitment from agency staff, for example, by asking for individual locums by name.

Kate Harris, commercial director at health and social care recruiter Pulse, said that far from damaging the morale of existing employees, agency staff provided “an invaluable service” particularly when other staff were overworked. It also allowed employees to work they hours they wanted.

Harris added that the NHS had a part to play by planning ahead, and not simply “desperately” calling agencies at the last minute. This could result in staff travelling from other parts of the country at the last minute, and “obviously” making it more expensive, she said.
Harris admitted there are variations in quality between agencies.