Recruitment Consultant Commission Structure (UK Perm Desks)

Recruitment consultant commission on a permanent desk is paid on the placement fees a consultant bills, almost always above a cost-of-sale threshold and then in accelerating bands. A typical UK contingency fee is 15–25% of the candidate's first-year salary; the consultant earns a share of those fees once their cumulative billings clear the amount it costs to employ them. The structure rewards consistent billers, protects the agency until a desk pays for itself, and — done well — lets a consultant work out exactly what a placement is worth to them before they make the call. This guide breaks down the fee, the threshold, the bands and the timing, with worked numbers.

It pairs with the recruitment commission plans overview; here we go deep on the perm model specifically.

TL;DR

Permanent recruitment consultants earn commission on the placement fees they bill, above a cost-of-sale threshold and then in accelerating bands. A typical UK contingency fee is 15–25% of first-year salary, so a £50,000 placement at 20% generates a £10,000 billing. Above threshold, consultants commonly earn from around 10% of billings up to 20–30% as high billers — so a strong quarter can out-earn a junior consultant's whole quarterly base. Commission is earned on the candidate's start date but usually paid only once the client settles and the rebate period passes, because an early leaver triggers a clawback.

What do recruitment consultants earn commission on?

On a contingency perm desk, the agency invoices a placement fee when a candidate starts — commonly 15–25% of their first-year basic salary, higher for retained or executive search. That fee is the consultant's "billing", and commission is calculated from billings, not from headcount or activity.

A candidate placed on £50,000 at a 20% fee generates a £10,000 billing. Everything in the commission plan keys off that £10,000.

The Recruitment & Employment Confederation publishes fee and pay benchmarks if you want to sanity-check your rates against the market. Whatever fee you charge clients is governed by your terms of business under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 — the commission plan sits on top of those fees.

How is recruitment consultant commission structured?

There are two common shapes, and the choice matters more than the headline percentage.

Flat percentage of billings. The simplest model: the consultant earns, say, 10% of everything they bill, from the first placement. Easy to understand and easy to calculate in your head — which, as with any commission structure, is a real advantage. The downside is that it pays out even when a consultant hasn't yet covered their own cost.

Banded threshold model. The more common model in established UK agencies. The consultant bills against a cost-of-sale threshold first — the fully-loaded cost of employing them — and only earns commission on billings above it, in bands that accelerate:

Cumulative billings (per quarter)	Commission rate on that band
£0 – £25,000 (threshold / cost of sale)	0%
£25,001 – £50,000	10%
£50,001 – £75,000	20%
£75,001+	30%

These numbers are illustrative — set your own from real salary and on-cost data — but the shape is standard: nothing until the desk pays for itself, then an accelerating share that makes the strongest billers the best paid.

Worked example: a consultant bills £80,000 in a quarter against a £25,000 threshold. They earn 0% on the first £25,000, 10% on the next £25,000 (£2,500), 20% on the next £25,000 (£5,000), and 30% on the final £5,000 (£1,500) — £9,000 of commission for the quarter. For a consultant on a £30,000 base, that one quarter pays more than their entire quarterly salary, which is exactly the upside a banded plan is designed to create.

The accelerating bands are the recruitment version of commission accelerators: they reward the consultant who keeps billing once they've cleared their costs, rather than capping their upside. Resist the temptation to add a decelerator or cap at the top — in a billing role it just signals "stop selling once you're ahead."

How do you set the commission threshold?

The threshold is the single most important number in the plan. Anchor it to the consultant's fully-loaded cost — base salary plus employer National Insurance, pension and overheads — not their bare salary, so that the bands above it are genuine profit-share.

Where exactly to set it, how often to reset it (monthly, quarterly or annually) and how the bands accelerate is covered in full in recruitment commission thresholds: designing billing tiers that work. The headline: too high and new consultants never reach it and resign; too low and you pay accelerators for unprofitable billing.

What base salary and OTE do recruiters get?

Recruitment basics are deliberately modest because commission is the main driver of the package. A junior-to-mid perm consultant might sit on a £25,000–£35,000 base (senior and London desks run higher), with realistic on-target earnings well above that for a solid biller. The principle is the same as setting OTE for any sales role: pick a base that covers living costs and a variable element large enough that hitting target genuinely changes the consultant's year — then make sure the threshold and bands make that OTE achievable for a competent biller, not just a star.

When is recruitment commission earned and paid?

This is where perm desks get their own rules:

• Earned is usually the candidate's start date (the fee is invoiceable), not the offer-accepted date — offers fall through.
• Payable is often later: after the client pays the invoice, or after the rebate period has elapsed, or a blend (part on start, the balance once the rebate window closes).

Holding part of the commission until the rebate period passes is the cleanest defence against clawback. If a placed candidate leaves inside the rebate window, the fee is refunded on a sliding scale and the commission has to come back too — see recruitment commission clawback and rebate periods. And because commission is employment income taxed through PAYE, reversing a payment that's already been taxed is far easier in-year than across a tax-year boundary.

How do you pay new consultants while they ramp?

A new consultant won't clear the threshold for a quarter or two. If you leave them on base alone, you'll lose them before the desk matures. Most agencies bridge the gap with a guaranteed minimum or a draw against commission — an advance recovered from future billings — for the first two or three months. It protects cash flow on both sides while the desk builds.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage commission do perm recruitment consultants get?

Above their threshold, perm consultants commonly earn a banded share of billings that starts around 10% and accelerates to 20–30% for high billers. Some agencies pay a flat 10% of all billings instead. The headline percentage matters less than where the threshold sits and how fast the bands accelerate — a 30% top band only matters if a consultant bills enough to reach it.

What is a cost-of-sale threshold?

It's the amount a consultant must bill before earning commission, set to recover the cost of employing them — salary plus employer NIC, pension and overheads. Below it the agency is getting its investment back; above it the consultant earns an accelerating share. Thresholds are usually expressed per quarter and pegged to a multiple of fully-loaded salary.

Should recruitment commission be flat or banded?

Flat is simpler and easier for consultants to calculate, but it pays out before a desk is profitable. Banded threshold models are more common in UK agencies because they protect the business until the consultant covers their cost, then reward consistent billing with accelerating rates. Banded is usually the better fit unless your team is very small and you value simplicity over precision.

When is perm placement commission paid?

Commission is typically earned on the candidate's start date but paid later — after the client settles the invoice, or once the rebate period has passed, or split across both. Deferring part of the payout until the rebate window closes is the standard way to avoid clawing money back after a candidate leaves early.

Do recruiters get commission if a candidate fails probation?

Usually not in full. Most placement terms include a rebate clause that refunds the client on a sliding scale if the candidate leaves within a set period, and the consultant's commission is clawed back to match. This is why many agencies hold the final slice of commission until the rebate window has closed.

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Written by the Commit Team — Commit automates billing-based recruitment commission: thresholds, accelerating bands, splits and rebate clawbacks, exported straight to Xero.