The client hired my candidate through the back door. Can I charge?
The short answer
Yes, under your terms. A fee is due only if your agreed terms of business set one for this kind of hire and the hire falls inside the period they name; with no fee clause there is usually nothing to claim. If you supplied the person as a temp, or put them forward for temp work, a fee clause is unenforceable unless the client can choose an extended hire instead1. For a supplied temp, it is also unenforceable if the hire starts after the later of 14 weeks from the first day worked and 8 weeks from the last day worked1.
England and Wales only. WolfX is software, not a law firm.
What you can add
A £7,560 fee, 71 days late
Say you sent a CV on 12 March 2026 with your terms attached. The client interviewed, declined, then hired the person directly from 6 July 2026, inside your 6-month protection period. Your terms set a fee of 18% of a £42,000 salary. You invoiced on 7 July on 14-day terms, due 21 July 2026. On 30 September it's 71 days late. It went late on 22 July, in the second half of 2026, so the rate is 11.75%5: 8% over the Bank Rate of 3.75%.
Then it grows by £2.43 a day until they pay.
The road ahead
Six steps. All free.
Step 1: Work out which case you're in
Supplied as a temp, then hired: regulation 101 limits your fee. Introduced only, not supplied: your terms must set out the specific time period2 in which you may charge.
Put forward for temp work, then hired before any assignment: your terms must still offer the client an extended hire instead of the fee1.
Step 2: Read your terms of business
Find the fee clause. It should say what counts as an introduction (a CV sent, an interview), the protection period, which hires it catches (direct, through a company, as a contractor, through another agency) and how the fee is worked out. No clause, or terms the client didn't receive, and you stop here.
Step 3: Put the dates in order
Pull the dated email that sent the CV with your terms attached, the client's reply or interview invitation, your system log of the submission and any call notes. Add the client's own confirmation or announcement of the start date.
It won't make the client agree, but it shows who introduced whom, and when.
Step 4: Check the hire falls inside the period
Count your protection period from the introduction. For a temp you supplied, the hire must start inside the later of 14 weeks from the first day worked and 8 weeks from the last day worked1, and your terms must have offered the client an extended hire instead of the fee.
Step 5: Invoice once the start date is confirmed
Send the invoice and the letter below to the director or hiring manager, copied to accounts, once the start is confirmed in writing. Write to the client only: you can't charge the candidate a fee for finding work or stop them working elsewhere3.
Step 6: Still unpaid? Add interest, then chase
From the day after the due date, add interest4 and the fixed sum6, as in the sum above. Chase on day 7 and day 14, and send a letter before action on day 30. The law fixes none of these days.
The letter before action gives a company 14 days to reply7, and a sole trader 30 days8.
A letter you can copy
Letter sending the introduction fee invoice
Send it once the client has confirmed the start date in writing and your terms cover the hire.
Tap a highlighted gap to see what goes in it.
Email it so it is dated, with the invoice attached and accounts copied in. Keep a copy. Keep only the routes your clause names (directly, through another company, as a contractor, through another agency).
When not to bother
When it isn't worth it
- Your terms didn't reach the client first, or you can't show you made the introduction. Either way the fee is hard to rely on, so ask for a call before you invoice, or have a solicitor who does commercial contracts read what you have.
- The CV was one in a bulk email and the client already had the candidate. Your introduction didn't bring them together, so ask when the client first heard of the person.
- The protection period had ended. For a temp, if the hire started after the window in regulation 101 or your terms gave no extended-hire choice, the fee can't be enforced, and the same regulation bars you from asking for it.
- The fee is small beside what the client is worth to you. A call may keep the client where an invoice would not.
- The client is in Scotland or Northern Ireland. The court route differs there, and this page covers England and Wales only.
The Wolf's note
The work was real, but the fee comes from the clause. Put the dates in order, the CV sent, the terms attached, the start, and quote the clause number. Then the client has a date to answer, not a mood.
Mr. Wolf · the AI inside WolfX
What comes next
Your next move
What you can add
What is late payment compensation, and is it £40, £70 or £100?
All three. If you sold to a business, the law adds a fixed £40, £70 or £100 to each late invoice, by its size, on top of interest, with no costs to prove.
5 min read · Letter included
Put it in writing
What is a letter before action, and how do I write one?
A formal last letter before a court claim, and you can write it yourself.
7 min read · Letter included
A client won't pay my recruitment placement fee. What can I do?
Add interest, then chase.
5 min read · Letter included
Don't want to do this yourself?
The Wolf does every step for you. He works out the sums, writes the letters and keeps track of every date. Nothing goes without your yes.