SiteNine weeks ago the agency sent you a fitter for nights. Cover for a fortnight, they said.
They're still here. They found the cracked weld on the stacker frame that's been tripping the overload since spring. They've rewritten half the PPM sheets for line 3 without being asked. The operators ask for them by name.
Meanwhile your shift fitter vacancy has been open since March. So one night someone says what you've all been thinking. Why don't we just offer them the job?
Then somebody digs out the agency's terms of business, and finds the transfer fee.
Temp to perm moves tend to snag right here, on terms nobody read when the booking was made.
The fee is legal, with conditions
Agencies are allowed to charge you a transfer fee when you take on an engineer they supplied. The amount isn't set by law. GOV.UK's guidance treats fee levels as "a commercial business to business agreement" (Conduct Regulations guidance). The same guidance says any transfer fee must be stated in the agency's terms of business, with when it applies and the time limits.
But the Conduct Regulations put two hard limits on it (regulation 10).
The first is a choice. A transfer fee term can't be enforced unless the contract lets you pick an extended period of hire instead. During that period the agency keeps supplying the engineer on the same terms as before, or better for you. When it ends, you can take them on without a fee. The guidance is firm that "the hirer must be free to choose the option they prefer".
The second is a time limit. The fee can only bite if you take the engineer on within "the relevant period". That's whichever of these ends later:
- 8 weeks* from the day after the engineer last worked for you through the agency
- 14 weeks* from the first day they worked for you through that agency
There's a reset rule. If there's been a gap of more than 42 days* with no work for you, the earlier work doesn't count when you find the first day.
Why waiting it out doesn't work
People read the 14 weeks and think: we're at week nine, we'll hang on until week 15. That's a mistake.
The relevant period is whichever ends later. The 8 weeks* only start when the engineer stops working for you through the agency. So while they're still on your rota, the clock you need hasn't started. At week 15 you're still inside it.
To get clear of the fee without the extended hire, you'd have to let the engineer go for 8 weeks*. Somebody else will have hired them by then. And your nights will have gone back to a single fitter covering two lines.
Moving them to a cheaper agency doesn't dodge it either. Taking the engineer through another employment business within the relevant period also counts.
Which way to go
Here's our view. Put three options side by side before anyone makes an offer.
Pay the fee. It's quick, and the engineer starts on your payroll next week. Compare it with what the vacancy has cost you since March. Count the overtime, the agency hours and the nights with nobody who could fix the robot cell. If you've never priced a night without the right engineer, work out what an hour of downtime costs you.
Take the extended hire. The engineer stays as they are for the period in your contract, and you pay agency rates while it runs. After that there's no fee. If the agency fails to supply the engineer for the full period, the fee term can't be enforced against you, unless the agency is in no way at fault.
Agree something in between. Plenty of agencies will talk. A fair fee from a client who keeps booking them beats a falling out.
What you shouldn't do is go round the agency. The rules protect the engineer here, not you. An agency can't punish someone it doesn't employ for taking a job elsewhere, or make them say who their next employer is (regulation 6). But a term you agreed to can still be enforced against you.
You'll have to tell them about the job anyway
If the vacancy's real, the engineer has a right to hear about it. Under the Agency Workers Regulations, an agency worker has the right to be told "of any relevant vacant posts" with you during the assignment (regulation 13). That applies from day one, before the 12-week rule even comes in.
So the honest move is the easy one. Put the advert up, tell the agency you'd like to talk, and let the engineer apply.
Once they say yes
The day they join your payroll, you're the employer. A few things move across to you.
Right to work is now your check, not the agency's. Do it before they start on your contract, and keep the copies (right to work checks for agency and contract engineers).
They need their principal written statement of terms "on the first day of employment" (GOV.UK, written statement of employment particulars). The wider statement follows within 2 months*.
And treat it as a fresh start, even though they know the site. Agree what the first month looks like. Our guide to the first 30 days works for a temp turned perm too. Most of all, don't let them become the only person who can fix line 3. That's a problem for another day you can avoid now.
What to do on Monday
- Find the transfer fee and extended hire terms in every agency contract you've signed.
- Note the start date of each agency engineer you'd want to keep, and any gaps longer than 42 days*.
- Before any offer, price the fee against the extended hire and against what the vacancy is costing you.
- Tell the agency first. Then advertise the job where the engineer can see it.
* The 8-week and 14-week relevant periods, the 42-day gap and the 2-month deadline for the wider written statement are correct as of 23 October 2026. Check regulation 10 of the Conduct Regulations and GOV.UK's written statement guidance for the latest.