We are an agency, so you would expect us to say you need one. Often you do not. Here is how the two options compare on cost, admin, legal duties and quality, and when each makes sense.
If you need the same few people every week, hire them yourself. It is cheaper per hour, the team builds loyalty to you, and there is nobody in the middle. If your need for people goes up and down, with busy months, one-off events or nights when your own team is short, an agency saves you the recruiting, payroll and admin for people you only need sometimes.
Most venues and caterers end up with both: a core of their own casual staff, and an agency for overflow, sickness and the peaks.
If you hire casual staff directly, you are their employer. You pay at least the National Living Wage, which is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from April 2026. On top of that sit holiday pay, which for irregular-hours workers can be paid as rolled-up holiday pay at 12.07% of pay, employer National Insurance above the threshold, and a workplace pension for anyone who qualifies for auto-enrolment.
You also carry the admin: right to work checks before anyone starts, payroll through PAYE, employer's liability insurance, contracts, and the time it takes to recruit, interview and rota people. For a steady team, that is worth it. For three extra people twice a month, it is a lot of work.
An agency is the employer for payroll, holiday pay, pension and insurance, and it does the recruiting, vetting and replacement when someone is ill. You get one invoice. That is why an agency hourly rate is higher than a wage: our Core rate is £25.00 an hour ex VAT, and the person working is paid £14.00 an hour plus holiday pay.
Agency workers also have rights of their own. Under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, after 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer they are entitled to the same basic pay and conditions as someone you employ directly. If you use the same agency people week after week, plan for that, or consider hiring them yourself.
You have a steady weekly rota. Hire your own. A regular team is cheaper and better.
You already have a bank of casuals and someone to manage them. Keep using them, and call an agency only when the bank runs dry.
It is a small private party. A family party for 30 might only need one good bartender, and a friend of a friend who has done it before may be all you need. Just make sure they are paid properly and know the licensing rules.
You want someone permanent. An agency is the wrong route for a long-term hire. Advertise the job.
Demand goes up and down. December, summer weddings, show weeks and matchdays. Paying people only when you need them is the point.
Someone lets you down. An agency with a bench replaces people at short notice. Ours offers a free swap in the first hour if anyone is not right.
You need a skill you do not keep in-house. Cocktail bartenders, a supervisor for a big night, a chef de partie for a week.
You are working away from home. Teams who travel, with hotel and meals shown at cost, are hard to put together from a local casual list.
If you do use an agency, ask what it pays the people it sends. It tells you more about who will turn up than any promise on a website. Ours is on the rate card, next to what you pay.
Per hour, usually yes. Once you add holiday pay, employer National Insurance, pension, insurance and the time spent recruiting and running payroll, the gap narrows, especially for people you only need occasionally.
Check their right to work before they start, pay at least the National Living Wage, pay holiday pay, run PAYE, auto-enrol anyone eligible into a pension, and hold employer's liability insurance.
When you need the same people every week, when you already run a reliable casual bank, for a small private party, or when you want to hire someone permanently.
After 12 weeks in the same role with the same hirer, the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 give them the right to the same basic pay and conditions as your direct employees.
What it pays the people it sends, what is included in the hourly rate, its cancellation terms, and what happens if someone does not turn up.
See the whole rate card and the instant estimate, or start a full quote. Looking for shifts yourself? Work with us.
Three worked examples and a budget checklist you can forward to finance, as a PDF.
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WhatsApp usYour brief lands with Tasmyn or Liam, not a queue. A written quote within 60 minutes (8am to 8pm) and a call if anything needs clarifying. A named mobile is given to every client at booking.
Every person paid through our PAYE payroll, so you carry no status risk. Right-to-work checks before day one. Employers' Liability £10m, Public Liability £10m. Certificates with your first confirmation.
Keep them. Use us for the shifts they cannot fill, or the ones that matter most. Overflow is where most first clients start.
Short on people for a big weekend? We supply overflow to other agencies on the same published terms.