7 Reasons You’re About to Get Stiffed.

The moment you introduce a candidate, the clock on your fee starts — but if your ToB isn't countersigned first, there's no agreement to enforce. Clients will claim they sourced the candidate independently. Fix: terms signed, countersigned, and date-stamped before any candidate name leaves your desk.

"Introduction" needs to be defined precisely in writing. If your ToB just says "introduction of a candidate," a client can argue a forwarded CV doesn't count, or that a phone call wasn't formal enough. UK courts have split on this. Fix: define "introduction" as any communication — verbal, written, electronic, or by any other means — by which the agency makes the client aware of a candidate's identity and availability.

You introduce a candidate. The client says they're not interested. Three months later the same candidate is working at the client's preferred supplier — who passes margin back to the client. You get nothing. Fix: an indirect engagement clause making the client liable for the full fee if the candidate is engaged through any third party within the off-limits period.

"We're not hiring them — our subsidiary is." The client's 40-person sister company hires your candidate on a contract basis. Your ToB only covers the named client company. Fix: extend the off-limits obligation explicitly to all group companies, subsidiaries, holding companies, and associated entities as defined under the Companies Act 2006.

Free contract templates from US legal sites default to Delaware or California law. Those documents are largely unenforceable in UK courts and don't reference the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 — which gives you statutory rights to 8% above the Bank of England base rate on overdue fees. Fix: governing law must be England and Wales. Dispute resolution: English courts. Always.

Percentage-only fee structures collapse when the role is reclassified. You place your candidate for a "senior manager" role at £30,000. Three weeks after they start, the client quietly reclassifies it as "associate" at £20,000. Your 15% just dropped from £4,500 to £3,000. Fix: set a minimum fee (e.g., £3,000) that applies regardless of the salary agreed between client and candidate.

Your rebate clause kicks in if the candidate "leaves within 60 days." The client made the role untenable and effectively forced them out — but the rebate triggers regardless. Fix: exclude client-initiated terminations, redundancy, and material changes to the role from the rebate trigger. Require written notification within 5 business days of the candidate's departure to make any claim.