The £12-£13 Temp: A Relic We Need to Bury
The £12-£13 Temp: A Relic Valeco Recruitment Vows to Bury
We need to get something off our chests here at Valeco Recruitment.
We’ll take you back a few years, to when some of us were sitting in leadership meetings at other companies, listening to directors talk about temporary workers. The conversation was always the same: how to squeeze the margin.
Squeezing the margin to line their own pockets, you understand. Not ours, the recruiters on the ground—our bonus schemes were always a ridiculous, unreachable target anyway. That corporate greed, the fixation on the bottom line above all else, always stuck in our throats.
Think about what we ask of a temp. They need to be:
Available at short notice. Drop everything, go!
A corporate chameleon. Walk into a new company, learn the systems, pick up complex processes, and shoulder a full workload quickly and efficiently.
The ultimate stop-gap. They are often the difference between a client's workflow crumbling and business as usual.
And what is the suggested reward for this highly-flexible, high-skill, crisis-averting professional? A pittance. A minimum wage-adjacent hourly rate.
The Edinburgh Shock that Confirmed Our Stance
Fast forward to this week. We were scrolling through a local Facebook group—the digital noticeboard for Midlothian and the wider Edinburgh area. And there it was. A UK brand, posting for a temporary Receptionist/Administrator, based at the Edinburgh Technopole (or as locals still call it, The Bush Estate).
The pay? A whopping £12-£13 per hour.
Gasp.
We honestly thought we had stepped back in time. Nope. That is the figure they are paying. It is real. And it is shocking.
The Factual Problem with a £12 Rate
Let's look at the numbers for a moment, because for Valeco Recruitment, this isn't just a matter of principle; it's a matter of basic arithmetic in 2024/2025:
The National Living Wage (NLW): The UK NLW for those aged 21 and over is currently £11.44 per hour. A £12.00 rate is barely scraping a 56p premium over the legal minimum. We are talking about administrative professionals, not entry-level shelf stackers (who, by the way, deserve much more too!).
The Cost of Living in Scotland: A temporary worker in the Edinburgh area needs more than the bare minimum.
The average rent for a one-bedroom flat outside the city centre is often over £850 per month, sometimes closer to £1,000.
Add utilities (easily £200+), travel, and food, and a person needs a serious income just to cover the essentials, let alone save.
Based on a 37.5-hour week, a £12/hour rate delivers a gross monthly income of around £1,950. After tax and National Insurance, that disposable income is immediately eaten up by the high local living costs. Can a temporary worker manage on that? The honest answer is no.
Valeco Recruitment's Pledge: An Ethical Floor
Last year, we made a line-in-the-sand decision. We’ve had clients walk away, claiming they could "get a temp cheaper elsewhere." And good riddance, frankly. Because here is our non-negotiable standard:
Valeco Recruitment will not pay any temporary worker under £15 per hour.
Currently, our average temporary worker for office and administrative roles earns £17 per hour. And this is a standard we will stand by, because it simply makes good business and ethical sense.
Why Fair Pay is Smart Business
If you, as a hiring company, choose to work with an agency that is happy to pay £12-£13 per hour, you are effectively signalling one thing: We value your skill set, experience, and flexibility at the absolute lowest possible rate.
Crucially, temporary workers are often stripped of basic employment security. Most are not eligible for company-wide benefits unless they pass the 12-week mark. Furthermore, they are typically not paid if they are sick, and their accrued holiday pay is often inconsistent, especially in roles that involve short-term cover or gaps between assignments. Their higher hourly rate must reflect this complete lack of security and benefits.
But when you pay fairly—when you treat a temporary worker with the professional respect their adaptability and skills deserve—you get:
The Best Talent: Top temps, the reliable ones who can hit the ground running, will always gravitate toward the agency and the assignments that pay a professional rate.
Increased Loyalty and Performance: A worker who feels respected and fairly compensated is a motivated worker. They will go the extra mile to support your business.
A Stronger Brand: In a tight labour market, your reputation for fair pay matters. It makes you an employer of choice.
It genuinely saddens us to see businesses supporting recruitment agencies who perpetuate this race to the bottom. In a cost of living crisis, £12 an hour for a professional administrative role is not just cheap, it's morally short-sighted.
Let's raise the floor. Let's make fair pay for temporary workers the industry standard, not a premium perk.
Ready to Partner with an Ethical Recruiter?
If you are an employer looking for temporary support and you agree that paying a professional rate for professional talent is the only way to operate, we want to hear from you.
If you are a talented candidate who deserves to be paid fairly for your skills, we want to see your CV.
Contact the Valeco Recruitment team today:
Employers seeking Temps: Contact us for support at info@valeco.co.uk
Candidates seeking Temp Work: Email your CV to us at info@valeco.co.uk
