How to read an agency invoice, line by line

An agency invoice can look like a wall of hours and rates, and the temptation is to check the total and move on. It pays to read it properly, because almost everything on it can be traced back to a specific shift you approved.

Start with how a rate is built. An hourly charge is the full cost of supplying the worker plus the agency's margin, and the cost is more than pay. It carries employer National Insurance, holiday pay and pension. That matters when you compare quotes, because a rate that looks unusually low is often one that has left something out and will need revising later.

Then the uplifts. A weekday day shift is the base. Nights, Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays each add a published uplift because the worker is paid more for them, with bank holidays the highest and applying day or night. Sleep-ins are their own thing entirely. Since the Supreme Court ruled in Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake [2021] UKSC 8, a sleep-in is properly priced as an allowance for the night plus payment for any time the worker is actually up and working, not one flat figure regardless.

The practical part is matching. Each line should tie to a timesheet you signed, at the right shift type, on the right date. A mostly overnight shift billed at the day rate, or a bank holiday charge on a day that was not one, is worth a query. We have put the whole method on one page. Our own rate card comes off the same system that prices the booking, so the number quoted is the number invoiced, but the checklist works against any agency's invoice. Open the guide, reading an agency invoice.

This article is general commentary from our own experience running a healthcare staffing agency. It is not legal advice.