Service market

Temporary staffing contracts

UK public sector · 68 contracts awarded in the 12 months to 6 October 2026

Covering 600+ buyer portals · 5 years of records · Updated 6 October 2026 · How we count

Contracts awarded
68
Last 12 months
Median contract
£530k
Recorded value
Recorded value
£1.0bn
52 of 64 main-service contracts have a published value
Buyers
53
Suppliers
85

BidSkim assigns contracts to services from the notice text. How services are assigned

What stands out

  • The five suppliers that won the most temporary staffing contracts took 34% of them (23 of 68).
  • The median contract, £530k, is 7.5 times the median across recruitment & hr contracts (£70k).
  • NORWICH CITY SERVICES LIMITED awarded 9% of the temporary staffing contracts (6 of 68).

Who buys temporary staffing

By contracts awarded, the 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1NORWICH CITY SERVICES LIMITED6 contracts
  2. 2British Council3 contracts
  3. 3University of the West of England Higher Education Corporation3 contracts
  4. 4UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)3 contracts
  5. 5NHS Property Services Limited3 contracts
  6. 6York College2 contracts
  7. 7Hopwood Hall College2 contracts
  8. 8Nuclear Decommissioning Authority1 contract
  9. 9Department for Business and Trade1 contract
  10. 10Ministry of Justice1 contract

Top temporary staffing contractors by contracts won

The 12 months to 6 October 2026.

  1. 1Reed Specialist Recruitment7 contracts
  2. 2Blue Arrow Gatwick6 contracts
  3. 3Axis Recruitment Ltd6 contracts
  4. 4Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS)5 contracts
  5. 5GILL COOKE PERSONNEL LIMITED5 contracts
  6. 6Morgan Hunt5 contracts
  7. 7ISQ RECRUITMENT LTD4 contracts
  8. 8Gi Group4 contracts
  9. 9Dovetail and Slate Limited4 contracts
  10. 10Hays3 contracts

Latest and largest awards

Each links to the official notice.

Latest

Largest

Contracts awarded by quarter

12Q4 2025*18Q1 202614Q2 202624Q3 20260Q4 2026*
* part quarter

Where the contracts were awarded

England 65 · Wales 2 · Northern Ireland 1

East of England9London8South West6North West5South East5Yorkshire and The Humber4North East3West Midlands3East Midlands2Wales2Northern Ireland1UK-wide or not stated20

What is included

One contract, framework call-off or preferred supplier list through which agencies supply temporary, fixed-term or day-rate workers across several staff groups, or across whatever roles the buyer needs, to work under the buyer's direction.

  • General temporary staffing contracts covering all roles
  • Day-rate and AWR worker arrangements across all agencies
  • Non-clinical temporary and fixed-term staff call-off routes with no single role
  • Preferred supplier lists spanning several specialisms
  • Temp, temp-to-perm and fixed-term staffing frameworks for councils, colleges, universities and housing bodies
  • Agency workers for a council and its schools
  • Staffing frameworks spanning clinical and non-clinical staff groups in one line
  • Temporary staffing contracts where security officers or IT contractors are among several staff groups

What is not included

  • Supply for one named staff group: the matching rec.temp service (for example rec.temp.office-admin-customer-service-staff or rec.temp.finance-temporary-staff)
  • Supply limited to clinical, social care or education staff groups: the matching rec.clin, rec.social or rec.edu service
  • One supplier managing the agency supply chain: rec.msp.master-vendor-managed-service or rec.msp.neutral-vendor-managed-service
  • Single engagements whose role is hidden (see Temporary staffing (role not identifiable))
  • IT and digital contractors bought alone (see IT resourcing)
  • SIA-licensed officers bought alone (see Temporary and ad hoc security officer cover)
  • Permanent-only recruitment (see Permanent recruitment)

Often bought by the same buyers