What's the difference between temp and perm/FTC?

Temporary employees can typically be found at a moment's notice and the contract can be ended at any date to suit your organisation's needs and budget. Fixed-term contracts tend to be subject to at least a week's notice, so can offer a bit more security to all parties.

How are our fees calculated?

Fees are calculated at a 15%-20% of the hourly pay rate. You only pay the temporary worker for the hours that are physically worked.

Who carries out pre-employment checks?

We carry out all pre-employment checks including references and right to work. We also payroll the temporary worker.

How often do timesheets need approving?

Timesheets need to be approved weekly. Candidates will enter the hours they worked Mon - Fri and are submitted to the manager for approval. We run payroll early Monday afternoon for payment the same week, so ideally, timesheets are submitted and approved the previous Friday, although if this is first thing Monday morning, this is usually still ok to avoid a payment delay.

What are the notice-periods?

Under the terms of engagement, no notice is required on either side for terminating a temporary assignment earlier. We ask both our clients and candidates to ideally give a minimum of one weeks' notice, out of courtesy, ideally longer if they can. This allows for a smooth transition for either a replacement, or for a candidate moving onto a new assignment.

Are there any costs prior to placement?

There are no costs involved prior to the placement for advertising, sourcing and compliance checks.

Temporary & Interim Recruitment

Fast, flexible support when you need it most. From proficient temporary staff to experienced interim leaders, we connect you with professionals who deliver immediate impact.

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Why partner with Prospectus?

We understand the unique challenges of the not-for-profit sector. Our expert team are here to help you with:

Swift Solutions

We move fast to connect you with the right temporary or interim talent, minimising disruption and keeping your mission on track.

Tailored Service

Every organisation is unique. We take time to understand your culture and needs, ensuring a seamless fit, whether you’re hiring for a few days, a few months, or a longer-term project.

Trusted Talent Networks

With nearly 70 years in the not-for-profit sector, we’ve built deep, active talent pools of temporary and interim candidates who are ready to step in and make an impact.

End-to-End Support

From shaping role profiles to exploring the most cost-effective hiring options, we guide you through every step of the recruitment process with clarity
and care.

Seamless Onboarding

We ensure the people we place are set up for success. Our team supports smooth onboarding across all contract types, giving you confidence from
day one.

Temporary Recruitment

We can provide:

Temporary workers available either virtually or in the office.
Temporary workers available on an hourly basis to suit the changing needs of your organisation, from several hours to ongoing.
Expert advice on identifying your temporary requirements and the skills required.
Support and guidance to successfully interview and onboard new employees face-to-face or virtually.

What’s included:

All of our candidates meet our stringent aptitude testing benchmarks and referencing procedures, including:

Interview with a consultant
Skills and aptitude testing
A full reference check
DBS check (where appropriate)

Interim Recruitment

We can provide:

Skilled interim professionals and contractors with a track record of success.
Our interims help guide organisations through periods of transformation.
We deliver experts to lead key reviews, research, and strategic initiatives.
We deploy professionals quickly to stabilise operations during disruption.
Our interims support the implementation of new values and behaviours.
We fill urgent gaps to reduce strain on your permanent teams.

Areas of expertise:

The interim and contract market moves quickly and as such, we ensure we’re able to meet immediate requirements by having candidates ready to go in a range of different areas, including but not exclusive to:

Digital
Education
Executive Leadership
Finance
Frontline
Grant Making

HR, Culture & Diversity
Marketing & Communications
Operations
Trustees
Policy

We pride ourselves on an efficient and timely process for our temporary recruitment. We are led by our clients and do our best to work with their timelines, with an appreciation for the urgency that temporary roles can have. The timeline for sourcing candidates will depend on the nature of the role. While we have an extensive database full of a variety of talented candidates, we want to make sure that we place the right person for your organisation.

Candidates will have a basic screening call over the phone, and if it goes well, we’ll send you their CV. If you’re interested in meeting, we arrange a meeting between yourself and the candidate, whilst we hold a video call with the candidate to complete the registration. We also complete all referencing, right to work checks, and if you need, a DBS check.

We advertise all roles on our website, where we usually gain the most traction. We also post to carefully selected job boards that reach relevant and engaged candidates, including CharityJob and Guardian Jobs. We will also often post on LinkedIn to spread the word. Typically for temporary roles, we will post adverts that keep your organisation anonymous. All adverts will be written by us however, we’re happy to join forces and collaborate with you on an agreed advert before posting to ensure you are happy with the content.

We will require a job description to reach out to candidates with, but we’re happy to advise on this if you haven’t already got one. You’ll just need to help us understand what the position requires. Similarly, we can also support with salary/pay benchmarking.

We provide a per-hour breakdown of our rates excluding VAT. It includes worker pay, their holiday pay, our charges, and essential deductions like National Insurance. If you want to give us a salary, we can let you know the hourly equivalent.

Temporary placements are usually the quickest and most flexible option to bridge a gap, as well as freeing up internal capacity, as the worker’s payroll, HR, and so on, are all managed by Prospectus. Some organisations also like ‘temp-to-perm’ arrangements, effectively using the temporary period as a trial before taking someone on internally as a permanent member of the team.
Contracts offer greater stability and are ideal in situations where you need longer term, more predictable cover, especially suited to prolonged sickness, parental leave, or gaps while permanent recruitment is ongoing.

Yes, we do! We will obtain two employment references, with one being from their most recent employer. We can also request academic or character references if you require. It is not a legal obligation for referencing to take place before employment, so if you’re confident and don’t have time to wait, candidates can start without them.

Yes – temporary workers are legally defined as employees of the agency, so we complete the right to work check and hold legal responsibility for this. Most of the time, we can share a completed right to work check when requested.

Absolutely! We can do a Basic, Standard, or Enhanced, to work with children, adults, or both. A consultant is more than happy to advise on which is the best option for you and explain DBS certificates in more detail.

Any DBS requirement is covered by Prospectus. Timescales can vary quite a lot, but we typically expect Basic checks to be completed within 24 hours, Standard checks within 48 hours, and Enhanced checks within 72 hours.

If it is an internal requirement, candidates can start without their DBS check completed, if you are happy with that. However, if it is a role where a DBS is legally required, they may potentially start without their certificate if they are supervised within the role. Your consultant will be happy to discuss this if needed.

If you employ a temporary worker for more than 12 weeks, then after this time, they legally must be treated equally to a permanent member of staff. This usually makes no difference, but if they are being paid a lower rate, or getting a lesser holiday entitlement, this must be matched after the 12^th week.

If a worker calls in sick, please let your consultant know, and we will liaise with the worker and arrange sick pay if appropriate. If someone requests annual leave, this can be agreed with a line manager, and Prospectus will contact the worker to arrange any holiday pay.

Workers fill in and submit their timesheet digitally on a system called InTime. Your selected timesheet approver (typically their line manager) then checks the timesheet and, if approved, our Finance Team do the rest.

We ask workers to submit their hours before Monday morning, so that approvers can check it on Monday. Our deadline for processing is 1pm on Monday, so please approve the timesheet before then.

It’s not the end of the world, but it may harm worker morale. If the chosen timesheet approver is away from work, you can select back-up options for the timesheets to be sent to. If either the worker or approver hasn’t completed the timesheet, our consultants will reach out prior to the deadline to try and resolve.

Either our finance team will resolve it, or the timesheet approver can reject the worker’s submission, and they can have another look at it.

If you want to extend their temporary contact, let a consultant know and we will get this arranged. If you want to take a temp worker on permanently, there may be a fee which your consultant is happy to discuss.

Officially, you can end the placement at any time, but we typically ask the temp worker or the hiring organisation for 1 week’s notice if either want to end the placement early.

Temporary and Interim Recruitment Case Studies

London Community Foundation

Role: Interim Chief Executive Officer

King’s College London

Role: Temporary Programme Administrator

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

Role: Temporary Volunteering Team Administrator

Brooke

Role: Temporary Finance Assistant (Income)

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What Our Clients Say

Nick has been highly professional, responsive and courteous. I felt the charity’s needs were listened to, and the team were always quick to follow up with me. Thank you, Nick and Jacob!

How likely are you to refer Prospectus?

Marie

Office Manager
Black People’s Mental Health Association

The whole process was managed smoothly, and I am pleased with the support. I particularly valued the clear communication, value for money and the quality of the applications.

How likely are you to refer Prospectus?

Alice

Chief Executive Officer
Carers Hub

Connect with a Temporary and Interim Recruitment Expert

Our specialist teams work with a diverse range of charities, trusts and foundations, membership bodies, universities and social enterprises to source and place exceptional candidates across the UK.

Our Temporary and Interim Recruitment Team are ready to help you

Working with Prospectus was smooth and clear. They are very responsive. We had the right candidates for interview, saving us a lot of time in shortlisting
Patricia Conti
Creative and Brand Manager at Versus Arthritis

Temporary and Interim Recruitment Consultants

Jacob Rodda

Senior Recruitment Support Officer

Jess Crampton

Senior Recruitment Consultant

Nick Bellamy

Team Leader – Temporary Recruitment

Steven Fraser

Principal Consultant

Areas we cover

Departments
Sectors

Chief Executive

Digital

Finance

Grant Making

Marketing & Communcations

Operational

HR, Culture & Diversity

Policy

Trustees

Arts & Culture

Business for Good

Education

Environment and Sustainability

Frontline

Membership

Public Sector

Trusts and Foundations

Featured Jobs

Quality Manager (Assurance and Enhancement)

Location: London (hybrid)
Type: Temporary
Job #194739
Salary: £26.21 per hour + holiday (£47,833.29 salaried equivalent)
Closing Date: 08 May 2026 23:59:59

Quality Manager (Assurance and Enhancement) Salary: £26.21 per hour + holiday (£47,833.29 salaried equivalent). Contract: Full-time (35 hours per week), temporary for up to 3 months initially. Location: Central London (hybrid working, […]

Closing Date: 08 May 2026 23:59:59

Quality Manager (Study Abroad)

Location: London (hybrid)
Type: Temporary
Job #194740
Salary: £24.24 to £24.87 per hour + holiday (c. £44,822.04 salaried equivalent)
Closing Date: 08 May 2026 23:59:59

Quality Manager (Study Abroad)
Salary: £24.24 to £24.87 per hour + holiday (c. £44,822.04 salaried equivalent).
Contract: Full-time (35 hours per week), temporary for up to 3 months initially.
Location: Central London (hybrid working, […]

Closing Date: 08 May 2026 23:59:59

Grants Officer

Location: London (hybrid)
Type: Temporary
Job #194652
Salary: £18.11 p/h (+ holiday) (£35,413 p/a equivalent)
Closing Soon: 27 Apr 2026 23:59:59

Location: Charing Cross, hybrid
Contract: Temporary, up to 3 months, with potential to be extended
Hours: Part-time, 3 days per week
Pay: £18.11 p/h (+ holiday) (£35,413 p/a equivalent)
Start Date: ASAP

Prospectus is delighted to be […]

Closing Soon: 27 Apr 2026 23:59:59

Database Administrator

Location: London (hybrid)
Type: Temporary
Job #194727
Salary: £15.85 to £16.37 per hour + holiday (£31,000 to £32,000 full-time salaried equivalent)
Closing Soon: 01 May 2026 23:59:59

Location: London, hybrid (1 day per week in office)
Contract: Temporary, 8 weeks
Hours: Part-time, 22.5 hours per week
Salary: £15.85 to £16.37 per hour + holiday (£31,000 to £32,000 full-time salaried equivalent)
Start […]

Closing Soon: 01 May 2026 23:59:59

Finance Business Partner

Location: London (hybrid)
Type: Temporary
Job #194626
Salary: £43 per hour + holiday (£78,475.06 per annum equivalent)
Closing Soon: 27 Apr 2026 23:59:59

We are supporting a values‑led organisation with the appointment of a Finance Business Partner to support a complex and impactful finance function. This role sits at the heart of financial reporting and business partnering, with a […]

Closing Soon: 27 Apr 2026 23:59:59

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