Venues, catering companies & event businesses
So we will skip the part where we tell you our staff are professional and hard-working. Here is the paperwork, the terms, the escalation route and what happens when somebody does not show.
What you actually get
Every one of these is a specific failure you have already lived through. We have built the operation around avoiding them rather than apologising for them.
Every person is briefed before they leave home — your venue, your access point, your service style, your dress code. Your duty manager should not be spending the first hour of service teaching agency staff where the pass is.
Our presentation standard is documented and checked. Tell us your spec once and it becomes part of your account, not something we re-ask every booking.
Not a rota of account managers and not a portal. One number, and it is answered at the weekend, because that is when your problems happen. Someone answers 8am–8pm, seven days a week.
Employer's liability and public liability certificates, right-to-work confirmation and written hirer terms go out when we open your account, not when your compliance team chases them.
Employment status
Most agencies in this market supply self-employed contractors, because it is cheaper. When HMRC disagrees with that classification, the exposure does not stay neatly with the agency — and you are the one with a venue, a licence and a reputation to lose.
Our staff are employed by Element Staffing and paid through PAYE: tax and NI at source, holiday pay accrued at 12.07%, pension auto-enrolment where the trigger is met, and a Key Information Document issued before a first assignment. It costs us margin. It means there is nothing on your side to unpick.
The thing you are actually afraid of is booking eight people and seven turning up. So we will say it plainly: if someone we have booked does not arrive, we replace them or you do not pay for that shift. No argument, no invoice, no negotiation after the fact.
For your procurement file
In one place, so onboarding us takes an afternoon rather than a fortnight. Certificates are sent on request, same day.
Our staff are employed by us and paid through PAYE, with tax and National Insurance deducted at source. When an agency gets employment status wrong, the hirer carries a share of that risk. With us there is nothing to get wrong.
Legally required of us as an employer, and held. The certificate is available on request — most venues ask, and we would rather send it before you have to.
Not a legal requirement, but expected by every serious venue. Held, and the certificate goes out with the same email as the EL certificate.
Documented for every member of staff, and retained. If you are audited, the evidence exists and we can produce it.
Issued to every worker before their first assignment, as the 2003 Regulations require. Written terms are in place with workers and with hirers.
We track the 12-week qualifying period where staff are placed repeatedly with the same hirer, and we will tell you before it becomes your problem rather than after.
Need the certificates now? Email hello@elementstaffing.co.uk with your company name and we will send the pack the same working day.
Commercial terms
Written down before you ask, because the agencies that are vague about terms are usually vague about everything else too.
Questions
Sometimes, and we will tell you straight away which it is. What we will not do is accept a booking we cannot staff properly and let you find out on the day. Call 020 7946 0000 for anything inside 48 hours — the form is slower for genuine emergencies.
Kitchen is a separate supply pool with different vetting and different rates, and we are deliberately not overselling it at launch. Ask us about specific requirements and you will get an honest answer about what we can and cannot cover.
We track it. Where the same worker is placed repeatedly with you, we monitor the qualifying period and flag it before it is reached, so equal-treatment obligations are a planned conversation rather than a surprise. Most agencies leave the hirer to discover this on their own.
Where we can, yes, and it is one of the advantages of a small bench — staff who know your venue need less from your managers. Guaranteeing named individuals for every shift would be a promise no agency can keep honestly, so we will not make it. What we will do is build a core team around your account and tell you who is coming.
London and the M25 as standard. We travel nationally for larger bookings. Travel time and costs are agreed up front, never added afterwards.
Because our staff are employed rather than classed as self-employed, holiday pay and employer's National Insurance are real costs we carry rather than push onto the worker, and everyone on our bench has been interviewed and worked a paid trial shift before they reach you.
A cheaper quote is not a better deal on the same product — it is a different product, and you meet the difference on the night. We would rather price honestly and be judged on what turns up.
Send us your company details and we will run a Companies House check, issue written hirer terms and send the compliance pack. Once terms are signed you can book by phone or email. There is no onboarding fee and no minimum commitment.
Ongoing supply
The only honest way to judge a staffing agency is to book them once. Give us a difficult service and see what turns up.
