UK recruiters rethink fee models as AI speeds up hiring tasks

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UK recruiters rethink fees

Highlights

AI is accelerating the hiring process, with a 2026 Bullhorn survey showing 37% of recruiters report candidate screening is now 26% to 50% faster.
LinkedIn's 2025 UK Future of Recruiting report finds talent acquisition professionals using or testing generative AI save an average of 18% of their working week.
UK recruitment firms face fee model pressures as automation enables cheaper CV sourcing, with some shifting focus to value-added services and others warning of downward pressure on hiring costs.

Automation changes the case for agency fees

As reported by CNBC, recruiters say artificial intelligence is accelerating parts of the hiring process and forcing agencies to justify what clients are paying for. Traditional recruitment firms often charge employers a percentage of a successful candidate's first-year salary, a model that comes under pressure if software takes over more of the work behind a placement.

David Berwick, owner of Stockport-based Adria Solutions, says clients may increasingly question agency fees if recruiters are mainly sourcing CVs and passing them on to employers. He argues that businesses can already automate much of that work themselves, making a basic matching service harder to defend.

Industry data cited in the discussion points to measurable time savings. A 2026 Bullhorn survey of nearly 300 recruitment professionals in the UK and Ireland finds that 37% say AI has made candidate screening between 26% and 50% faster, while LinkedIn's 2025 UK Future of Recruiting report finds that talent acquisition professionals using or testing generative AI save an average of 18% of their working week.

Agencies split on pricing and future value

Some recruiters see automation less as a reason to cut prices and more as a way to shift effort toward higher-value work. Matt Collingwood, managing director of Birmingham-based VIQU Group, says the technology gives recruiters more time to build relationships rather than simply deliver the same service more cheaply; he adds that the firm's turnover has grown 47% over the past 18 months, partly because of that approach.

Others expect AI to put eventual downward pressure on hiring costs. Paddy Lambros, founder and CEO of London-based AI recruitment platform Dex, says recruitment remains expensive and slow because the process is inefficient, suggesting the sector is due for a broader overhaul.

Another camp argues the opposite effect could emerge on specialist services, with automation making human assessment more important. Chris Stirling, managing director of specialist recruitment firm Stirling Q&R, says AI is speeding up the easier parts of recruiting, which means agencies will need to earn their fees through deeper candidate evaluation and advisory work.

In our earlier article on CEO adoption of AI agents, we examined survey results showing that many large U.S. companies are already seeing efficiency and growth gains, even if only a small share call the technology transformational so far. The piece also noted that executives largely expect AI to increase hiring and retraining needs—alongside sustained investment in AI infrastructure—rather than simply reduce headcount.

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