Your debtor book is growing. Invoices are going overdue. You're spending hours each week chasing clients who should already have paid. The obvious solution — hire a credit controller — feels straightforward. But before you post that job, it's worth running the numbers.
For most UK recruitment agencies under £5M revenue, automated credit control software is cheaper, faster, and more consistent than an in-house hire. Here's how the comparison actually stacks up.
The headline salary for a credit controller in the UK is typically £28,000–£40,000 per year. But that's not what you pay.
| Cost Component | Annual Cost |
|---|---|
| Salary (mid-range) | £32,000 |
| Employer NI (13.8%) | £4,416 |
| Employer pension (3% minimum) | £960 |
| Recruitment fee (agency, typically 15%) | £4,800 |
| Holiday and sick cover (avg 6.5 sick days) | £950 |
| Management time (5 hrs/week at £50/hr) | £13,000 |
| Software they still need (email, CRM, phone) | £600 |
| Total Year 1 | £56,726 |
| Ongoing from Year 2 | £51,926 |
And that assumes no attrition. The average tenure for a credit controller in the UK is 18–24 months. When they leave, you repeat the recruitment cost — plus the institutional knowledge about your clients' payment patterns walks out with them.
Modern AR automation platforms like Equisettle do more than send email reminders. For recruitment agencies specifically:
| Credit Controller Hire | Equisettle | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | £52,000–£57,000 | £900–£8,388 |
| Covers holiday and sickness | No — manual coverage needed | Yes — always on |
| Works after 5pm and weekends | No | Yes |
| Scales with invoice volume | Requires additional headcount | Yes, no extra cost |
| Consistent chasing intervals | Depends on individual | Yes — systematic every time |
| Multi-channel outreach (WhatsApp, SMS) | Unlikely | Built in |
| AI risk prediction | No | Yes |
| Attrition risk | High (18–24 month avg tenure) | None |
| Time to live | 6–10 weeks (recruit + onboard) | 48 hours |
Software isn't always the answer. A human credit controller adds genuine value in situations that require judgement, relationship management, or legal knowledge:
For most invoices — routine reminders, pre-due confirmations, standard escalations — a human credit controller is doing work a system can do better: more consistently, at any hour, across more channels than email alone.
Many agencies use Equisettle to handle 80–90% of the collection process automatically, then have a senior operations or finance manager review the flagged exceptions — true disputes, high-value accounts, clients approaching legal escalation. This gives you the cost efficiency of software with human oversight where it genuinely matters.
At £250,000 monthly revenue, Equisettle typically costs £299/month (Growth plan). Against a credit controller at £52,000/year, that's a £48,512 annual saving — enough to invest in growth, reduce principal risk, or build a reserve buffer.
"We were about to hire a credit controller. We tried Equisettle for one month instead. DSO dropped 14 days in the first six weeks. The hire never happened."
— Finance Director, mid-size UK staffing agency
For recruitment agencies under £10M revenue, the decision is usually clear once the numbers are laid out. Software costs less, starts faster, works consistently, and scales with headcount growth without adding to payroll. A human credit controller makes sense once the software's flagged exceptions — disputes, major account relationships, legal escalations — are generating enough work to justify a part-time or full-time hire.
Until then, Equisettle handles it.
