Guide

Split Fee Agreements Explained

Published: April 2026  ·  8 min read

Every recruiter who has worked splits has a version of the same story. You share a candidate in good faith with another agency. The candidate gets placed. Then the other recruiter ghosts you, claims they already had the candidate on file, or quietly pockets the full fee. No agreement was signed. You have no proof of the introduction. You are left with nothing. This is exactly why split fee agreements exist, and why you should never collaborate without one.

What Is a Split Fee Agreement?

A split fee agreement is a written contract between two recruitment parties that sets out how a placement fee will be divided when they collaborate on filling a role. It defines who introduced the candidate, who holds the job, what percentage each party receives, and what happens if something goes wrong. Think of it as the terms of business between two recruiters rather than between a recruiter and a client. Without one, you are relying entirely on trust. In recruitment, that is not a strategy.

What Every Agreement Should Include

A proper split fee agreement does not need to be fifty pages long, but it does need to cover six core areas. Miss any of these and you are leaving gaps that will cost you.

• →Fee split percentage. The exact ratio each party receives. State it clearly: 50/50, 60/40, or 70/30. No ambiguity.
• →Payment terms. When each party gets paid, how payment is triggered, and what happens if the client pays late. Specify whether the role-holder pays the candidate-holder directly or whether payment flows through a platform.
• →Candidate ownership. A clear definition of who introduced the candidate and how that introduction is recorded. This is the single biggest source of disputes in split fee arrangements.
• →Exclusivity period. How long the candidate-holder has exclusive rights to that candidate for the specific role. Without this, the role-holder could wait out the collaboration and approach the candidate directly later.
• →Deal expiry. A defined window after which the agreement lapses if no placement is made. Typically 6 to 12 months. This protects both sides from indefinite obligations.
• →Dispute resolution. A process for handling disagreements. Mediation, arbitration, or a named jurisdiction. Without this, your only option is litigation, which is slow, expensive, and rarely worth it for a single placement fee.

Common Split Fee Percentages

There is no single correct split. The right percentage depends on who is contributing what to the placement.

• →50/50 is the industry standard. Both parties contribute roughly equally: one holds the role, the other holds the candidate. Simple, fair, and the most widely used arrangement in the UK.
• →60/40 typically favours the role-holder, recognising that maintaining the client relationship, managing the process, and handling invoicing carries more ongoing work. Some arrangements flip this to favour the candidate-holder if the candidate is particularly hard to find.
• →70/30 is common on platforms like RecXchange's RecX Direct product, where the candidate-holder takes 70% of the total fee. This reflects the fact that the candidate is the scarce asset. Finding a good client is hard. Finding the right candidate is harder.

When Should the Agreement Be Signed?

Before any candidate data is shared. Full stop. Not after the first interview. Not once the client shows interest. Before you send a CV, a name, a LinkedIn URL, or even a verbal description that could identify the candidate. The moment the other party knows who your candidate is, your leverage is gone. If they decide not to honour the split, you have no contractual protection and no practical way to enforce your claim. Signing the agreement first is not being difficult. It is being professional. Any recruiter who pushes back on this is telling you something about how they operate.

How RecXchange Handles Agreements

On RecXchange, split fee agreements are generated automatically when a candidate-holding recruiter expresses interest in a role. The agreement is timestamped, records both parties, defines the fee split, and locks in candidate ownership before any candidate details are visible to the role-holder. There is no manual paperwork, no chasing signatures, and no grey areas. The agreement is digitally signed within the platform and is legally binding under UK contract law. Payment terms are enforced through the platform, so there is no risk of one party withholding the other's share. This is the way split fee recruitment should always have worked.

Red Flags to Watch For

If you are collaborating on splits outside a platform, watch for these warning signs.

• →No written agreement. If the other recruiter wants to work on a handshake, walk away. Verbal agreements are almost impossible to enforce and rarely survive a dispute.
• →Vague terms. Phrases like "we'll sort out the split later" or "roughly 50/50" are not terms. They are invitations to be taken advantage of. Every number and every deadline should be explicit.
• →Pressure to share first. If someone is pushing you to send the CV before the agreement is signed, ask yourself why. A recruiter who genuinely intends to honour the split has no reason to resist signing first.
• →No candidate ownership clause. Without a clear record of who introduced whom, disputes become a matter of one person's word against another's. Insist on a timestamped introduction record.
• →Resistance to platform use. Recruiters who refuse to use a platform that enforces agreements and tracks introductions are often the ones who benefit from the lack of transparency.