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Agency staff are supplied by external third parties while bank staff are on the provider’s own books. This guide compares both options across cost, continuity, compliance and flexibility to help providers make the best staffing decisions.
Bank staff and agency staff both provide flexible staffing cover for health and social care providers, but they differ in important ways in terms of cost, compliance responsibility, continuity of care and the depth of their knowledge of the specific service. Understanding the differences helps providers decide when to use bank staff, when to use agency workers and how to build a workforce model that uses both effectively.
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Bank staff, sometimes called bank workers or zero-hours staff, are care workers who are employed by or have a contractual arrangement with the care provider itself and who are called on as needed to cover additional shifts. They are on the provider’s own books rather than supplied by an external agency. Bank staff may be recruited specifically to work as bank staff or may be existing employed staff who work bank hours in addition to their contracted hours.
Bank staff are typically cheaper per hour than external agency workers because the provider does not pay an agency margin on top of the worker’s pay. The provider pays bank staff directly at rates they set, plus employer National Insurance contributions and holiday pay. The absence of the agency margin makes bank staff a more cost-effective option for flexible cover when the workers are available. However, maintaining a bank requires investment in recruitment, vetting, training and administration that is provided by the agency in the case of external agency workers.
Bank staff who work regularly in the same service develop knowledge of service users, their preferences, their routines and their needs that external agency workers typically cannot match. This service knowledge contributes to better care quality, quicker response to changes in individual needs and a more consistent care experience for service users. Providers that invest in building a strong internal bank reduce their need for external agency use and improve the continuity of care for the people they support.
When using bank staff, the provider is responsible for all compliance checks and ongoing monitoring: DBS checks, right to work verification, training verification, reference checking and professional registration checks where relevant. This compliance burden is significantly greater than for external agency use, where the agency bears primary responsibility for the compliance of the workers it supplies. Providers should not underestimate the administrative commitment involved in maintaining a compliant bank workforce.
The flexibility of bank staff depends entirely on their availability and willingness to take shifts when offered. Bank staff cannot be compelled to accept shifts and may not be available when needed, particularly at short notice. Providers that rely heavily on bank staff as their primary flexible resource may find that bank availability does not always match operational need, particularly for last-minute, overnight or specialist shifts. External agencies provide an additional layer of flexibility when bank resources are insufficient.
Most providers benefit from building as large and diverse an internal bank as possible, to provide cost-effective flexible cover from workers who know the service, supplemented by a strategic relationship with one or two external agencies as a backup when bank staff are insufficient. The optimal ratio of bank to agency depends on the provider’s size, the predictability of demand and the success of bank recruitment and retention. Tracking the proportion of flexible hours covered by bank versus agency workers and monitoring this over time helps providers assess and improve their workforce model.
For related information see our articles on Care Agency vs In House Recruitment and External Agencies in Health and Social Care.
Bank staff are workers on the provider’s own books who are called on for flexible cover. Agency staff are supplied by an external third-party agency. Bank staff are typically cheaper and have better service knowledge but require the provider to manage compliance. Agency staff cost more per hour but the agency handles compliance and can supply at short notice when bank staff are unavailable.
Neither is universally better: both have strengths and weaknesses. Bank staff are cheaper and provide better continuity; agency workers provide a safety net when bank resources are insufficient. Most providers benefit from prioritising bank staff for flexible cover and using agencies as a backup. Building a large, well-trained internal bank reduces reliance on more expensive external agency workers.
Building a strong internal bank requires active recruitment specifically for bank roles, competitive bank rates, a positive working experience that encourages bank workers to take shifts when offered, training investment, clear communication of available shifts and a culture that values bank workers as part of the team. Some providers offer bank staff guaranteed minimum hours or preferential access to permanent roles as incentives for availability.
Visit our Health and Social Care Agency Resource Hub for more guides on staffing, compliance, CQC standards, agency costs and how to choose the right care agency for your organisation.
The information in this article is provided for general guidance only and does not constitute legal, regulatory or professional advice. Regulations, rates and compliance requirements change: always verify current requirements with the relevant regulatory body. SENDhelp Education Limited accepts no responsibility or liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this content. Any links to third-party websites are provided for convenience only and do not constitute endorsement of their content.
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