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Creating contracts

A contract turns a placement into something you can pay, bill and report against. Create one as soon as a candidate is confirmed in a role.

Where to create a contract​

You have two routes:

  • From a booked candidate (recommended): book a shortlisted candidate and RecSphere prompts "create a contract for X?". Confirm and the contract is created, with the option to open it straight away.
  • From the Contracts page: use the Add contract button and choose the candidate and vacancy manually.

Either route opens the same contract.

What carries across from the booking​

When you create a contract from a booking, RecSphere pulls the placement detail across for you:

  • Employment type.
  • The vacancy match.
  • Division, specialty and grade.
  • Client.
  • Dates.
  • Financials (the rate card and the locked-in rate).

This means most of the contract is already populated by the time you open it.

Required fields​

To save a contract you must provide:

  1. Candidate. For example, Sarah Williams.
  2. Vacancy. For example, RS-1045 Senior Nurse at NHS South West, Bristol Royal Infirmary.
  3. Start date.
  4. Contract type. See the next section.
  5. Rate card. Inherited from the client or location by default. You can override individual lines later, see Rate cards in contracts.

End date is optional. Leave it blank for open-ended placements.

Contract types​

Pick the type that matches how the candidate is engaged:

  • PAYE employee. RecSphere is the employer of record, runs PAYE and NI, and produces payslips.
  • Contractor. The candidate is self-employed or limited company. No PAYE deductions.
  • Umbrella. The candidate is paid by a third-party umbrella company. RecSphere passes hours and rates to the umbrella.
  • Fixed-term. A time-bound PAYE engagement with an end date.

The type drives which fields appear later (for example, umbrella requires an umbrella company on file).

The Financials tab​

The Financials tab holds the rate card and the locked-in rate carried across from the booking. From here you confirm the figures the contract will run on: pay rate, charge rate and any rule from the rate card. The contract also shows its projected value and margin, based on the hours over the contract period (see Contracts overview).

You can still change the rate at contract level until contracts are sent. After a contract is sent and signed, the rate is locked for the duration.

Right-to-work and compliance pre-checks​

Before activation, RecSphere checks that the candidate's mandatory compliance items are complete. Typical mandatory items include right-to-work documents, role-specific certifications and signed contractor agreements. Outstanding items show on the contract with a link to the candidate's compliance record.

Compliance gate

A contract cannot activate if mandatory compliance items are outstanding. Resolve the items in the candidate's compliance record first, then return to the contract. See Compliance overview.

Finalising the contract​

When the contract is complete and compliance is green:

  1. Review the Financials tab and the contract type. Adjust the rate if needed, rates stay editable until the contract is sent.
  2. Confirm the start date.
  3. Send the contract for signing.

Once the required signatures are in place, the contract can move to Ready To Finalise or Ready to Finalise, depending on the system status shown in your workspace. Finalising confirms payroll identifiers, generates timesheets for the contract's duration, and marks the candidate and vacancy as booked where applicable. See Contract status definitions, Timesheets and Expenses.