Household brief
The rhythm matters.
Live-in, travel, pets, guests and routines are captured before matching starts.
Private household staff · done properly
Staffed in days,
not months.
Butlers, nannies, chefs and estate managers — vetted, document-ready and matched to your household. £2,400 flat. No percentage of salary. No agency-week games.
Hiring households and private staff both start here · candidates never pay Refined Staff
Document-ready preview
FA
Frances A.
Nanny · Document-ready · London
Strongmatch
🌐 Right to Work docs Ready✓
🪪 ID document Ready✓
🛡 DBS/update status Ready✓
🚗 Driving licence Ready✓
💬 References ×3 Supplied✓
Consultant review before any intro
Refined Staff flat fee
£2,400Traditional 15%
£10,200
Compliance partners
uCheckTrustIDYotiCredas
5,200+
Pre-vetted candidates in the network
47
Completed placements with households
36hrs
Average to first reviewed shortlist
£2,400
Flat fee. Whatever the salary. Whatever the role.
For private staff
Good household roles, without candidate fees.
Join Refined Staff if you work as a nanny, chef, housekeeper, butler, PA, chauffeur, estate manager, couple or specialist household professional. We only introduce you to households that fit your experience, availability and privacy preferences.
- No candidate fees, ever. Refined Staff is paid by households.
- Your CV and documents stay private until you accept an intro.
- Tag every role you would genuinely take, including live-in, travel and international work.
What happens after you apply
1Tell us your roles, location and start date. It takes under a minute.
2Leave your contact details first. Add your CV now, or send it later.
3A Refined Staff consultant reviews your profile before any household sees it.
4You choose whether to accept an intro before anything private is shared.
Human review
Software finds the fit. People make the call.
Every shortlist is reviewed before it becomes an introduction, so the software never has the final say.
Consultant accountable
Every shortlist is checked before it reaches a household.
The matcher ranks live candidate data, but Refined Staff still reviews role fit, availability, pay, privacy, documents and household context before an introduction is confirmed.
What that means
- Every shortlist is reviewed by a consultant before a household sees it.
- Candidate documents stay permissioned until the intro is accepted.
- Compliance packs and placement terms stay blocked until consultant sign-off.
For sensitive, unusual or urgent briefs, contact Refined Staff before submitting the details online.
The maths nobody shows you
The agency markup is the absurd bit.
Good household staff already carry documents and references. What we fix is the timing: do not pay to re-check everyone too early, and never let the fee scale with salary.
Traditional agency
Refined Staff
Placement fee
15–25% of salary — £10,200–£17,000 on a £68k nanny
£2,400 flat, whatever the salary
Time to place
4–8 weeks of back-and-forth
Days, from a screened pool
Vetting
Ad hoc, undocumented, varies by consultant
Document-ready pack — existing checks logged, portal checks before placement
After you hire
You're on your own with payroll & compliance
Payroll handoff included; renewals & replacement support available on plans
Transparency
A CV and a phone call
Every check documented & shareable
Fee calculator
See what a flat fee saves.
Traditional agencies charge more as salaries rise. Refined Staff stays at £2,400, so the hiring budget goes into the role, not the markup.
Traditional agency
£10,200 – £17,000
15–25% of salary
Refined Staff
£2,400
flat, whatever the salary
Estimated saving
£7,800 – £14,600
equivalent to 1.4 – 2.6 months of salary
Shown per hire. The higher the salary, the more a percentage fee costs.
How it works
Four steps. A person at every gate.
Software does the legwork. The safeguarding call is always a human's.
1
Tell us the role
A two-minute brief — live-in or out, children, pets, travel, languages, diet, the household's rhythm.
2
Matched & reviewed
Ranked against a screened pool in seconds, then a consultant reviews the shortlist before it reaches you.
3
Checks at the right moment
Existing DBS, Right to Work, ID, licence and references are accepted up front; paid checks are queued in provider portals once there is real household intent. APIs can replace the manual order later.
4
Placed & managed
Contract and payroll handoff are included. Renewal reminders and priority replacement support are available on household plans.
In the household
For the way these homes actually run.
Real households, real placements — discreet by default. We never show a face without consent.
Consultant review
Shortlists are checked.
Matches are ranked by fit, then reviewed by a Refined Staff consultant before an intro.
Vetting pack
Documents stay orderly.
Checks, references and sign-off history are tracked before placement terms are shared.
Compliance economics
Checked properly,
at the right moment.
🛡
Existing checks accepted
Candidates bring documents once. Refined Staff records what is current, what is portable, and what needs refreshing before placement.
🔁
Paid checks only when needed
DBS, Right to Work, identity and reference checks are ordered through provider portals at finalist or placement stage, not across the whole pool.
👤
A human signs off
Edge cases drop to a supervised ops queue. We never let software make the safeguarding call.
Coordinated through certified provider routes
uCheckTrustIDYotiCredasXrefVeremark
Orchestrated by Zinc — no scraped GOV.UK flows.
What's in the pack
Right to WorkEnhanced DBSIdentity (IDV)Driving licenceReferences ×3Credentials
Pricing
Placement fee first. Plans if you want ongoing support.
The base offer is simple: pay a flat fee when you hire. Monthly plans are for households that also want compliance, payroll and replacement support between hires.
Per placement
£2,400
flat — any salary, any role
One hire, no ongoing commitment. This is the core Refined Staff offer.
You pay on success: £2,400 when a candidate is hired.
- Household-fit matching
- Consultant-reviewed shortlist
- Standard checks & contract
- 90-day free replacement
- Charged only on confirmed hire
Most households
Household
£149/mo
ongoing support between hires
For households running 2+ staff who want compliance, payroll and renewals quietly handled.
Placements are still paid separately: members get 10% off the £2,400 placement fee.
- 10% off every placement fee
- Payroll & pension handoff
- DBS, visa & licence renewal reminders
- Document vault & staff messaging
- Priority replacement support
Estate
£495/mo
multi-property, dedicated consultant
For principals with multiple properties, yachts or large teams — staffed like a private office.
Includes one placement each year. After that, additional placements use the flat fee.
- Everything in Household support
- Named consultant on speed-dial
- 24/7 line for placement emergencies
- Multi-property & yacht/jet dashboard
- One placement included every year (£2,400 value)
A traditional agency would charge £10,200–£17,000 to place a single £68k nanny. Refined Staff's standard placement is £2,400 on hire. Household and Estate plans are optional monthly service plans; they do not replace the placement fee unless a placement is explicitly included. Standard third-party checks are included up to an allowance; unusual, overseas or repeat checks are approved and passed through at cost.
Questions
The honest answers.
How does Refined Staff support compliance?
Existing documents are reviewed first; paid third-party checks are queued through provider portals before placement and signed off by a consultant. Refined Staff supports the hiring decision, but households keep their legal duties as employers.
Do you really vet people, or is it all software?
Software ranks the pool and tracks documents. People make the judgement calls, choose when paid checks are justified, and meet candidates where it matters.
What if it doesn't work out?
Every placement comes with a 90-day free replacement. Household and Estate plans add priority replacement support; Estate also includes one placement per year.
How is it so much faster?
We match against a screened, document-ready pool and delay expensive checks until there is real intent, so the wait is focused on judgement rather than admin.
Begin
Every week you wait is
another £14k of salary ungiven.
The role isn't getting any easier to fill. Brief Refined Staff in two minutes — reviewed shortlist usually within 36 hours, charged only when you confirm a hire.
No fee to brief · No fee for a shortlist · Charged only on confirmed hire