Glossary
Terms used across this documentation and in the API’s own field names. The industry vocabulary is the part most integrators have to learn; the software is the easy half.
Agency
Section titled “Agency”A recruitment business using Recruso. Also the tenant — every record in the system belongs to exactly one agency, and your credentials are bound to one. See Multi-tenancy.
Agency lookups
Section titled “Agency lookups”Per-tenant configurable lists your agency owns — job categories, shifts, activity types and so on. Distinct from reference data, which is global and read-only. See Reference data and agency lookups.
Agency settings
Section titled “Agency settings”Per-tenant operational configuration rather than vocabulary: bank holidays, rate types, AWR alert rules, document templates, and the sequences that allocate worker and invoice numbers.
AWR — Agency Workers Regulations
Section titled “AWR — Agency Workers Regulations”UK legislation giving agency workers equal treatment with comparable direct employees after a qualifying period of work. Certain absences break that qualifying period, and agencies configure their own thresholds per absence reason — sickness, maternity, paternity, adoption, jury service, unpaid leave.
Booking
Section titled “Booking”A worker assigned to a client’s site for a given date and time. Carries its own pay and charge rates, has a status, and can recur. Not yet published by the API.
Branch
Section titled “Branch”A physical office or operational unit of an agency. Clients and workers sit under a branch, and a Recruso user’s accessible branches further narrow what your integration can see.
Charge rate
Section titled “Charge rate”What the agency bills the client per hour or day. Contrast pay rate; the gap between them is the margin.
Client
Section titled “Client”A company that engages the agency to supply workers. Belongs to one branch, and operates one or more sites.
Client-credentials token
Section titled “Client-credentials token”The machine-to-machine access token your integration uses, obtained by exchanging an API app’s client id and secret. It belongs to the app rather than to a person, and it is the only token this API accepts. See Authentication.
Compliance
Section titled “Compliance”The evidence a worker must hold to be placed — right-to-work documents, qualifications, certifications. Configured per agency.
Cost centre
Section titled “Cost centre”A unit within a branch that work is booked against, for internal cost attribution. Cost centres are branch-scoped, and can also be linked to sites and site contacts.
Credit note
Section titled “Credit note”An adjustment against an invoice — for over-billing, cancellation and similar. Belongs to one invoice. Not yet published by the API.
Developer Console
Section titled “Developer Console”The web application at developer.recruso.co.uk where an agency creates API apps, mints and rotates their credentials — a client id and secret issued as a pair — and sets an app’s IP allow-list. Access comes with a Recruso CRM licence and the appropriate role. It is the only place API credentials are issued; this API does not expose them.
Invoice
Section titled “Invoice”A bill to a client, generated from completed plans. Can cover several plans within one week. Not yet published by the API.
KID — Key Information Document
Section titled “KID — Key Information Document”A document UK agencies must give a worker before they agree to terms, setting out pay, deductions and who pays them. Templated separately for PAYE and subcontractor workers, because the content differs.
A prospective client — a company the agency is pursuing but has not yet converted.
Margin
Section titled “Margin”Charge rate minus pay rate. The agency’s gross return on a placement.
Pay As You Earn — the UK system where the employer deducts income tax and National Insurance before paying the worker. A PAYE worker is on the agency’s own payroll, as opposed to being paid through an umbrella company or supplied by a subcontractor.
Pay rate
Section titled “Pay rate”What the worker is paid per hour or day. Contrast charge rate.
Plan — weekly plan
Section titled “Plan — weekly plan”A worker’s bookings at one site grouped within a single week, with hours, adjustments and holiday taken. The unit the financial side of the product acts on: completing a plan snapshots the agreed hours and rates and produces both payroll and invoice values, which are then legally authoritative and never recalculated. Not yet published by the API.
Reference data
Section titled “Reference data”Platform-wide controlled vocabularies, identical for every agency and read-only — titles, genders, nationalities, NI categories, payment methods and similar. Every vocabulary can be listed and fetched by id through the API; none can be written. See Reference data and agency lookups.
Reference plan
Section titled “Reference plan”The weekly head record that a week’s daily plan rows point at. The weekly rate lives here rather than on the individual days.
Rolled-up holiday
Section titled “Rolled-up holiday”Holiday pay included in the hourly rate as it is earned, rather than accrued and paid when leave is taken. Configured per agency.
RTW — right to work
Section titled “RTW — right to work”A worker’s legal entitlement to work in the UK. Verified through Home Office checks; a share code may be recorded against the worker.
Sage / Staffology
Section titled “Sage / Staffology”External systems Recruso integrates with — Sage Payroll and Staffology for payroll, Sage Accounts for invoicing. Not exposed through this API.
A client location where work is actually performed. Defines rates per skill, assessment requirements and contacts, and is what a worker’s suitable, not suitable, assessed and banned lists refer to. Belongs to one client.
Soft delete
Section titled “Soft delete”Deletion that retains the record rather than destroying it. Existing references keep resolving and the value stops being offered for new use. The name usually stays reserved, which is why re-using it can be rejected. Some resources support an explicit restore.
Subcontractor
Section titled “Subcontractor”A third-party company supplying workers to the agency. Has its own workers and documents, and is invoiced separately.
Timesheet
Section titled “Timesheet”The record of what a worker actually worked in a week, confirming the plan before payroll and invoicing run. Not yet published by the API.
Umbrella company
Section titled “Umbrella company”An intermediary that employs the worker and handles their payroll, so the agency pays the umbrella rather than the worker. One of the engagement models alongside PAYE and subcontractor supply.
Week-ending date
Section titled “Week-ending date”The date a work week ends, and the anchor everything weekly is grouped by. Each agency defines its own week, so this is not a calendar week. See The recruitment week.
Worker
Section titled “Worker”An individual the agency places into work. Registered against one branch of one agency; a person working for two agencies exists as two unrelated worker records. See Workers.
Worker number
Section titled “Worker number”A worker’s human-facing reference, allocated from the agency’s own sequence at creation. Distinct from the worker id, which is what the API endpoints take.
WTD opt-out
Section titled “WTD opt-out”A worker’s opt-out from the Working Time Directive’s maximum weekly hours. Recorded on the worker.