Temporary Staffing Masterclass: Managing Workforce Demand with Smart Match and AI

Agency spend is down 66% in two years. The number of agencies has halved. But fill rates have barely moved, and only 34% of bank workers are actually working. In this session from the Connected Health & Care Summit 2026, Richard Kitchen, Head of Product for Medics and Temporary Staffing, and Leigh Malyon, Vice President Solutions Advisory, both representing RLDatix share 10-year data showing the most turbulent period in temporary staffing history, introduce Smart Match, RLDatix’s first AI-enabled workforce capability, and bring two early adopter customers on stage to share results from three months of live uses. 

Watch the full temporary staffing picture across 10 years of data, followed by early adopter results from Smart Match showing 10% bank fill increase, 18% self-booking increase and 88% of workers saying the process is fair.

What the session covers and the market context

This session covers the temporary staffing landscape, product evolution and Smart Match results. The headline data across more than 250 organisations were: 

• Agency spend down 66% in two years, from a peak of £10 billion (£140 per person in the UK) 

• Number of agencies down 46%, agency workers down 62% 

• Agency fill rate dropped 8%, replaced by an 8% increase in bank fill 

• Overall fill rate stable at 82%, meaning 18% of shifts remain unfilled 

• Only 34% of registered bank workers are actively working in any given month 

• 74% of bank workers choose bank for flexibility 

• Only half of organisations use self-booking above 40%, while top performers exceed 70% 

• RLD Intelligence data shows correlation between high agency use and safety incidents