Umbrella: how does it work?

Umbrella companies were established near the turn of the Millennium, helping businesses and individuals reduce the stress of dealing with finances. Over recent years, we have become a vital player in ensuring contractors and employers from a wide range of industries get the best hassle-free payroll experience possible.

We work alongside a range of sectors such as construction and healthcare, becoming an intermediary between them and the contractors. Basically, we act as the employer, where we handle with all day-to-day tasks, so you don’t have to.

• Refer a worker to us with an agreed rate of pay and send them a Key Information Document. (KDI). 
• Once we have registered the worker on our system, they’re now legally our employee and our responsibility. 
• Send us the completed hours (timesheet) your worker and we’ll input this into our efficient and powerful payroll software. 
• We’ll conduct all the necessary checks to ensure full compliance with HMRC rules and regulations and process the payroll. 
• All statutory payments, including holidays, paternity or maternity pay and sick days, as well as tax insurances and pension. 
• Any communications with the worker’s payroll will be dealt with by our friendly team.

There are numerous services out there that each have certain benefits that appeal to different individuals and sectors.

Choosing between PAYE and Umbrella has one crucial difference. If you choose PAYE then you will work under an agencies’ payroll, where all salaries will be processed through that system. This, however, creates restrictions as agencies get to determine which jobs you take on and when you work.

When it comes to a Limited company compared to Umbrella, all responsibility is on you, both financial and administrative. You have to ensure your company has all the correct insurances are in place and a business bank account has been set up.     

Financial help

The main goal of any business is ensuring consistent growth, so you can hire more staff to create a stable and successful company. 

This is where we come in. Everything to do with finances and contractor queries is taken care of by us, which includes:

• Wages
• National Insurance
• Sick pay
• Maternity/paternity pay
• Annual leave
• Employee benefits (including health and dental insurance)

We’ll make sure you’re fully compliant with HMRC, as well as saving you valuable time and money.

Where you go, we go.

We also offer complete flexibility, so you can work for multiple agencies at the same time and we’ll still handle the financial and administration side for you.

It’s just one point of contact, so you aren’t jumping from phone call to phone call. You’ll get your very own dedicated point of contact from our team who will be with you every step of the way. We ensure your journey with us is as smooth as possible.