For UK recruitment agencies

Finance Act 2025 made your agency
directly liable for umbrella PAYE.

From April 2026, if an umbrella company in your supply chain fails to pay PAYE or NIC, HMRC can collect that debt from you. No other payroll software was built for this.

60,000+ recruitment agencies affected · HMRC enforcement active from April 2026

Agency plan · £79/month · No credit card required during trial

The Finance Act 2025 timeline

April 2025

Finance Act 2025 receives Royal Assent

PAYE/NIC liability transfer provisions written into law. 12-month implementation period begins.

April 2026

Liability transfer live

From this date, if an umbrella company fails to account for PAYE/NIC, HMRC can collect that liability from the recruitment agency in the supply chain.

Now

No compliant SaaS product exists

Traditional payroll software (BrightPay, Moneysoft, Sage) was built for employers. None of them address the agency tier. Agencies are currently buying law firm advice at £300–500/hr.

What payroll.law gives your agency

Six tools your law firm doesn't have. All automated. All in one dashboard.

Live PAYE liability dashboard

30, 60, 90-day PAYE exposure per umbrella. Aggregated to a single agency-wide number. Updated on every reconciliation cycle.

FCSA monitoring — daily

Every umbrella on your panel is checked against the FCSA member list every morning at 06:00. Lapse detected within hours. Panel suspended automatically. Human QA alerted.

Fraud score per umbrella

7 HMRC mini-umbrella indicators scored 0–7. Score ≥4: immediate escalation to founder with sanitised summary to agency. Score ≥6: suspend_immediately flag raised.

Companies House screen

On-demand CH filing status + director check. Strikes-off, overdue accounts, new incorporations flagged before they cause a problem.

Reconciliation engine

Umbrella submits gross invoice + net pay data. Engine reconciles every worker line. NLW compliance checked. Variance >£200 holds the batch.

Due diligence PDF report

One-click export per umbrella. FCSA status, fraud score, CH history, reconciliation record. Your compliance file, automatically maintained.

The 7-indicator fraud score

HMRC published 7 indicators of mini-umbrella fraud in their 2023 guidance. payroll.law scores every umbrella against all 7 — automatically, on every daily screen.

1

Recently incorporated

Under 12 months old — common in phoenixing schemes.

2

Non-UK bank account

HMRC uses this as a key mini-umbrella indicator.

3

HMRC avoidance list

Company appears on HMRC Named Tax Avoidance Schemes list.

4

FCSA not a member

Claiming FCSA accreditation without current membership.

5

Suspicious VAT reg

Recent flat-rate VAT registration — used to extract margin.

6

Unusually low margin

Reported margin below 1% of gross — economically implausible for a legitimate umbrella.

7

Abnormal margin claim

Margin reported by agency does not reconcile with Companies House filings.

Score ≥ 4: Immediate escalation — founder notified, sanitised summary sent to agency compliance team. New worker placements paused pending review. Evidence pack generated automatically.

Your agency — with and without payroll.law

Umbrella FCSA membership lapses

Without payroll.law

You find out months later when a contractor complains. Agency liable from the lapse date.

With payroll.law

Detected at 06:00 the next morning. Panel suspended automatically. You are notified before placing another worker.

Umbrella fails to pay PAYE/NIC

Without payroll.law

HMRC issues a Regulation 80 determination against your agency. First you hear of it is the letter.

With payroll.law

Reconciliation variance detected before it becomes an HMRC issue. Escalation raised. Evidence pack ready.

New umbrella approaches your panel

Without payroll.law

Your compliance team googles the company. Maybe checks Companies House. No fraud scoring.

With payroll.law

One-click CH screen + fraud score (7 indicators) + FCSA status check. Approval or rejection with audit trail.

HMRC inquiry into your umbrella workers

Without payroll.law

You have payslips in a folder. No audit trail of your compliance activity.

With payroll.law

Complete audit log: every screen, every alert, every approval decision, every reconciliation. Exportable PDF.

Agency plan pricing

Flat monthly fee. Unlimited umbrellas on your panel.

Agency

£79/month

Unlimited umbrellas · Unlimited workers · 14-day free trial

  • Finance Act 2025 PAYE liability dashboard
  • FCSA membership monitoring (daily)
  • Mini-umbrella fraud scoring (7 HMRC indicators)
  • Companies House + financial viability screen
  • Reconciliation engine + NLW checks
  • Due diligence PDF reports
  • Full employer payroll (PAYE, RTI, auto-enrolment)
  • Audit trail for HMRC compliance evidence
Start 14-day free trial →

No credit card required during trial · Cancel anytime

The agencies moving first on Finance Act 2025
will be the ones HMRC leaves alone.

14-day free trial. Full Agency plan from day one. Set up your panel in under an hour.

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