Agency responsibilities
On 30th November 2023 the HMRC issued a notice to remind agencies of their responsibilities, key items from the notice include;
- As a recruitment agency you must comply with employment and tax law when working with umbrella companies, including Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct Regulations 2003. You must also ensure agency workers are treated no less favourably than comparable permanent staff by complying with AWR 2010.
- You must report quarterly to the HMRC intermediary report where you place a worker at anend client where you do not operate PAYE, including payments to umbrella companies.
- You must operate PAYE on workers you place at a UK based end client, where the employer is overseas with no UK presence, unless someone else operates PAYE on your behalf.
- You must include any financial incentives you receive from an umbrella company as taxable income.
- Pay tax and contributions on any cash incentives or rewards.
- Comply with the Bribery Act 2010
- Support your worker
- Engage with them, explain the process of working with an umbrella. Be clear about pay rates and explain the difference between the contract rate and their pay rate.
- Issue KIDs
These must be issued when a worker registers with you before you provide work finding services
The consequences for non-compliance are serious, you can face fines, prosecutions and have your business shut down.
How PG will help
Pay Guardians will guide you through the legislative and tax minefields, keeping your own compliance and documents in check and working as a partner to ensure all our obligations are met to the highest of standards. We will assist with KID’s, AWR comparability, help navigate your workers through working with umbrellas, explaining the differences in contract and final pay rates whilst being fully transparent in the process.
We will provide you with real time reports on our rti submissons to the HMRC tied back to all your worker payslips with Pay Guardians, it simply cant be more water tight than that.
Services for agencies
01.
Umbrella
Pay Guardians operate a simple and efficient umbrella service for agency and worker. Our processes are fully documented and comply wholly with employment and tax legislation leaving you free from the burden of ensuring yours and your temporary workers affairs are fully managed.
Our team of qualified accountants and specialist payrollers with years of experience will ensure piece of mind and provide the highest quality of personal service throughout.
02.
Outsourced PAYE Employment
We have many clients at Pay Guardians that operate an outsourced paye model where the fee and employer’s costs are charged at cost to the agency. For agencies that have workers close to minimum wage, or don’t want an umbrella model for their workers, this is a great solution.
This works well in many situations and can result in better pay for the employee and overall increased margins for our agency clients than a traditional umbrella model.
Arrange an appointment with our team of qualified accountants and payroll professionals for a consultation on your payroll.
Benefits to agency
- Easy, as we do the calculations for you to ensure parity with umbrella rates
- Less overall cost and improved margins
- We can mix and match, if some workers still want to use their preferred umbrella
- Fewer queries on pay
- More efficient.
Benefits to contractor
- More transparent with no deductions for employer costs
- Simple to understand with a standard payslip
- Access to statutory benefits
- Access to Pay Guardians rewards and benefits.
03.
Vault
Your shield against the upcoming HMRC changes to Joint and Several Liability (JSL). The Vault—a purpose-built service to help recruitment agencies isolate and protect their PAYE liability, removing the risk of collective responsibility.
With The Vault, your agency’s PAYE liabilities are separated into a dedicated Vault Account. Every time payroll runs, you’ll see exactly what’s owed, how it’s accumulating, and when payments are made to HMRC.
What The Vault Gives You:
- No More Collective Liability: Your PAYE is ring-fenced—so you’re not at risk for someone else’s mistakes.
- Real-Time Visibility: Track your PAYE liabilities the moment payroll is run.
- Full Transparency on Payments: See exactly when your PAYE payments are made to HMRC.
- No Need to Pay PAYE Yourself: You get the protection without the admin burden. We handle the logistics.
- Activity Alerts: Stay informed with notifications on Vault Account activity.
This is peace of mind as a service—a simple, powerful way to ensure your agency is not left footing the bill for someone else’s non-compliance.