Payroll for recruitment agencies carrying Finance Act 2025 PAYE liability
From April 2026, if a worker's umbrella company fails to pay PAYE or NIC, HMRC can recover that liability directly from the recruitment agency that placed the worker. Around 60,000 UK recruitment agencies are affected, and conventional payroll software does not address it because it was never built to watch your umbrella panel.
Start a free trial Talk to usWhat you get
Live PAYE liability exposure
Your exposure per umbrella across 30, 60 and 90-day windows — so you know your risk before HMRC does.
FCSA status monitoring
An automated daily check against the FCSA member list. A lapse is detected in hours and the umbrella is suspended from your panel automatically.
Mini-umbrella fraud scoring
Each umbrella is scored against seven HMRC mini-umbrella fraud indicators. A score of four or above triggers immediate escalation.
Company and viability checks
Companies House filing status and credit profile on every new umbrella before it ever touches your panel.
Reconciliation
Gross invoice to net pay reconciled, with National Living Wage compliance checked on every run.
Common questions
When does agency PAYE liability start?
April 2026, under the Finance Act 2025. The liability applies where an umbrella company in your supply chain fails to account for PAYE or NIC on a worker you placed.
Does normal payroll software cover this?
No. Standard payroll software runs your own payroll. It does not monitor the compliance status or financial health of the umbrella companies on your panel, which is where the new liability actually sits.
What happens if an umbrella loses FCSA accreditation?
The daily check detects the lapse, usually within hours, and the umbrella is automatically suspended from your panel so no further placements route through it.
For the temps on your book: Graft
Temps and contractors live on irregular income — paid per shift and per assignment, then misread by every affordability check. Graft, from our technology family, is an account being built in public for exactly that worker: a free Self Assessment estimator and a gig-native score tool are live today, and the full account — same-day earnings access, fee-free card — is on an open waitlist until the e-money partnership lands. A candidate perk that costs your agency nothing.
Share Graft with your candidates