Construction payroll, run by people who understand the sector

Around 70% of the payrolls we run are for trades and construction businesses. The payroll itself is much like any other: steady staff, paid properly, on time. What makes construction different is everything sitting around it.

Who is employed and who is not. Whether IR35 applies to the people working through their own companies. Whether the CIS your company suffers is actually coming off your PAYE bill. Those are the questions that cost money when they are answered wrongly, and they are the ones we get asked most.

What is included

• Weekly, fortnightly, four weekly or monthly payroll, whatever your sites actually run on
• Real Time Information submissions to HMRC on or before every payday
• Payslips for every employee
• Pensions auto enrolment: assessment, enrolment, contributions and re-enrolment, all included, not charged as an extra
• Starters and leavers, P45s and P60s
• Statutory pay: sick, maternity, paternity
• Holiday pay, including for anyone on irregular or part year hours
• Attachment of earnings orders and student loan deductions
• Year end reporting

Employment status, and why it comes up so often

This is the question we get asked more than any other, and it is the one with the most money attached to it.

The line between an employee and a self employed subcontractor is not a matter of preference, and paying someone under CIS does not settle it. HMRC looks behind the arrangement at what is actually happening: who controls the work, whether the person has to turn up personally, whether there is an obligation on both sides to offer and accept work.

If HMRC decides someone you treated as self employed was really employed, you are looking at back PAYE, back National Insurance, interest and penalties. It is the employer who pays, not the worker.

We would rather have that conversation with you before it becomes a letter. If you are not sure where you stand, ask us.

IR35 and off payroll working

Where someone works through their own limited company rather than as a sole trader, IR35 comes into it as well, and construction sees a lot of this.

The rules differ depending on whether the business engaging them is small or not, which decides who is responsible for determining status and who carries the risk if the determination is wrong. Getting that responsibility question wrong is common, and it is expensive.

We look at the arrangements you actually have, tell you which regime applies, and tell you what needs to change if anything does.

CIS sits alongside payroll

CIS is a separate service, not part of payroll, but the two connect. If your company suffers CIS deductions as a subcontractor, those deductions are offset against your PAYE bill each month through the Employer Payment Summary. Get that wrong and you pay HMRC money you have already paid them.

We handle both, so they line up. You can read more about how we deal with CIS on our CIS page.

What it is like to work with us

You send us the hours. We tell you what to pay, what to pay HMRC, and when. No chasing, no last minute panic on a Friday afternoon, no discovering in July that the pension submissions have not been made since March.

We are a small practice, so you speak to the person doing the work rather than an inbox.

Common questions

Can you run weekly payroll? Yes, weekly, fortnightly, four weekly or monthly.

Is auto enrolment extra? No. Pensions are included in the payroll fee.

Do you handle CIS as well? Yes, as a separate service. Most construction clients take both.

Someone works through their own limited company. Does IR35 apply? Possibly, and who is responsible for deciding depends on the size of the business engaging them. Send us the arrangement and we will tell you.

What if I have been treating employees as self employed? Talk to us. Sorting it out voluntarily is treated very differently from waiting for HMRC to find it.

Can you take over mid year? Yes. We will need your existing payroll records and we will check what has been filed before we take it on.

Call to action

Tell us how many people you pay and how often, and we will quote you.