UK construction payroll
CIS payroll and PAYE umbrella employment for contractors and subcontractors, recruitment agencies and construction businesses across the UK.
Who we help
You need different things from a payroll company depending on where you sit. Pick the one that sounds like you.
Get paid on time, every week, with a payslip you can actually read.
Place the worker. We will handle the payroll and the paperwork behind it.
Pay site workers properly without building a payroll department.
Four steps
No long forms and no jargon. Here is what happens.
Call us or send your details through the form. We will tell you what documents we need and set you up on our system.
Once you are working, send your hours through each week. Your agency or site contact can send them on your behalf.
We check the hours, apply the right deductions and prepare your payment. If anything looks wrong, we call you before we process it.
Payment goes out on your regular pay day and your payslip is available online the same day.
Take-home calculator
Put your rate in and see it three ways: CIS, PAYE umbrella, and gross payment status, with every deduction itemised, including our margin.
An illustration, not a quote. Not tax advice. Assumes a standard tax code and England, Wales and Northern Ireland bands for 2026/27. CIS figures are a payment on account, not a final tax position. See how these figures are worked out.
What we do
Six things we handle, so you do not have to.
Verification, deductions and statements for self-employed subcontractors.
PAYE Umbrella Employment PAYEEmployment status, PAYE tax and statutory rights in one place.
Agency Payroll Support AgencyWe run the payroll behind your placements, week after week.
Weekly Processing & Payslips WeeklyWeekly pay runs with payslips you can open on your phone.
Holiday Pay Administration HolidayHoliday entitlement tracked, calculated and paid without you chasing it.
Pension Auto-Enrolment PensionAssessment, enrolment and contributions handled to the statutory timetable.
Why HiFlex
We work in one industry, not twenty. That means we already understand CIS, weekly pay cycles and how site work actually runs.
Pay runs go out on the same day each week. If something is wrong with a timesheet, we pick up the phone before payday, not after it.
You will know what our charge is before you sign up, and it will not change without us telling you. Nothing gets buried in a payslip.
You get a real person who understands payroll, not a script. Ask us why a figure is what it is and you will get a straight answer.
Contracts, right-to-work documents and payslips are stored securely and are there when you need them. No hunting through old emails.
Workers and agency consultants both get a direct line to us. Two audiences, one team, same standard of answer.
Common questions
If your question is not here, call us and ask. We would rather explain it once properly than have you guess.
The difference is your employment status. Under CIS you are self-employed, working under the Construction Industry Scheme. A deduction is taken from your labour payment and sent to HMRC towards your tax bill. You still file your own tax return.
Under PAYE umbrella you are an employee of the umbrella company. Tax and National Insurance are deducted through PAYE, and you get employment rights including holiday pay and pension enrolment. Which one applies is not a free choice. It depends on how the work is genuinely carried out.
We run payroll weekly. Get your timesheet in by Wednesday and, once approved, your payment is cleared by 5pm Friday the same week. Your payslip appears online the same day.
Miss the Wednesday cut-off and your timesheet moves to the next week's run. The exact moment the money shows in your account can vary slightly with your bank.
It depends which arrangement you are on.
Under CIS, the deduction applies to the labour element of your invoice. Materials, plant hire, VAT and certain other costs are excluded. The rate HMRC returns when we verify you depends on whether you are registered for CIS, unregistered, or hold gross payment status.
Under PAYE umbrella, income tax and employee National Insurance are deducted through PAYE. Student loan repayments and pension contributions come off where they apply. Employment costs and our charge are also accounted for. Every line appears on your payslip.
If you are self-employed under CIS, yes. CIS deductions are payments on account towards your tax and National Insurance, not a final settlement. You file a Self Assessment return after the tax year ends on 5 April, declare your income and expenses, and offset the CIS deductions already taken. Many subcontractors are owed a refund at that point.
If you are a PAYE umbrella employee, your tax is settled through payroll. You may still need to file for other reasons, such as other income or higher-rate pension relief.
Call us or send the form on the contact page. We will tell you exactly which documents to send.
For CIS you will need your Unique Taxpayer Reference and National Insurance number, and you must be registered for CIS with HMRC. If you are not, register with HMRC first, because unverified subcontractors have a higher deduction rate applied. For umbrella employment we need your right-to-work documents and your bank details.
Once we have your complete documents, your first pay run is typically two to three weeks away. We will tell you exactly where you are in that process when you register.
If you are a British or Irish citizen, a valid passport is the usual document. A digital check through an identity service provider certified under the government's digital identity trust framework is also possible.
If your right to work comes from a visa, an eVisa or a biometric residence permit, you will need to generate a share code through the Home Office online service and give it to us with your date of birth. We must complete the check before your employment starts, not after.
We carry out right-to-work checks through the government's own online checking services on gov.uk.
Holiday pay applies if you are employed through PAYE umbrella. Employees and workers build up statutory paid holiday, currently a minimum of 5.6 weeks a year, adjusted for part-time hours.
Because construction work is often irregular, holiday pay is usually calculated as a proportion of what you earn. It can either be held and paid when you take leave, or paid alongside each week's pay where the rules allow. Your payslip will show which applies to you.
Self-employed CIS subcontractors do not accrue statutory holiday pay.
If you are employed through PAYE umbrella, we must assess you for automatic enrolment. If you meet the age and earnings criteria set by the government, you are enrolled into a workplace pension and both you and the employer contribute.
You can opt out. If you do so within the first month of being enrolled, contributions already taken are refunded. Opting out is your decision alone, and we are not allowed to encourage it. Everyone eligible is reassessed and re-enrolled roughly every three years.
Get started
Send us a few details and we will come back to you with what it looks like for your situation. If it is quicker to talk, call 020 7062 6851.
Tell us how you are set up now and what is not working. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.
