Find contract work — and a payroll route that fits
For contractors
Individual self-employed workers in the sectors we cover: groundworkers and plant operators, civils and site staff, locum clinicians and care workers, cloud and cyber engineers, riggers and technicians, drivers and warehouse staff. We want to find them, place them, and pay them — recruitment and payroll are the two services that attach to a contractor, and they attach together.
Free to you; our partners pay us.
Why contractors come to us
You are good at the work. The business side arrived uninvited: finding the agencies that actually place your trade, working out how you will be paid, keeping the paperwork in order. Registering with twenty agencies rarely fixes it, because three that genuinely place your discipline in your area will do more for you. We work out which ones those are, look at how you will be paid at the same time, and introduce you to partners we have already checked. If your current arrangement is already right, we will tell you so and leave it be.
- Independent: not tied to one provider or one payroll model, so there is no route we need to push.
- Partners already checked, by sector: agencies and providers that genuinely work in your trade.
- One conversation covering the work and how you're paid, because the two decisions are connected.
- Free, and we tell you when you don't need us. The partner pays us, never you.
- Free tools — work out take-home pay by route, and which answers HMRC's status tool may struggle with, before you talk to anyone.
How it works
01
Talk to us
Fifteen minutes on your trade, where you work, how many bookings you hold and how you're paid.
02
We find the fit
We work out which agencies genuinely place your trade in your region, and which payroll routes suit the engagement.
03
You're introduced
Two or three agencies and providers from a panel we have checked, each with a reason attached.
Routes for you
You're a contractor
Find me work
We introduce you to agencies that genuinely place in your trade and your region — not a list of everyone we know, a shortlist of two or three. Then we sort out how you'll be paid, because the two decisions are connected.
See how we place people
What we arrange for contractors
Recruitment & contractor sourcing
Finding self-employed contractors is what the rest of the business runs on, so this is the main event rather than an afterthought. We introduce you to a shortlist of two or three agencies that genuinely place your trade in your region, whether that is construction and civils, healthcare, IT and cyber, engineering, energy or logistics. You get a shortlist rather than a directory of everyone we know, and where we cannot help in your area we say so rather than taking your details.
Payroll — every method
How you are paid decides who employs you, what happens between assignments and how much administration lands on you. The routes we connect you to include, but are not limited to, PAYE umbrella, agency and direct PAYE, CIS for construction, your own limited company and sole trader, with accounting introductions for the self-employed models. We set the routes that fit side by side, with the costs stated, and introduce the provider. We do not run payroll or give tax advice ourselves.
Ireland & Europe
If the assignment is in Dublin or Rotterdam, UK payroll is usually the wrong instrument: income tax follows the work, and paying someone in an EU state usually needs a local registration. For contractors working abroad we connect you with Irish PAYE, Irish limited company and sole trader routes, and European managed payroll and Employer of Record in the country the work is done, explained in local terms rather than translated from IR35.
The Current Market
Contractors · Payroll
How self-employed contractors get paid in the UK: the routes, compared
Agency PAYE, employed PAYE through a provider, CIS or your own limited company. What each payroll route means for a self-employed contractor, and how to work out which one fits your work. Independent consultancy, free to contractors.
PAYE umbrellaLimited companySole traderContractors8-minute readContractors · Payroll
Payroll and business support for self-employed contractors: employed PAYE, limited company or sole trader
Employed PAYE, your own limited company, or sole trader registration and management. The routes open to a self-employed contractor, what running each one actually involves, and who does the work.
Limited companySole traderContractorsPAYE umbrella6-minute readContractors · Ireland & Europe
Working as a contractor in Europe: who employs you, and how you get paid
Taken a contract in the Netherlands, Germany or Ireland. Who employs you, which country taxes you, what an Employer of Record does, and the questions to ask before you fly out.
EuropeIrelandContractors7-minute read
What people say after the introduction
Freelancer Supermarket helped me find a trusted payroll provider and an agency within days. Straightforward, no runaround.
FD Freelance developer
IT
Introductions usually follow within a day or two.
The things people ask before they ring
Compliance record, transparent pricing, sector experience and how they actually behave when something goes wrong. If a partner stops meeting that standard we stop introducing them.
Mostly for continuity. A PAYE umbrella employs you across assignments, so three bookings through two agencies still means one employer, one employment record, holiday that does not reset when an assignment ends and a pension that keeps going. Tax and National Insurance are deducted at source under PAYE. What to check: that the provider is accredited, that its margin is a fixed amount in pounds per week or per month rather than a percentage of your rate, and what actually reaches your bank once the employment costs come out of the assignment rate. Ask for the Key Information Document before you agree to anything.
Because the partners pay us. When you engage an agency or a provider we introduce, that partner pays us, never you, and we are paid the same whichever one you pick, so there is no route we have a reason to push. It also means we can tell you when you do not need us: if your current arrangement is already right, we say so and leave it be.
Often, yes, because the business side is real work. Through your own limited company there are annual accounts, a confirmation statement, corporation tax, VAT returns if you cross the threshold, director's payroll and dividend records. As a sole trader it is lighter: you register, you invoice and you file a return. Either way there are timesheets to chase, invoices to raise and documents to keep in date. We introduce you to accountants and providers who handle it; we do not prepare accounts or give tax advice ourselves.
A first conversation is fifteen minutes. Introductions usually follow within a day or two — two or three partners that fit, not a scattergun.
Fifteen minutes will tell you where you stand
Whether you're a contractor after your next job, an agency placing across Europe, or a business that needs people found, paid and funded — start with a conversation. It costs nothing and we'll tell you honestly if we can't help. No form to fill in first.
info@freelancer-supermarket.co.uk