Contract work in construction and CIS
Sector
Groundworkers, plant operators, civils and site staff — found, placed, verified and paid, with the cashflow behind the wage run sorted at the same time.
Construction is the sector where the payroll question and the cashflow question arrive together, and where getting either one wrong is expensive fastest. A civils contractor wins a package, needs thirty groundworkers on site in a fortnight, and the agency supplying them has to verify every one of those subcontractors with HMRC, deduct at the right rate, file a monthly return and still find the money to pay them weekly while the main contractor takes sixty days. None of those problems is hard on its own. Together they are what stops a good construction agency growing.
The Construction Industry Scheme is the part most agencies underestimate. Verification decides whether a subcontractor is deducted at twenty per cent, thirty per cent or paid gross, and it is not a one-off: verification status lapses, subcontractors change their registration, and re-verification is where agencies most often slip. Monthly returns are due on a fixed calendar whether or not the client has paid, payment and deduction statements have to reach every subcontractor, and the scheme sits on top of the ordinary employment status question rather than replacing it. A worker treated as CIS who is in substance employed is still an employment status problem, and it surfaces late.
In practice almost nobody runs a construction book on one route. CIS covers the trades. Site management, quantity surveyors and the people who look like staff usually sit on outsourced PAYE or a managed bureau, depending on whether the agency wants the headcount on its own books. Larger programmes in civils and infrastructure increasingly place people across the Irish Sea or into Europe, which needs a paying entity in the country the work is done. A construction agency of any size ends up with a mix, and that is the right answer rather than an untidy one.
Behind all of it is the ledger. Wages do not stretch, HMRC's calendar does not move, and construction carries persistently high insolvency rates — which is why bad debt protection comes up here more than anywhere else. Invoice finance closes the gap between the Friday wage run and the client's sixty-day terms, and it is the single most common second conversation after a CIS one.
We do not employ anybody, run a scheme or supply labour ourselves. We find self-employed contractors in construction and civils and connect them with the agencies and businesses that need them, and we introduce the payroll, funding and back-office partners that fit the shape of the book. It costs the agency and the contractor nothing; the partner pays us.
Routes that suit this sector
- UK · Construction
CIS
Self-employed subcontractors, verified with HMRC and deducted at 20%, 30% or gross. Verification, monthly returns and payment & deduction statements all handled — including re-verification, which is where most agencies slip.
Internal staff and consultants paid alongside your contract book, on the same run, under whichever of the two core models you have chosen.
- UK · Accredited providers
PAYE umbrella
One employer across assignments, which suits workers moving between bookings or holding several at once. Since 6 April 2026 the agency in the chain operates PAYE, so we introduce accredited providers and set the evidence standard alongside them.
- Ireland
Irish PAYE
Employed in Ireland, paid under Irish PAYE with income tax, PRSI and USC deducted and reported to Revenue in real time. The closest equivalent to UK outsourced PAYE, and the right answer for most Irish placements.
A local employment vehicle in the country the work is done — local registration, local payroll, local filings and statutory entitlements. Common in oil and gas, renewables, marine, civils and large engineering programmes.
The Current Market
Contractors work everywhere, so do we
- Construction & CIS
- Civil Engineering
- Engineering
- Oil & Gas
- Energy & Renewables
- Rail
- Marine
- Aviation
- Healthcare & Social Care
- IT & Technology
- Cyber Security
- Telecoms
- Logistics & Driving
- Industrial & Manufacturing
- Warehousing
- Facilities & Security
- Education
- Creative & Media
- Finance & Legal
- Life Sciences & Pharma
- Hospitality & Events
- Agriculture & Food
- Public Sector
The things people ask before they ring
Nothing. We are paid by the partners we introduce you to, not by you. That is also why we will tell you when we do not have a good answer — there is no fee riding on you saying yes.
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.
Yes. Subcontractors are verified with HMRC and deducted at 20 per cent, 30 per cent or gross depending on their verification status. Monthly returns, payment and deduction statements and re-verification are all handled — re-verification being where agencies most often slip. CIS usually sits alongside another route for site management and internal staff.
No, and most agencies do not. A mixed book is normal: CIS for the trades, outsourced PAYE for site management, a bureau for long-serving staff and an Irish route for EU placements. We assess what you have, tell you plainly where it is already fine, and only introduce a provider where a change would actually help.
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