CIS Self Employed Status

Under existing rules workers should only be engaged as self-employed where they are not subject to (or to the right of) Supervision, Direction or Control [SDC] as to the manner of working by any person

It is the responsibility of the recruitment company to make this assessment, ideally in conjunction with (and with the support of) the end client, to ensure only those workers outside of SDC are engaged as self-employed.  The worker should not be engaged as self-employed unless the client supports a ‘no SDC’ determination.

Where HMRC successfully challenge the SDC status any resulting liabilities fall on the agency. For these reasons we do not advise having a provider carry out assessments.

Many will operate a ‘sense check’ and provide feedback if they feel there may be issues, ultimately it is the agency choice as they hold the liability.

We would never advise engaging workers outside of construction through a self-employed model.

CIS Gross Status Umbrella

Workers deemed to be caught by SDC and operating in the construction sector are likely to be engaged through an umbrella company.

Where the umbrella has gross payment status this makes the invoicing, payment process and reporting more straight forward.

You should always check the umbrella used for construction workers holds Gross Payment status, and, if not, you as agency must apply appropriate CIS deduction to sums paid to the umbrella for construction workers, on whatever basis they are engaged by the umbrella.

Following the announcement in The Finance Bill 2026 of Joint and Several Liability these arrangements will be caught by the new legislation.

Our new accreditation, as part of the protection process for Joint and Several Liability, will require use of the Fortis system for the payment validation of all workers.

Accreditation will be achieved once a provider (1) has satisfied our review of a provider’s operational processes and procedures, and in addition (2) is integrated into our new Fortis platform. 

We will be migrating existing providers to Fortis towards the end of 2025 and early 2026.

With effect from the start of the 2026-27 tax year, previous accreditations of providers who are not integrated into Fortis will cease to be valid.