Blogs

From healthcare wearables to image-generating AI, technology is advancing faster than most of us can keep up with. However, when it’s applied correctly, technology can speed up the things we need in a hurry, ensure that processes and procedures are correct, and improve our lives. Here we look at the technology that we employ in order to serve you better.

Security

Cyber criminals are an ever-present threat, especially when money is involved – many of us have been a target or know someone who has. The Government estimates that there were around 2.4 million cyber attacks on businesses last year, and almost 50,000 cases of fraud as a result. 

That’s why we’ve partnered with some of the very best tech security firms in the country to ensure that our systems are safe, impregnable and regularly updated. Take our secure portal, for example. When you register with us as our employee we’ll send you a link to your own secure space in which you can see pay notifications, any pending transactions, completed payments, your current and previous payslips (which you can download in PDF form or email to yourself in case you need proof of income), the billing we’ve made to your recruitment agency, and your contract documents, as well as your P60, P87 and P45, all of which are downloadable for maximum convenience. As with any log in, we advise that you choose a difficult password combining CAPITALS, lowercase, numbers and special characters. And in the unlikely event that there was ever a security breach, we’d notify you promptly to enable you to change your secure login details.

Our own CEST tool

The Government’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool has come in for some criticism recently. We discussed the issues involved here as part of a discussion on regulatory support for contractors and here where we questioned whether it was fit for purpose. We made a decision not to rely on this flawed technology, reasoning that our contractors should be better served, and to make their lives easier. That’s why we partnered with Contractor Compliance. We can ask more detailed questions of our potential contractors, find our more about their individual circumstances and working conditions, so that they receive a status determination which is more accurate than CEST, and which reduces their chance of paying more tax than they need to. Furthermore, if there’s an issue at HMRC HQ we can use the software to manage the dispute, using the evidence provided to prove status determination one way or the other. 

Payment tech

We take our responsibility towards our employees, our recruitment partners and their end-clients very seriously and have invested heavily not only in cyber security tech but also software that lets us process payments quickly and accurately too. That’s why we’re able to deal with invoices efficiently and make same-day payments where applicable, and why we can also make payments 5 days a week using the BACS system, so there’s no delay in getting the money you’ve earned into your bank account. Unlike some umbrella companies, we’ll also text you when you’ve been paid so you have the information at your fingertips.

Our sophisticated systems also submit the details of your Tax and National Insurance contributions to HMRC via Real Time Information (RTI) to ensure that your contributions are registered, ensuring that there are no problems further down the line.

Finally, for complete peace of mind, all of the products and processes we use have been carefully designed to comply with all the Freelancer and Contractor Services Association’s (FCSA) guidance which means that you have the reassurance and security of compliance with some of the most stringent standards possible. 

We cover this and other topics in our latest guide: Navigating the Storm: Essential Strategies for Choosing the Right Umbrella Company. Click here to request your copy.  

If you’d like more information about how our compliant and secure products can help you, either as a contractor or as a recruiter, you can call us on 0333 200 0845, email us at [email protected] or fill in the contact form here.