Our new, FREE CIS Healthcheck service is designed to help recruitment businesses to use the scheme safely.

The healthcheck aims to identify risks you may be facing so you can tighten up systems and procedures to ensure your agency can place CIS workers with complete peace of mind.

Common Pitfalls

There are four main pitfalls you should be aware of. One of the most common we see is lack of accountability.

The question is, who at your agency can authorise a worker to be paid via CIS?

This should be a management-led decision but all too often we see this left to the discretion of consultants.

Whilst there is rarely any intention of wrongdoing, a consultant’s priority is to find the right worker for a client and to get them set up and ready to work without delay.

This means your staffing business needs to be able to move fast.

With workers keen on CIS due to the tax advantages, it’s often easier to find a worker for a role that allows payment CIS. As a result, it’s not uncommon for workers who don’t fit the CIS criteria to be put forward to be paid via the scheme.

Whilst a good CIS payments partner like ourselves will undertake our own assessment to prevent inappropriate use of CIS, not all payment partners have the same approach or understanding of CIS compliance.

What to do

The best safeguard is to ensure you have strict controls and operating procedures within your business, and a reliable payments partner so that only genuinely self-employed workers can be paid via CIS.

FREE CIS Healthcheck

Our new CIS Healthcheck service will give you and your team the assurance you need to know you are operating in compliance with HMRC’s rules.

The Healthcheck is a detailed audit and results in a report and recommendations on areas of strength and weakness, enabling the organisation to address any areas of concern.

Furthermore, it enables you to demonstrate due diligence in managing supply chains which is a critical component required by HMRC.

There is no charge for the healthcheck service and you can opt for it to be undertaken by a CIS expert or by our independent Chartered Accountant who is also a specialist in CIS.

Arrange a Healthcheck or speak to our team about any aspect of CIS and compliant payment of workers. Get in touch on 01923 257257.