Umbrella PAYE chain exposure for UK agencies, 2026-27

The PAYE and NIC an umbrella chain can push onto your agency, worked out in the browser

Taxable gross pay the rate actually funds, per worker, per weekGBP
PAYE, employee NIC, employer NIC and levy due, per worker, per weekGBP
PAYE and NIC the chain must remit to HMRC over the weeks in scopeGBP
Joint and several exposure your agency can be pursued forGBP
HMRC late payment interest on that exposureGBP
Total exposure including interestGBP
Days the transfer of PAYE responsibility has been livedays
Keep the evidence: export this chain and its inputs to CSV, and set a quarterly re-check alarm for when the HMRC interest rate moves.
$60 once · one licence key per person or team seat · 7-day full refund. A UK chartered accountant charges 75 to 150 an hour to model one umbrella supply chain by hand. Get the full version — $60
Joint and several exposure
Turns an assignment rate into the PAYE, employee NIC, employer NIC and levy that must reach HMRC, then shows the share your agency can be pursued for.
Assignment rate gross-down
Separates the umbrella margin and employer costs from taxable gross pay, the step agencies get wrong when they treat the assignment rate as pay.
HMRC interest clock
Adds late payment interest at 7.75 percent, the rate in force from 9 January 2026, across the days since the transfer of responsibility on 6 April 2026.
Chain export to CSV (paid)
Writes every figure and the inputs behind it to a CSV you can keep in your due diligence file. Asks for a licence key.
Quarterly re-check alarm (paid)
Sets a browser alarm to re-run the same chain each quarter, because the Bank of England base rate moves the HMRC interest rate. Asks for a licence key.

Get the complete version $60

This page is the working piece. The full pack has everything below.

The PAYE and NIC an umbrella chain can push onto your agency, worked out in the browser

A UK chartered accountant charges 75 to 150 an hour (ACA, ACCA, CIMA rates, September 2026) to model one umbrella supply chain by hand.

Buy the full version — $60

Questions people ask

What does Umbrella PAYE Liability Check 2026 actually do?

It takes the assignment rate you pay an umbrella company and works backwards to the taxable gross pay it really funds, then the PAYE, employee NIC, employer NIC and apprenticeship levy that must reach HMRC. It multiplies that across your chain and shows the joint and several exposure your agency carries, plus late payment interest.

Who is this for?

UK recruitment agencies that supply workers through umbrella companies, and end clients who engage umbrella workers with no agency in the chain. Since 6 April 2026 the agency, or the end client where there is no agency, is the party responsible for PAYE on umbrella worker pay, so the exposure sits with them.

Why will a free chatbot or payroll calculator not answer this?

Ask a chatbot who owes the PAYE on an umbrella worker and it still answers that the umbrella company does, because that was true until 6 April 2026. Free payroll calculators start from gross pay. None of them gross an assignment rate down through the umbrella margin, employer NIC and the levy first.

What is free and what needs the licence key?

Everything that produces a number is free and uncapped: all seven inputs, workers, assignment rate, umbrella margin, weeks in scope, shortfall share, levy flag and review date, and all seven outputs. The key unlocks a different axis, ownership and repeat: CSV export of the chain and a quarterly re-check alarm.

What would this cost done by a person?

A UK chartered accountant charges 75 to 150 an hour at ACA, ACCA and CIMA rates quoted in September 2026, and a supply chain review is not a one hour job. The licence is 29 once. One week of unremitted PAYE on a 45 worker chain runs to five figures.

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