Comparator

With over 20 years’ experience, our focus on compliance is second to none. We’re renowned for delivering exceptional support and customer service with excellent reviews across Trustpilot and Google. We’re a leading umbrella company and provider of accountancy, tax, candidate screening and international payroll services.

Voted the UK’s Best Umbrella Company in The Contracting Awards multiple times, our award-winning umbrella company supports salary sacrifice contributions into a personal pension plan whilst passing back 100% of the employer NI saving to our contractors.

Established in 2002, ICS Accounting has been supporting contractors, freelancers and small business owners across the UK for over 18 years. Our ethos of trust, care and compliance enable you to focus on your job without the task of endless paperwork, ensuring you are operating compliantly.

The ICS Accounting Umbrella solution provides an employment solution for independent workers, taking the stress out of contracting. ICS Accounting will process your pay either weekly or monthly, paying relevant Tax and NI liabilities to HMRC and the rest to yourself, ensuring you’re paid accurately and on time. As an employee, you will receive full employment rights, including holiday pay and sick pay, cover from our comprehensive insurances and access to our comprehensive employee benefits portal. Through the portal, you can manage your pay and pension, find huge discounts on your shopping, access an online GP with email prescriptions and much more!

A team of experienced industry professionals who are passionate about our core values, the temporary recruitment industry and of course, the flexible workforce market in the UK. Collectively, we bring together over 90 year’s industry experience from across the recruitment, contractor payroll and contractor accountancy sectors. We’ve worked with some of the largest and most established players in both the UK and international payroll markets. We bring a wealth of experience, knowledge and understanding – but most importantly, we bring a fresh approach to our duty of care – because we care.

Compass is leading the way in umbrella employment. Whether you are new to contracting or have been one for some time, Compass has the experience and range of solutions to ensure you are provided with the solution that works best for you. We are committed to providing you with hassle free payment solutions, excellent customer care, market leading technology and reliable compliance based on expert knowledge and industry experience.

Clockwork Contracting – Precision in Payroll, Excellence in Service

Clockwork Contracting is a proud, certified member of SafeRec—one of the first umbrella companies to achieve this certification. We are committed to continuous improvement, always seeking innovative solutions that elevate industry standards for the benefit of contractors and agencies alike.

Why Choose Clockwork?

Low Contractor Fees – Unlike many competitors, we keep costs fair by forgoing large sales teams, relying instead on the trust and recommendations of our clients and contractors. This means overheads are lower and savings can be passed to our contractors. Seamless Payroll Experience – Our focus is on delivering a smooth, efficient, and hassle-free payroll service from start to finish. Swift Problem Resolution – We understand that errors can be stressful. That’s why we prioritise rapid response times with short SLAs, ensuring that mistakes become swift solutions.

At Clockwork Contracting, we don’t just provide payroll services—we set the standard for reliability, efficiency, and professionalism.

SmartWork has over a decade of knowledge and experience within the contracting sector. We provide a fully compliant solution to safeguard the interests of its umbrella employees, recruitment business and clients alike. SmartWork is a trusted, reliable, payroll provider which offers umbrella & PAYE solutions, always ensuring excellent customer service at competitive rates. We work with recruitment businesses covering all sectors and tailor our packages to meet your specific requirements.

The FCSA Accredited Member status gives our clients reassurances that they are working with a fully compliant, high-quality professional service company.  Our service has been shaped with our valuable, flexible workforce in mind, and we guarantee that each of our valued employees received complete security, full employee benefits, and unrivalled customer care throughout their employment with us.

Some of the advantages choosing us:

We are honest, reliable and dedicated – Our highly trained team have years of experience in every professional field. Low weekly and monthly margin. Dedicated Support – Each client has access to an experienced account managers who pro-actively provides on-going support and excellent customer service on a one-to-one basis. Full contract of employment with the associated benefits which this brings. Set up within 24 hours. Extended Office Hours – We are the only umbrella company in the market that offers our employees a helpline which is open from 8am-8pm, seven days a week. Trusted Partner – We already features on over 100 active PSLs or ASLs in the UK and encourages all agencies to implement a selected list of compliant FCSA Accredited Members. Advance payment facility – Payment on remit is available for preferred partners.

With over 20 years of experience, Parasol has grown from providing umbrella payroll services to offering comprehensive employment and payroll solutions. During this time, we’ve supported more than 250,000 professionals and partnered with over 3,000 recruitment agencies and end clients.

We understand the critical priorities for your candidates, clients, and agency: exceptional support, on-time payments, and full compliance with HMRC regulations. These are at the heart of everything we do and are reflected in the loyalty of professionals who choose us year after year, as well as our long-standing partnerships with some of the most recognised names in recruitment. As a founding member of the FCSA and a company created by a contractor for contractors, Parasol makes getting paid simple for the agile workforce. Since our launch in 2000, our goal has been to empower contractors to maximise their careers by offering complete peace of mind through accurate, compliant, and reliable payroll services.

Speedy Onboarding

Getting started is simple. Agencies provide basic details and terms; contractors complete a quick Right to Work check via Trust ID (just three minutes). We handle all paperwork and contracts for a smooth process.

Compliance-First

As an FCSA founding member, we set the gold standard in UK tax, employment, and regulatory compliance—giving agencies and contractors complete peace of mind.

Security & Stability

We safeguard your data with Cyber Essentials Plus certification and maintain strong financial stability to ensure uninterrupted payroll services.

Trusted Guidance

Our expert teams offer tailored support, onboarding assistance, and training workshops—the largest agency and employee support network in the sector.

Clarity Umbrella Ltd is an award winning Umbrella Company with a reputation for open, honest and transparent working. So, if you are looking for a more personalised service for your assignment then look no further.

We are an established payroll intermediary operating low-risk and compliant options for workers engaged through recruitment agencies.

Our story has been created over 15 years by being fluid and adapting to various legislation and labour market changes, gaining accreditations and business awards, coping with economic shifts, navigating a pandemic and the new normal. Always evolving. We think we have some good things to talk about, some standard that you will have heard of and a few innovations that you might not have. We’d love to hear your story and to see if we can help you along the way.

Orbital USP’s:

• Compliance and longevity – We offer honesty, integrity and a commitment to compliance since 2008

• Get the Badge in! – We are both FCSA and Professional Passport accredited

• Don’t skim the details! – We are founder members of the WTT/SafeRec compliance certificate for pure payslip transparency through the supply chain

• Multi-channel Communications – Not just a phone or email…we have quicker ways to contact, quicker response times through WhatsApp, SMS, Live-chat, Messenger etc. Try it out: https://www.orbitalservices.co.uk/contact

• Smart Pension Employee Benefits/Rewards – auto-enrolled workers can enjoy high street savings and perks

• Digital Right to Work in the UK checks – fast and accurate checks through a certified IDSP

• Multi-lingual staff – Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Romanian

• Above the clouds – We have fully integrated cloud software for our internal CRM, payroll and worker-portal functions

Additional Benefits:

• PayslipBuddy - weekly payslip report to explain pay model compliance, deductions etc.

• Orbital Lottery - A chance to WIN monthly prizes in our draw

• Contractor Financial services - for financial and mortgage advice

• 24/7 GP & Physio – access to healthcare advice

• FREE Personal Accident cover

• Orbital Rewards – Hight street savings/discounts etc. for all workers

ADVANCE provides world-class service and works in partnership with recruitment businesses and their candidates, adding value throughout the contracting supply chain. ADVANCE continuously invests in its infrastructure and people to ensure every part of the contracting journey for both candidate & recruiter is efficient, simple, and reliable. Whether you’re a contractor looking for support or a recruitment professional who wants the very best for your candidates, ADVANCE has the solution.