Umbrella companies provide contractors and freelancers with the peace of mind and protections associated with being an employee, as opposed to being self-employed. They also impart a degree of financial and contractual stability to the worker and help to ensure that both employment and taxation legislation are adhered to.
With increasing numbers of workers fulfilling contract and freelance roles, often working via recruitment agencies, many have turned to using umbrella company services as an alternative to a personal service company – their own limited company – or traditional self-employment.
How much do umbrella companies charge? Most umbrella companies charge a high fee for the provision of basic employment and payroll services, often comparable with the running costs of personal service [limited] companies. This is around £20 per week.
However, Transparent Umbrella is a low fee umbrella package and saves workers approximately 75% on fees typical fees. We charge a maximum of just £7.50 per week or £1.50 per shift, no matter what, making us far cheaper than many other umbrella companies and limited company accountancy services.
We believe that as a contract worker, you should be able to keep more of the money you earn.
Making Contracting Easy
We understand the unique challenges of contracting and we know that being traditionally self-employed is not for everyone. By utilising our umbrella services, you can undertake your professional work without the stress that come with traditional freelancing. As a contractor umbrella company, our fees are generally far lower than other umbrella companies, making us the ideal solution for your next contract role.
The Only UK Umbrella Company Providing 100% Tax Assurance
Transparent Umbrella is the only UK umbrella company able to provide real-time visibility of all employment taxes paid and therefore total tax assurance to all parties. This means that both the hiring end-client and recruitment agency can validate instantly if employment taxes have been levied and paid at the correct rates. This immediately mitigates any potential liability to criminal prosecution under the Criminal Finance Act.
Safeguarding Recruitment Agencies Against Prosecution Under the Criminal Finance Act
The onus is now on recruitment agencies and public-sector hirers to ensure that the PAYE regime has been applied to workers’ payments, reflecting both the spirit and letter of the legislation. The Transparent Umbrella Company’s software architecture and improved business processes enables agencies and clients to instantly validate taxes paid.
This matters because the current trust-based retrospective payroll reporting by traditional umbrella companies is open to both accidental and explicit abuse, and requires expensive retrospective data checking on all sides.

Driving Down Tax Compliance Costs for Recruitment Agencies
Agencies that recommend the Transparent Umbrella Company to their temporary workers can randomly check any payslip in real time, removing the need to check payslips retrospectively.
This change in the cost and integrity of compliance means that recruiters can actively seek more “off-payroll” public-sector business (inside IR35) with an ability to provide public sector hirers with the tax assurance they require.
Tax Transparency Technology Benefits for Workers
The same technology that allows recruitment agency directors to be sure that they and their organisation are not enabling tax avoidance in the supply chain, also means that workers are able to get faster and more accurate data/information about their paid and unpaid time.
Another benefit of transparency is that Transparent Umbrella does not pay rewards to agencies for processing worker payroll.
This keeps the tripartite relationship between agency, umbrella and worker “honest”, with workers sure that none of their time-sheet value, either directly or indirectly, is ever paid to the agency as a reward. This means that there is no risk of any party contravening the Bribery Act.
Try the UK’s Best Umbrella Company Today
Contact us and sign up today to start enjoying the various benefits and advantages of working through the Transparent Umbrella Company. We could save you up to 75% on fees compared to other umbrella companies and we never charge more than £7.50 per week, allowing you to potentially save hundreds, even thousands of Pounds every year.
Call Us – 0203 880 6776
Email Us – info@transparentumbrella.co.uk