They Thought Their Umbrella Company Had Them Covered.
Like many construction businesses, this traffic management company had been using an umbrella payroll provider to manage payments to its subcontractors.
How HardHats helped a Southeast traffic management company take back control of subcontractor compliance, onboarding and payments after an employment status claim exposed a serious gap in their protection.
Client: Traffic Management Company, Southeast England
Sector: Construction & Traffic Management
The Challenge: Employment Status Claim & Subcontractor Compliance
HardHats Solution: HardHats Connect, Direct & Protect
Outcome: Subcontractor management brought in-house with streamlined onboarding, compliance and payments.
The Challenge: A False Sense of Security
Like many construction businesses, this traffic management company had been using an umbrella payroll provider to manage payments to its subcontractors.
They believed outsourcing payroll meant outsourcing the risk.
Then an employment claim landed.
A subcontractor argued that, despite being paid through a third-party payroll company, the traffic management business was the organisation he actually worked for and should therefore be responsible for his employment-related entitlements.
The claim was accepted as a valid route to pursue, exposing a potentially serious misunderstanding.
Just because someone else pays your subbies doesn’t mean you’re protected from employment status claims.
The business realised that relying on an umbrella company wasn’t the safeguard it had assumed.
What We Did: Taking Back Control
Rather than continuing to rely on a third party to manage their subcontractor arrangements, the company decided to bring the process back in-house with HardHats.
We helped introduce a more structured approach to onboarding, engaging and paying subcontractors, supported by the HardHats system.
Instead of treating payroll as a standalone solution, the business could now address the bigger picture: the working relationship, the documentation and the processes behind every payment.
Because compliance doesn’t start when you pay someone. It starts when you bring them on board.
The new approach gave the company greater visibility over its subcontractor workforce and a more consistent way to manage its responsibilities.
Making Life Easier, Not More Complicated
Bringing subcontractor management in-house might sound like more work.
In reality, the HardHats system helped simplify it.
Previously, onboarding meant managing individual documents, chasing paperwork and coordinating information across different processes.
Now, subcontractors can be set up through HardHats Connect, with the necessary documentation managed through a single digital onboarding link.
And with HardHats Direct, the company no longer needs an external payroll provider to process its subcontractor payments.
Instead, its team can manage payments through a streamlined, one-click process, reducing unnecessary administration and giving them greater control.
Less paperwork. Fewer moving parts. A much simpler way of working.
The Result: More Control. Less Risk. No Middleman.
Today, the company has transformed how it manages its subcontractor workforce.
Onboarding, engagement and payment processes are now supported by the HardHats system, bringing previously fragmented activities into a more joined-up approach.
The business has reduced its reliance on third-party payroll administration, simplified subcontractor onboarding and gained greater visibility over the processes that matter.
More importantly, it now understands that genuine compliance is about the reality of working relationships, not simply who processes the payment.
The lesson? You can outsource payroll. You can’t simply outsource your responsibilities.
And that’s exactly why HardHats exists.
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