Hire UK staff without automatically building a UK company around them.
For many overseas businesses, the first UK hire does not need to trigger a full subsidiary or an expensive employer-of-record arrangement. The right route depends on the facts, but a direct-employment model with UK payroll, pensions and local compliance can often be considerably leaner.
Lire le guide en français →A practical UK payroll desk around your employee.
Hiring the employee is only the first step. The monthly administration around tax, National Insurance, pensions, payroll records and statutory events needs to work from day one.
Payroll setup
Review the employer and employee facts, collect starter information, set up BrightPay and establish the appropriate UK payroll process.
Monthly payroll
Gross-to-net calculations, payslips, payroll reports, payment instructions and the relevant payroll submissions.
Pensions
Auto-enrolment assessment, Nest administration where used, employee communications and ongoing pension payroll treatment.
Employee events
Starters, leavers, statutory pay and payroll treatment, with specialist HR legal support coordinated through a third-party provider where needed.
Payroll registration and a UK subsidiary are not the same decision.
HMRC’s rules depend on whether the overseas employer has a UK tax presence and whether a UK entity is involved. An employer with no UK presence can choose to operate PAYE voluntarily; where there is a UK entity for whom the employee works, different PAYE rules may apply.
Use an employer of record when you need one, not by default.
An EOR can be valuable when a third party must become the local legal employer. Where your overseas company can employ the person directly, a payroll-led route can be simpler and materially less expensive.
per month total, for up to five UK employees
For non-UK based clients, no VAT is added. The service includes payroll administration, BrightPay portal access, pension administration and coordination of third-party HR legal support around the employment process.
Your overseas company wants to remain the legal employer and needs a reliable UK payroll and compliance process for a small UK team.
You need a third party to become the legal employer, assume local employment obligations or provide an employment structure your company cannot maintain directly.
Before onboarding we also look for obvious corporation-tax, permanent-establishment and employment-structure issues that need separate advice.
If the employee negotiates or concludes contracts, performs a senior management role, or otherwise creates a meaningful UK business presence, the company may need separate advice on permanent establishment, Corporation Tax and other registrations.
From first UK hire to a working payroll in four steps.
We start by identifying the correct route rather than assuming every foreign employer needs the same registration structure.
Review the structure
Employer country, employee location, role, salary, working pattern and any UK entity or client relationship.
Set up payroll
Collect starter data, establish the appropriate PAYE/NIC process and create the BrightPay payroll record.
Run each month
You provide or approve variable inputs; we prepare payslips, reports, submissions and payment instructions.
Keep it compliant
Pensions, statutory changes, starters, leavers and year-end matters are incorporated into the ongoing payroll cycle.
What overseas employers usually want to know first.
The answer is often driven by the exact employment structure, so these are useful starting points rather than blanket rules.
Can a foreign company employ someone in the UK without creating a UK company?
Yes, in suitable cases. UK incorporation and UK employment are separate questions. The payroll, tax-presence, employment-law and pension consequences still need to be reviewed.
Does a foreign employer always have to register for PAYE?
No. HMRC applies a territorial limit to PAYE. An overseas employer without sufficient UK presence can choose to operate PAYE voluntarily, while other rules can apply where a UK entity is involved.
What is the difference between this and an employer of record?
Under this model your overseas company remains the legal employer. An EOR instead becomes the local legal employer and charges for that wider employment structure.
What about National Insurance?
NIC depends on where the employee works, the employer’s circumstances and any applicable social-security agreement. It needs to be assessed separately from the income-tax PAYE question.
Do pension duties apply?
Potentially yes. Employers generally have workplace-pension duties for eligible staff who ordinarily work in the UK, with automatic-enrolment rules applying when the statutory conditions are met.
Could one UK employee create corporation-tax exposure?
Potentially. The role and authority of the employee matter. Payroll setup does not itself resolve questions about permanent establishment or corporate tax residence.
Do employees receive online payslips?
Yes. BrightPay provides employee portal access, while the employer has an organised workflow for payroll communication and approvals.
Can you support our overseas finance or HR team?
Yes. We regularly coordinate UK payroll outputs and explanations with founders, finance teams and HR contacts outside the UK.
Confirm the UK employment route before the first payroll becomes urgent.
Bring the employer country, employee location, proposed salary, role and target start date. We can then determine the practical payroll route and flag wider issues that need separate advice.
Prefer not to book yet? Send us the basics in the form and we’ll route the enquiry to the right person.