--- title: Subcontractors and workers canonical_url: https://hrhive.co.uk/product/subcontractors/ content_type: product summary: HRHive records how each person works for you, whether they are an employee, worker, individual subcontractor or agency worker. Status assessments, agency details and skills cards sit beside the person. HRHive does not handle CIS. audiences: - employer - adviser topic: subcontractors jurisdiction: uk status: published last_updated: 2026-10-05 --- # Subcontractors and workers, recorded for what they are > HRHive records how each person works for you, whether they are an employee, worker, individual subcontractor or agency worker. Status assessments, agency details and skills cards sit beside the person. HRHive does not handle CIS. ## What problem does this solve? The people who work for you are not all employed the same way. A bricklayer on a casual contract, a self-employed electrician, someone an agency sends and a plant operator whose card runs out next month all need different records. When they are filed the same way, or not filed at all, simple questions get slow answers. How does this person work for us? What did we decide about their status, and why? Is their card still valid? ## What HRHive does - Records how each person works for you: employee, worker, individual subcontractor, agency worker, other contractor or service arrangement, or through your matching service. That choice decides what HRHive expects to hold for them. - Helps you decide when it is not clear. A few plain questions about the arrangement suggest an answer, and HRHive keeps your answers. What matters is how the work is done in practice, not what it is called. - Records employment-status and off-payroll (IR35) assessments, with your reasons and a date to review them. For off-payroll it also holds the small-company test and the 45-day clock for answering a disagreement with a status determination. HRHive records the assessment you make. It does not decide anyone's status. - Tracks agency workers: the 12-week qualifying period, any breaks, and the checks you make on an umbrella company. - Records competence cards (CSCS, CPCS, NPORS, ECS, JIB and CISRS) for your own people and for your suppliers' workers, with expiry dates and a copy. HRHive flags a card 30 days before it expires. - Keeps who worked where: the site or project, the dates and the manager responsible. > **HRHive does not handle CIS** > > The Construction Industry Scheme is not part of HRHive. There is no CIS verification, no deductions and no returns, and HRHive is not payroll software. Keep doing that wherever you do it now. ## How it works 1. **Say how they work for you.** Choose the nearest description. If you are not sure, answer a few questions and HRHive suggests one. Add the date the arrangement was made. 2. **Right to work follows from that choice.** Whether a check is needed is decided in [right to work](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/right-to-work/), from the capacity you chose and the date. Nothing on this page changes it. 3. **Assess status where it is not clear.** For anyone who is not plainly an employee, answer seven questions about the work. Must they do it personally? Can they send a substitute you must accept? Do you control how, when and where it is done? Must you offer work and must they accept it? Are they part of your organisation? Do they run their own business? Do they risk their own money? Then record the outcome (employee, worker or self-employed), your reasons and a date to review it. 4. **Add what goes with the arrangement.** For an agency worker, the agency, role, start date and umbrella checks. For a skills card, the scheme, number, expiry date and a copy. For someone who works through their own limited company, the off-payroll determination and, where it applies, the status determination statement. 5. **Let HRHive keep watch.** It tells you when a review is due, when an agency worker reaches week 12, when a disagreement needs an answer and when a card is about to expire. ## What you see Each person has an Engagement tab with their employment status, off-payroll assessment, agency assignments, competence cards and worker protections. Under Compliance, Engagement and status lists them for the whole organisation. **Daniel O'Connor** — Plant operator, individual subcontractor [Active, Card expires in 23 days] - How they work for you: Individual subcontractor - Arrangement made: 1 October 2026 - Where: Maple Road development, from 1 October 2026 - Employment status: Self-employed, assessed 30 September 2026 - Review due: 30 September 2027 - Substitute: Not allowed by their contract - Competence card: CPCS, expires 28 October 2026 Timeline: - 29 Sep 2026: Right to work check recorded - 30 Sep 2026: Employment status assessed: Self-employed - 1 Oct 2026: CPCS card recorded for Daniel O'Connor, expires 28 October 2026 ## The record it creates Each assessment, agency assignment and card stays on the person's record with who made it and when. When you assess someone again, the earlier assessment stays as history. The Workforce Register shows everyone you engage directly, with the capacity you chose, and lists supplier workers separately. _Example output (demo data): a Workforce Register: everyone currently engaged, in what capacity, with their status and next action._ ## Who can do what Status assessments are sensitive, so they are limited to people who can see everyone's employment records. Managers and employees cannot see them. | Role | What they can do | | --- | --- | | Owner, admin and HR | Record how each person works for you, assess employment status and off-payroll working, add agency assignments and record competence cards. | | Payroll or finance | Sees status assessments and agency assignments. Can record competence cards. | | Compliance | Sees assessments, agency assignments and cards. Cannot change them. | | Auditor | Read only access to the same records. | | Manager | Cannot see status assessments or off-payroll records. | | Adviser invited into the organisation | Sees and records what the role they are given allows. | ## What happens next Dates from this page feed your [reminders](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/reminders/) and the [compliance overview](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/compliance/). If a business sends you its own workers, record the business and its workers in [supply chain](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/supply-chain/). ## Frequently asked questions ### Does HRHive handle CIS? No. The Construction Industry Scheme is not part of HRHive, and HRHive is not payroll software. It records how people work for you and the evidence that goes with it. ### Does HRHive decide whether someone is employed or self-employed? No. HRHive asks the questions, keeps your answers and reasons, and records the outcome you choose. It does not decide anyone's status, and it never changes whether a right to work check is needed. ### How reliable is the 12-week count for agency workers? Treat it as a prompt, not a final answer. The count follows a simplified version of the Agency Workers Regulations. Weeks run from the start day, short breaks and leave pause the count, and longer breaks or a change of role restart it. Check the date before you rely on it. ## About this page - Last updated: 5 October 2026 ## Related **In HRHive** - [Right to work checks and records](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/right-to-work/) - [Suppliers and your supply chain](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/supply-chain/) - [Compliance overview](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/compliance/) - [Reminders and expiry dates](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/reminders/) - [Employee records and personnel files](https://hrhive.co.uk/product/employee-records/) Canonical URL: https://hrhive.co.uk/product/subcontractors/ Start with HRHive: https://app.hrhive.co.uk/sign-in?next=%2Fnew%3Fhh_funnel%3Dsubcontractors%26hh_route%3Dsubcontractors%26hh_goal%3Dfirst_supplier_added%26hh_page%3Dproduct%252Fsubcontractors