What makes a market leader?

One of our clients recently remarked, “If you look at the market, I would say no-one comes close to Hudson Contract in terms of their knowledge of how the sector works and their understanding of the potential risk. Their mechanical delivery of the service is very, very efficient, too.”

Always good to hear. Especially when, by contrast, a potential client said: “Companies like Hudson Contract are very common. It’s very well understood in our industry that most contractors use these type of payroll companies, so its not a light bulb moment or anything like that.”

The two opinions demonstrate to me that whilst we might – correctly – be seen as market leaders, we still have some way to go to convince potential clients of our value as being so much more than ‘a type of payroll company’.

In one sense, the potential client is correct:

• Yes, there are many payroll providers fishing in the waters of the construction sector, who will offer a contract for around £3.00 per operative per week. Upon scrutiny, however, that contract can be proven to be a sham.
• Yes, plenty of payroll providers might persuade their clients to take advantage of ‘peace of mind’ insurances, saying they are necessary for self-employment status. Although actually, they are not.
• And yes, perhaps you have come across payroll providers that offer some kind of rebate scheme to route back to their clients some of the inflated fees charged to the operatives.

I am proud to say these are not the features of the Hudson Contract service and that’s where the comparison that there are plenty of companies like us is fatally flawed.

The Hudson Contract service begins with a workplace audit, to ensure those who can be proven to work on a self-employed basis – and those who can not – are correctly contracted. This is not an overnight, rubber-stamp process. We have been in this business for twenty-one years and have developed a recognised level of professional expertise in our field, proven in case law and accepted by HMRC.

Knowledge is key and our team has a level of expertise that is understood and acknowledged by the first-hand experience of our loyal, satisfied clients and the many others who praise and recommend our services.

A matter of trust

Ultimately, it is about the trust that is the result our ability to demonstrate this unequalled level of expertise week in, week out. Over 2,000 clients trust us to contract 32,000 operatives currently in the workplace. That equates to our administering over £28 million each week.

If being a market leader means being seen as a ‘safe pair of hands’, being able to guarantee our employment status decisions, and having the largest number of clients and operatives in the sector, then we can rightly claim to be the market leader.

Our clients know this to be the case, and it is a source of great pride and satisfaction to everyone who works for Hudson Contract.

Potential clients must judge offerings carefully. HMRC requires they do full due diligence before appointing a payroll company – with the threat of financial penalties if they fail to dig deeply and pick a rogue provider.

If you do your due diligence on Hudson Contract, you will quickly realise we are not ‘just another payroll company’. That’s what many of the others seem to be.

To the un-informed, Hudson Contract will probably continue to be seen as just another player in a field of dozens. Undaunted, we – and our clients – continue to explain why we are the market leaders . . . and in a class of our own.