# The Social Security Contributions (Umbrella Companies) Regulations 2026, Regulation 3: Umbrella companies: joint and several liability


(1) Paragraph (2) applies if—
(a) an individual (“the worker”) personally provides services, or enters into arrangements with a view to personally providing services, to another person (“the client”),
(b) the worker is employed as an employed earner by a third person (the “umbrella company”)—
(i) that carries on a business, whether or not with a view to profit and whether or not in conjunction with any other business, of supplying labour, and
(ii) that is not a company in which the worker has a material interest, and
(c) the umbrella company arrangements conditions are met.
(2) Each relevant party—
(a) is, along with the umbrella company, jointly and severally liable to pay any amount payable, in accordance with sections 6, 10 and 10A of and paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the SSCBA, by the umbrella company in relation to a qualifying umbrella company payment, but
(b) is not to be treated as the secondary contributor for the purposes of section 7 of the SSCBA.
(3) The umbrella company arrangements conditions are that—
(a) there is a contract between the umbrella company and—
(i) the client, or
(ii) another person,
(b) under or in consequence of the contract—
(i) the services are provided, or
(ii) the umbrella company is paid, or otherwise provided with consideration, for the services, and
(c) if the contract is not between the umbrella company and the client—
(i) there is a contract between the client and another person, and
(ii) the provision of the services or of payment or other consideration for the services is also a consequence of that other contract, whether directly or as a result of a series of contracts involving other persons.
(4) Any issue whether the circumstances are such as are mentioned in paragraph (1) is an issue relating to contributions that is prescribed for the purposes of section 8(1)(m) of the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999 (decision by officers of Board).

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/388/regulation/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/social-security-contributions-umbrella-companies-regulations-2026/regulation-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.