Ghost Workers
People are listed on the payroll or invoice but cannot be confirmed as actually attending site.
- Fake identities
- Workers not on site
- Duplicate workers
Caught byNo gate scan on the day they were billed for.
The All-In-One
Payroll Verification
Platform
For HR & Finance Teams, In Construction
Every subcontractor invoice is a claim. PayRoll Protect gives your commercial and finance teams the verified attendance evidence to approve it — or dispute it — before money moves.
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Attendance confirmed at gate, evidence collected
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Live attendance record, ready for invoice matching
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Invoice matched against logged hours
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Discrepancies caught before payment
£82BN
UK Construction Payroll
1.7%
Payroll Fraud Rate
£1.4BN
Annual Exposure
What PayRoll Protect Does.
The verification layer between who was on site and what gets paid.
Gate Check-In
Worker scans in,
identity confirmed
identity confirmed
Attendance Logged
Timestamped, per
worker per day
worker per day
Invoice Arrives
Subcontractor
claims hours
claims hours
Matched Line By Line
Every claim checked
against the record
against the record
Nothing reaches payroll without an attendance record behind it.
£1.4Bn
£2.6Bn including Plant + Tool theft
Estimated Annual Payroll Fraud Exposure Across UK Construction
Across a 2.1M UK construction workforce
£82BN
Annual construction payroll
1.7%
UK payroll fraud benchmark
£1.4BN
Estimated annual exposure
On a £1M annual payroll, that same rate is £17,000 a year.
Sources
Office for National Statistics
Construction workforce & earnings, 2025
Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll fraud costs UK private sector £12 billion annually; construction records more cases than any other sector
HM Revenue & Customs
Guidance on labour supply chain and payroll fraud risks
UK construction crime reporting
Plant, equipment and tool theft exceeded £1 billion in 2025
Every site's labour spend,
in one place.
A single source of truth for your labour spend, risk and compliance.
Payroll Verified
98%
Exceptions
14
Money Protected
£287,400
Outstanding Queries
£16,820
Verified vs Claimed Hours
Exceptions by Type
Unverified Worker36%
Inflated Hours29%
No Show21%
Early Finish7%
Other7%
Top Sites by Money Protected
Site A
£62,480
Site B
£48,730
Site C
£41,210
Site D
£37,660
Site E
£29,320
View all sites
Stronger Governance
Independent verification creates a defensible audit trail.
Protect Margins
Stop losses before they hit your bottom line.
Stay Audit-Ready
Evidence on demand for any audit or dispute.
Make Better Decisions
Live data to control spend, manage risk and improve results.
See the full picture.
Protect every pound.
PayRoll Protect turns site attendance data into verified payment evidence — so you can approve with confidence, every time.
Book a Demo
INV-0047
Awaiting approval
| Trade | Workers | Amount | Site record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groundworks Labour | 48 | £22,656 | All 48 matched |
| Structural Labour | 22 | £10,384 | All 22 matched |
| Fit-out Labour | 30 | £14,160 | 3 with no gate record |
Claimed
£47,200
100 workers
Verified
£45,784
97 workers
Withheld
£1,416
3 workers
Don't approve what you can't prove.
The totals balance. The evidence does not. Three workers on this invoice have no gate record behind them — and without that record, all 100 get paid.
PayRoll Protect matches every labour claim to verified site attendance, line by line, so you only pay for work that actually happened.
Three ways money leaks out of construction payroll.
Fraudulent or inaccurate labour claims are more common than most businesses realise.
Each one leaves the same trace: a claim with no attendance record behind it. That is the gap PayRoll Protect closes.
Inflated Hours
Invoices claim more hours than were actually worked or recorded on site.
- Extended hours
- Overtime inflation
- Incorrect shift times
Caught byClock-out time on record contradicts the hours claimed.
Proxy Clocking
One worker clocks in or out for another, creating false attendance records.
- Buddy clocking
- Shared cards or PINs
- Unsupervised check-ins
Caught byTwo scans for the same identity at the same moment.
Every payment leaves an evidence trail.
Verification is not a report you run afterwards. It happens at the gate, on the invoice, and at the moment of approval.
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Worker verified
Identity confirmed on site by face recognition and GPS location.
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Hours captured
In and out times recorded automatically, per worker, per day.
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Invoice checked
Every claimed line compared against the verified attendance record.
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Exceptions raised
Anything without a matching record is flagged before it reaches payroll.
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Payment released
Only verified labour is paid, and every payment carries its evidence.
What Is Unverified Labour
Costing Your Operation?
Put in your weekly payroll spend. We apply the UK construction industry average to show what you're likely losing each year on unverified labour.
Enter your weekly payroll total to calculate estimated annual exposure
—
Estimated monthly loss
—
Estimated annual loss
Based on an average 4% payroll discrepancy rate reported across the UK construction sector. Source: HMRC Tax Gap Statistics & CIPP Annual Benchmarking Report. Figures are estimates only.
Trusted Across UK Construction
Built for Construction.
Trusted on Site.
PayRoll Protect is already helping leading contractors and developers eliminate payroll risk and protect millions in labour spend.
Proven Technology
Biometric verification and real-time attendance data you can rely on in a dispute.
Secure & Compliant
GDPR-compliant platform with enterprise-grade security and full audit trails.
Expert Support
UK-based implementation and support team with fast response times.
Results That Matter
Real savings. Real payment evidence. Real commercial control over your labour spend.
What Our Clients Say
PayRoll Protect has transformed the way we manage payroll risk. The visibility and accuracy it provides gives us complete confidence that we’re only paying for verified work. The savings speak for themselves.
Finance Director
Top 10 UK Housebuilder
We disputed three inflated subcontractor invoices in the first month alone. PayRoll Protect paid for itself inside six weeks. Every commercial manager on our sites now treats it as non-negotiable.
Commercial Manager
Tier 1 Main Contractor
The biometric audit trail has completely changed how we handle disputes. When a subcontractor challenges a deduction, we have timestamped attendance evidence. No more arguments. No more overpayments.
Head of Payroll
Major Infrastructure Contractor
Things People Ask
How does PayRoll Protect collect attendance evidence?
A fixed device at site entry records each worker's arrival and departure against a registered biometric profile — face or fingerprint. No paper registers, no swipe cards, no proxy sign-ins. The result is a timestamped attendance record tied to a verified identity, not an assumed one.
Devices are ruggedised for outdoor conditions and work offline, syncing when connectivity is restored.
Does this replace our existing payroll or timekeeping system?
No. PayRoll Protect sits alongside your existing systems as a verification layer. Attendance data is exportable and can be reconciled against your payroll or subcontractor invoices; it doesn't require you to replace anything.
How is biometric data stored? What about GDPR?
Biometric templates are encrypted at rest and in transit, stored on UK-based servers, and never shared with third parties. Workers provide informed consent during onboarding, and data is deleted upon request or contract end.
We provide full documentation to support your GDPR compliance obligations, including a Data Processing Agreement.
How quickly can you deploy on a new site?
Most sites are live within two weeks. Hardware ships pre-configured; your site manager follows a short setup guide, workers are enrolled on arrival, and the dashboard is accessible from day one.
What if a subcontractor refuses to use the system?
Compliance is enforced at the contract level. Most clients include verified attendance as a condition of site access in their subcontractor agreements. Workers who don't check in aren't counted as present — and can't be invoiced for. That's the point.
Do workers need a smartphone or app?
No. Check-in happens at a fixed device at site entry; workers don't need to download anything or own a smartphone. There's nothing for workers to manage.
Ready to protect your business?
Stop Payroll Fraud.
Stop Payroll Fraud.
Start Protecting Profit.
See how PayRoll Protect verifies every labour claim before your payroll runs — and stops unverified work from leaving your account.
Quick Setup
Get started in days, not weeks. Full onboarding included.
No Obligation
Try it risk-free with our 90-day pilot. No long-term commitment.
Expert Support
Dedicated team here to help every step of the way.
Book a 90-Day Pilot
- See real results on your live sites
- Identify savings and stop losses
- Full onboarding and expert support included
- No commitment, no obligation
Your data is secure and never shared