With its origins rooted in the USA, the Professional Employment Organisation (PEO) has become a popular employment model in the UK in recent times. Similar to an umbrella company, when a contractor engages with a compliant PEO, they are fully employed under PAYE according to the rate agreed by the hiring agency and the end client. But both models are often misunderstood and have attracted negative media headlines over the past few years, most often when they purport to be an umbrella or PEO and are in fact other non-compliant dodgy schemes.
