Dan Eley, who has almost three decades of experience in recruitment in the construction sector, has joined the board of the Payroll Compliance Authority (PCA), a not-for-profit accreditor in the outsourced payroll market.

Dan has served in regional management roles at both Randstad UK and Hays and is currently Head of Construction at PW Construction Recruitment. Throughout his career he has launched teams, offices, and regions for some of the sectors best known corporate and independent recruitment firms, including 12 years running his own successful agency.

His extensive industry experience covers all areas of blue and white-collar temporary construction recruitment, from infrastructure projects to house-building and main contracting, to facilities management and maintenance. With this breadth of expertise, Dan has a deep understanding of the sector and the challenges and risks facing the contractor supply chain. He has witnessed the evolution of the client, agency and payroller relationship, and seen it become increasingly symbiotic.

Dan joins the PCA at a critical time. A legislative shift in April 2026 will see recruitment agencies become legally responsible for ensuring that correct tax deductions are made on payslips processed by payroll companies operating within the contracting supply chain, commonly referred to as umbrella companies. This is to crackdown on a minority of umbrellas known to be acting fraudulently at the expense of HMRC.

Dan says a key priority for him at the PCA is to draw attention to this change, for which he believes the construction sector is largely unprepared.

Dan Eley says: "The construction industry is one of the country's largest, contributing billions to the UK economy every year. Thousands of these workers are paid by umbrella companies and for the sake of the sector, it's vital that these suppliers are vetted and compliant, or else the sector's scaffolding may crumble from underneath once legislation is brought in."

He explains that due to the project-based nature of construction, the sector is built on a relatively fluid workforce which would simply collapse without the support of recruitment agencies that handle the constant churn. In turn, these agencies are, in the majority of cases, reliant on umbrella companies to manage payroll, making them heavily dependent on these suppliers.

Dan adds: "The fundamental change in these relationships about to hit in 2026 could therefore have a big impact on the cogs of the construction sector but I believe many stakeholders are not aware of the risks now, and the implications from next April.

"The bigger firms will always have a sharp eye on legislation and a proactive approach to ensure compliance. However, in an industry with more than 800 recruitment agencies, my concern is the many smaller and medium sized agencies that may not realise they are exposed or know how to safeguard their compliance.

"My main mission at the PCA, therefore, is to support the organisation's vision of building a robust, compliant payroll industry for the common good of the supply chain, so that honest agencies, contractors and umbrellas can evidence their compliance and are not put at risk."

Paul Newsham, CEO of the PCA, welcomes Dan and says: "Having Dan on the board is a real strength for the PCA, he brings a unique insight into the challenges of the construction sector and will help to raise awareness among stakeholders of the risks and fraudulent activity that is rife."

Read more about Dan Eley on his board profile, here.