The flexible labour market has a data problem

The flexible labour market will be regulated more strictly in the coming years. For staffing agencies and secondment firms, the pain is not only in the law itself, but in the data needed to prove correct and equivalent pay.

Last update: July 3, 2026 · Reading time: 5 minutes

Quick answer

Wtta restricts access to the staffing market and makes demonstrable compliance more important.
Pay transparency requires context about roles, pay criteria, salary ranges and employment terms.
Without a central workflow, data sharing between hirer and staffing supplier remains fragile, slow and hard to audit.

Why this matters now

A staffing supplier must be able to prove that workers are paid correctly and equivalently. Much of the information needed for that proof sits with the hirer.

This includes role content, salary ranges, pay criteria, employment terms, comparable job groups and changes to those items. When that information arrives through email, Excel and scattered files, it does not create a compliance process. It only creates administration.

Chain problem

The staffing supplier is responsible towards the worker, regulator and customer. The hirer owns a key part of the context. Neither party can solve the process alone.

Workflow, not a form

The problem is not a form, but a workflow

Many organisations treat this as if one more form is enough. That stops working once the questions become structural.

Which employment terms apply to this group?
Which roles are equal or equivalent?
Which salary range belongs to them?
Which pay criteria were used?
Is the information complete and current?
What changed compared with the previous version?
Who supplied, checked and approved the data?

What goes wrong without central data sharing

Without a central process, the staffing supplier requests information per customer, per request or per audit. Hirers send files in their own formats. HR, legal, finance and operations work with different versions.

The risk is not only that a calculation is wrong.

The larger risk is that you cannot show why the calculation is right, which information applied at the time and who approved the basis for it.

Payqual as the workflow layer between hirer and staffing supplier

The Payqual flex portal turns scattered data flows into one controlled process for employment terms, CBA information, salary ranges, pay criteria and relevant job data.

Less manual work for the hirer

The hirer makes information available in a structured way, stays in control of the content and answers fewer one-off requests from staffing suppliers.

More control for the staffing supplier

The staffing supplier sees per hirer which data is available, what is missing, which version applies and what impact changes have.

One source for audits

Validated data becomes usable for employment terms notices, pay disclosure requests, reporting and substantiation in Wtta and CBA checks.

Payqual checks not only whether data exists, but whether it is usable

Missing data becomes visible.
Inconsistencies are flagged.
Changes are recorded.
Earlier versions remain traceable.
Approvals and checks become part of the audit trail.

The flexible labour market does not need another spreadsheet

The new rules do not only make the flexible labour market legally heavier. They make the market data-driven. Staffing suppliers and hirers must be able to show which information was used, why that information is right and what happens when employment terms change.

Frequently asked questions

Why does pay transparency affect flexible work specifically?

Because the worker is employed by the staffing supplier but works inside the hirer's role and reward structure. The context needed for compliance is split across two organisations.

Why is Excel not enough for this?

Excel can collect data, but it does not manage ownership, validation, version control, approvals and audit trails across multiple parties.

What does the Payqual flex portal solve?

The portal structures data sharing between hirer and staffing supplier, makes missing or inconsistent information visible and records versions, changes and approvals.

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