Most UK businesses we talk to are running HR on a patchwork of spreadsheets, email threads, and someone’s memory. Employee records live in three places. Payroll numbers get rekeyed by hand and occasionally come out wrong. Leave balances are someone’s best guess. And every time the rules change, someone spends a week figuring out what it means for the business.
This usually starts to bite somewhere around 50 to 100 staff, when manual leave tracking breaks down, multi-site policies drift, or an audit exposes how little of an audit trail you actually have. Off the shelf HRIS products promise to fix all of this, but they often swap one headache for another: now your team has to change how it works to fit the software. We build custom HR Information Systems for UK businesses instead, software that fits your existing HR processes rather than forcing you to redesign them.
We’re a London-based automation consultancy. We’ve built HR systems for companies that outgrew the generic tools, and the story is nearly always the same. The off the shelf product was fine until headcount grew, the business expanded across sites, or a regulator started asking for records, and by then everyone had built their habits around its limitations. Our systems are built around UK compliance, and you own them outright. No per-seat subscription, no annual renewal you can’t say no to.
To be clear, custom isn’t always the answer. If your HR is straightforward and single-site, a SaaS platform or even an open-source tool may be the smarter, faster choice, and we’ll tell you so. The rest of this page is about the cases where it isn’t.
Why off the shelf HRIS stops working
A SaaS HRIS can be live in a couple of months and covers standard UK payroll and compliance well. The trouble starts when your business stops being standard. Here’s what we hear most:
- Your team bends around the software. Approval chains are fixed, leave policies are rigid, and commission or allowance rules are hard-coded. Every exception becomes a manual workaround.
- Payroll never quite syncs. HR and payroll sit in separate systems that don’t talk in real time, so someone reconciles them by hand each month. Poor payroll integration is the most common complaint we hear about off the shelf HR tools, and the errors it causes are the kind that upset staff and attract auditors.
- Per-user fees climb as you hire. At £4 to £30 per employee per month, plus add-on modules and annual increases, the bill grows every time you grow. The pricing quietly works against headcount.
- The reporting won’t answer your questions. Pre-built dashboards show headcount and turnover. Anything specific, like cost of turnover by site or training compliance by team, needs IT, a consultant, or a separate BI tool.
- It’s a silo. Disconnected from your finance and operations software, so data gets copied between apps and goes stale.
- Many platforms are US-first. MTD, RTI, statutory sick pay and pension auto-enrolment can be an afterthought handled by a bolt-on, rather than designed in.
- You’re locked in. Exporting your data and moving to another vendor is slow and expensive, so price rises go unchallenged.
The result is predictable. People build workarounds. Adoption stays low. Managers can’t get the numbers they need. And you’re paying premium fees the whole time for software half the company avoids.
What we do differently
We build the HR system around your business, not a template.
We start with how you actually work. Before any code gets written, we map out how your HR processes run today, including the awkward exceptions that standard software ignores. The software supports those processes. We’re not asking anyone to relearn their job.
Payroll integration sits at the centre, not the edge. Rather than two systems reconciled by hand, we build the HRIS around your payroll logic so employee changes, pay elements and deductions flow through cleanly. For accounting, we connect to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage so general ledger posting is automatic.
You pay once and you own it. No subscriptions, no per-user pricing. You own the code and the system. After the build, you decide when and how to invest in changes, and you’re free to take maintenance elsewhere.
It connects to your other systems. Accounting, time tracking, an applicant tracking system, single sign-on through Microsoft 365 or similar, plus any proprietary or legacy tools you depend on. We build the integrations so data moves where it needs to go without anyone copying it between apps.
UK compliance is built in. UK GDPR, HMRC RTI and Making Tax Digital, statutory sick pay, holiday accrual under the Working Time Regulations and pension auto-enrolment, all designed into the system from the start, with updates when the rules change.
It grows with you. The design is modular, so you can add recruitment, onboarding, time and attendance, training records, or performance management later without migrating to a new platform. There’s no marginal cost when you hire.
We’re in London. You get support, training, and maintenance from people in your timezone who know UK regulations. No offshore handoffs, no language gaps.
What we build into every HRIS
Every project is different, and we’d usually start you on a focused core rather than everything at once. A typical first release covers the entities and workflows that matter most:
A central employee record with custom fields for whatever you actually need to hold, from contract type and cost centre to tax code, NI category and emergency contacts, with an org chart and reporting lines that drive approvals. Leave and time-off management with your own accrual rules, approval chains and a clear view of who’s off when. An employee self-service portal so staff can request leave, view payslips and update their own details without an email to HR. Payroll integration that keeps your payroll system fed with accurate, up-to-date data. Document management for contracts, policies and signed acknowledgements. And an immutable audit trail that logs who viewed or changed what, when, which is what GDPR and most audits actually ask for.
Once that core is stable, most clients add modules in a second phase: performance management with review cycles and competency frameworks you can configure; applicant tracking and onboarding that follows your hiring process; training records covering certifications, mandatory training, development plans and renewal reminders; time and attendance with whatever clocking method suits you, whether rota-based, biometric or mobile; a report builder for your own compliance and operational reports; and dashboards with role-specific views. Throughout, you get proper mobile access, encryption, and granular role-based permissions.
How the project runs
A typical build runs in four stages:
Discovery and planning (2-3 weeks). We document your HR processes, compliance needs, payroll rules and integration requirements through workshops and analysis. This is also where we decide, honestly, whether a custom build is the right call.
Development (8-16 weeks). Our UK-based developers build the system in short cycles, with regular progress reviews so there are no surprises. We prioritise the core HRIS first so you see something working early.
Testing and deployment (2-4 weeks). User acceptance testing and data migration. We import employee records, leave balances, documents and payroll history, and clean the data as we go, since dirty legacy data is what derails most migrations. Where it makes sense we run the new system in parallel so a go-live never lands on top of a pay run.
Training and support (ongoing). Role-based training, with a fuller walkthrough for HR and payroll staff and shorter sessions for managers and employees, plus UK-based technical support after launch.
A core build runs 3-6 months end to end. Mid-market projects with performance management, advanced reporting and several integrations run 6-12 months. We’ll phase the plan around your timeline.
Most HRIS projects, of any kind, run into the same risks: underestimated scope, dirty data, payroll misconfiguration and staff quietly keeping their old spreadsheets. We plan against those directly, with a clear scope, early data cleansing, careful payroll testing and a phased rollout.
What it costs
Custom development costs more upfront than signing up for a SaaS plan. The trade-off is what you get back:
- Fixed project pricing instead of a per-employee bill that grows with headcount and rises 3-8% most years
- Full ownership of the system, with no licensing limits and no module-by-module upsell
- The manual admin and reconciliation errors you stop paying for once it’s running
- No expensive, disruptive vendor migration waiting for you down the line
A focused core HRIS for a single business is usually a mid five-figure project. Mid-market builds with performance management, reporting and multiple integrations sit higher. Whether that beats SaaS over five years depends entirely on your headcount, growth and feature needs, so we’ll work the total-cost comparison through with you properly during the free consultation, including the cases where staying on SaaS is the better decision.
Where this works
Custom HRIS earns its place when a sector’s compliance or operating model doesn’t fit a template. A few examples:
- Healthcare and care. Tracking professional registrations (GMC, NMC), DBS check renewals, mandatory training such as safeguarding and infection control, and CQC-ready records, with expiry alerts before anything lapses.
- Financial services. FCA conduct rules and training, conflicts of interest, restricted-persons lists, bonus deferral and clawback, and the precise audit trail regulators expect.
- Manufacturing and logistics. Shift and overtime rules that follow union or site agreements, safety certification tracking (forklift, CSCS, LOLER), and accident and near-miss logs for HSE.
- Professional services. Billable hours and utilisation feeding resourcing, plus partner and senior-staff compensation that standard HRIS is too simple to model.
- Retail and hospitality. High-volume onboarding, multi-site rotas, real-time attendance from store clocks, and payroll with shift differentials.
- Education. DBS and safeguarding records, teaching qualifications and CPD, induction tracking and the academic calendar.
- Charities and non-profits. Volunteer coordination alongside paid staff, grant-funded role tracking, and funder reporting, often on a tighter budget.
Whatever your sector’s compliance and operational quirks are, the system gets built around them rather than worked around.
Common Questions About Custom HRIS Solutions
How does a custom HRIS compare on cost to a SaaS subscription?
A custom build costs more upfront than signing up to a SaaS plan, but it has no per-employee fee. SaaS HRIS typically runs £4-£30 per employee per month, plus add-on modules, implementation and annual increases of roughly 3-8%. For a 150-person company that adds up to six figures over five years. A custom system is a fixed project cost with no marginal cost as you hire. Whether it works out cheaper depends on your headcount, growth and feature needs, and we are happy to work that maths through honestly with you, including the cases where SaaS is the better call.
When is off-the-shelf or open-source HRIS the right choice instead?
If your HR processes are standard, you are on a single site, and you need MTD, RTI, PAYE and pension auto-enrolment with little customisation, a SaaS platform like BambooHR or Gusto will likely serve you well and go live faster. Open-source tools such as OrangeHRM can also work if you have the appetite to host and maintain them. We will tell you when that is the sensible route, and we can help you set it up. Custom makes sense when your payroll rules, approval workflows or industry compliance do not fit a template.
What's the typical development timeline?
A core HRIS covering employee records, leave, self-service and payroll integration usually takes 3-6 months. Mid-market builds with performance management, advanced reporting and multiple integrations run 6-12 months. We scope a phased plan after discovery so you get a working system early and add modules once it is stable.
Can you integrate with our payroll and accounting systems?
Yes. Payroll integration is usually the most important part of an HRIS, and poor payroll sync is the single most common complaint about off-the-shelf tools. We build API or file-based connections to payroll software and to accounting platforms such as Xero, QuickBooks and Sage for general ledger posting, plus time tracking, ATS and SSO providers like Microsoft 365. We document every required connection during discovery.
What about UK data protection and compliance?
Systems are built for UK GDPR from the start: encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access, immutable audit logs of who viewed or changed what, DSAR handling and documented data retention. We support payroll-related compliance including HMRC RTI, Making Tax Digital, statutory sick pay, holiday accrual under the Working Time Regulations and pension auto-enrolment, and industry rules where they apply, such as DBS tracking or CQC and FCA record-keeping.
How do you handle updates, support and ownership?
You own the code and the system outright. There is no licence to renew and no per-seat fee. After launch we offer optional support for fixes, enhancements and compliance changes, on an ad-hoc or ongoing basis, and you are free to take maintenance elsewhere. Because the system is yours, you decide what changes when.
Do you provide training and migration support?
Yes. We support data migration from spreadsheets or a legacy HRIS, including cleaning records and preserving payroll history. Training is included and tailored by role: a fuller walkthrough for HR and payroll staff, shorter sessions for managers and employees. We can run a parallel period so go-live does not disrupt a pay run.