ABOUT KOVA
Built by people who have been there.
Kova's founders have spent years inside payroll and compliance, including running umbrella operations, for the temporary labour market. We're the compliance and payroll team that runs the operation behind your agency, so your agency keeps the workers, the data and the commercial terms.
WHO WE ARE
Founder-led. Built across the disciplines that matter.
Kova is founder-led by three people with deep experience across payroll operations, compliance, workforce engagement and temporary labour delivery.
Together, we bring the blend Kova needs: operational discipline, compliance judgement and practical service delivery experience. Our shared aim is simple, to help recruitment agencies move to a cleaner, more controlled direct engagement approach without having to build the full infrastructure in-house.
Dale has spent 15 years founding and leading businesses across payroll, tax and direct engagement, operating at group director level across the temporary labour and contractor payroll market.
He brings deep commercial knowledge of how agencies, payrollers and HMRC interact, and drives Kova's proposition, agency relationships and commercial direction full-time.
A specialist in payroll and back-office operations, Dale utilises technology to streamline workflow and operational delivery.
His earlier military career instilled a discipline and operational rigour that runs through how Kova is built and delivered.
Specialist in: Payroll operations · Back-office workflow · Technology-enabled delivery · Commercial strategy
Focus areas: Strategy, partnerships, commercial growth, agency relationships and service governance.
Kye leads Kova's approach to employment status, IR35 and off-payroll legislation, routinely engaging directly with HMRC.
He built and operationalised compliance frameworks inside umbrella and payroll businesses before co-founding Kova, bringing hands-on experience of status determination, HMRC compliance and the practical realities of running payroll compliance at scale.
At Kova, Kye oversees the status determination framework, HMRC correspondence process and ongoing monitoring of the regulatory landscape.
Specialist in: Employment status · IR35 · Off-payroll working · HMRC correspondence · Status determination
Focus areas: Legal framework, compliance controls, worker engagement structure, status considerations and regulatory risk.
Sarah leads Kova's end-to-end worker engagement approach, covering PAYE, CIS and IR35 routes across employed and self-employed engagement.
With hands-on experience running onboarding, payroll and back-office operations inside payroll and umbrella businesses, she has built Kova's workflows from first principles around how temporary labour markets actually operate.
At Kova, Sarah oversees onboarding design, payroll process flows, back-office delivery and data protection controls.
Specialist in: Worker engagement design · PAYE & CIS operations · Onboarding compliance · AWR · Data protection controls
Focus areas: Operations, onboarding, service delivery, payroll workflow, worker administration and client experience.
OUR MISSION
Make direct engagement the obvious choice.
Recruitment agencies deserve a workforce operations partner that gives them control, not complexity. We're a team of compliance and payroll professionals building the infrastructure that makes direct engagement practical at any scale, and we support agencies through every step of the transition.
VALUES
What we stand for.
Clarity
We believe agencies should always understand where they stand. Kova makes complex worker, payroll and compliance processes clearer, simpler and easier to manage.
Control
We help agencies replace uncertainty with structure. Our service is built around clear workflows, defined responsibilities, proper records and practical oversight.
Protection
We help protect agencies, workers and end clients by supporting compliant, fair and well-evidenced ways of working.
Honesty
We believe in straight answers. We do not hide behind jargon, dress up risk, or pretend there are shortcuts where proper process is needed.
Partnership
We work alongside agencies as a trusted operational partner. The agency keeps the worker relationship; Kova provides the structure, support and control around it.
Professional calm
We bring discipline, consistency and calm to a complex market. Our role is to make the difficult things feel manageable.
WHY KOVA
Built for agencies. Designed for control.
Kova gives recruitment agencies a cleaner, more controlled way to manage temporary workers — combining onboarding, payroll support, compliance oversight, worker administration and audit-ready records in one structured service.
Kova is not a traditional umbrella model, and not a generic payroll provider. It has been built around the way agencies actually operate: fast-moving assignments, worker queries, compliance evidence, timesheets, pay, CIS, IR35, AWR and Right to Work.
The agency keeps the worker relationship. Kova provides the process, structure and operational support around it.
Compliance at the centre, not the edge
Kova has dedicated legal and compliance leadership with expertise across employment status, IR35, off-payroll working, CIS, agency worker rules and HMRC-facing risk — and workflows built to match.
That means compliance is considered at the design stage of every process, not retrofitted when something goes wrong. Agencies get stronger evidence, clearer accountability and more confidence that things are being handled properly.
Operations designed for recruitment
Our workflows are built around the practical reality of agency work — onboarding workers, collecting evidence, managing documents, supporting payroll and keeping assignments moving without unnecessary friction.
Less confusion. Fewer gaps. Better visibility.
Founder-led from day one
Kova is led by a hands-on director team with operational, legal, compliance and commercial experience in the recruitment and payroll sector.
Our clients are not handed to a faceless process. They work with people who understand the risk, the regulatory environment and the need to get this right from the start.
THE RESULT
Direct worker engagement, handled properly — with the structure, evidence and operational support that gives agencies genuine confidence in what they are doing and why.
FOUNDERS' EXPERIENCE
Built by people who know the engine room.
Kova's founders have spent years inside the operational, compliance and payroll side of the temporary labour market — not observing it, running it.
That means Kova has been built from direct experience of the processes agencies often rely on others to manage: worker onboarding, PAYE, CIS, contracts, deductions, payroll cycles, compliance checks, worker queries, RTI submissions and audit evidence.
The detail that makes this model work in practice is not new to us.
Payroll at scale
Designing and running high-volume PAYE and CIS payroll operations for temporary workers — weekly pay cycles, deductions, RTI submissions, reconciliations and payroll control at volume.
Compliance and status
Hands-on experience across employment status, IR35, off-payroll working, CIS, AWR, Right to Work and HMRC-facing risk — built into Kova's workflows from the start, not added as a check at the end.
Umbrella operations
Years running umbrella businesses end to end: onboarding, contracts, payroll, worker support, holiday pay, compliance records, client reporting and HMRC engagement.
That background gives Kova a clear view of what works, what creates risk, and where agencies consistently need more visibility and control than the umbrella model provides.
THE KOVA DIFFERENCE
We have taken that operational experience and put it on the agency's side of the relationship — giving recruitment businesses a cleaner, more transparent and better-controlled way to manage temporary workers directly.
