Terms of use

Last updated 12 Nov 2026

1. Our role

Trade-Link-UK is an introduction service. We are not a party to any contract between a Contractor and a Subcontractor. We do not employ or supply labour, and we do not act as agent for either party.

Members build profiles, post and apply for jobs, message each other on the site, record the contracts they agree, and send and pay invoices for that work in the app. We charge the fees in section 14.

2. Paying for work through the app

Payments in the app are handled by Stripe, our payment provider. We are not a bank and don't keep members' money in an account of our own.

• The Subcontractor sends their invoice for work on a contract through the Invoices page. The Contractor pays it in the app by bank (Stripe's Pay by Bank), approving the payment in their own banking app. Up to £10,000.00 can be paid in one go, so bigger amounts need to be split into more than one invoice.
• Stripe sends the invoice amount on to the Subcontractor's Stripe account, less any instant payout fee (section 14), and our fee to us. Stripe's own charges for this are paid by us.
• To be paid in the app, a Subcontractor sets up a Stripe account from the site. Stripe checks their identity and bank details, and they agree to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which includes the Stripe Services Agreement. An invoice can't be paid in the app until this is done.
• A contract can only be marked completed once the work on it has been invoiced and paid.

Contractors are responsible for paying Subcontractors the agreed price on the agreed dates, including any tax deductions the law requires, such as under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS). We don't guarantee payment, and once a payment has been made we can't hold it back or take it back because the members disagree about the work.

3. Non-payment

We are not responsible or liable for any failure, delay or refusal by a Contractor to pay a Subcontractor, in whole or in part. A Subcontractor's remedies lie against the Contractor under their agreement and the law. Other members can see how reliably a Contractor has paid invoices sent through the site. We may, at our discretion, suspend or remove a user or report them to the appropriate authorities.

4. No guarantees

We do not guarantee any user's quality of work, conduct, availability, financial position or ability to pay. Our checks are limited to the documents we have seen at the time and are not a guarantee of any kind.

5. Disputes

Users must resolve disputes between themselves. We may, but are not obliged to, help communicate between the parties. See our complaints and disputes page.

6. Our liability

Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Subject to that, we are not liable for unpaid sums, loss of income, loss of profit or loss of business arising from dealings between users, and our total liability to any user is limited to the fees that user has paid us in the 12 months before the claim.

7. Governing law

These terms are governed by Scots law and the courts of Scotland have jurisdiction.

8. Joining

• You must be 18 or over and joining for your trade or business, as a company, partnership or sole trader working in the UK.
• The details you give us must be true and kept up to date. Don't pretend to be someone else or hold more than one account.
• Keep your password private. You are responsible for what happens on your account.
• You are dealing with us as a business, not as a consumer.

9. Keeping contact on Trade-Link-UK

Members' phone numbers, email addresses and other contact details are kept private, and members talk to each other through the site. You agree:

• not to share or ask for phone numbers, email addresses, websites, social media handles or other ways to get in touch off the site, in messages, posts, images or profiles;
• to agree and record any work with a member you met here through Trade-Link-UK; and
• not to go around us. If, within 12 months of being introduced through Trade-Link-UK, a contractor and subcontractor agree work together without recording it here, the contractor must pay us the fee in section 14 on the value of that work as if it had been recorded here.

We may hide contact details from messages and posts automatically.

10. Verification and badges

Members upload photo ID with a live selfie, and trade tickets, certificates and insurance documents. A person on our team checks them by hand.

• Before a Subcontractor can apply for a job, they must fill in their account details (name, mobile number, town and trades), have their photo ID and selfie verified, tell us which certificates they hold, and have each of those certificates verified.
• Before a Contractor can post a job or book a Subcontractor, they must fill in their name, mobile number and town.

A Verified badge means that, when we checked, the document appeared genuine, matched the member's name and was in date. It is not a guarantee of a member's identity, skill, competence or the quality of their work.

Work history that members add to their profile is shown as they wrote it. We don't check it, it has no badge, and it doesn't count towards applying for jobs.

Contractors remain responsible for their own checks before work starts, for example searching the Gas Safe Register, checking CSCS cards and confirming insurance, and for meeting their duties under health and safety law. You must only upload documents that belong to you, and must tell us if one is withdrawn, suspended or expires early.

11. Jobs, bookings and contracts between members

When a contractor and subcontractor agree work, they agree the scope, price, dates and terms between themselves. Each is responsible for:

• doing what they agreed, safely and to a proper standard;
• paying or being paid as agreed, including any Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) deductions, VAT and tax;
• holding the qualifications, registrations and insurance the work needs; and
• their own employment status decisions, including IR35 where it applies.

12. Search, the map and travel reach

Search results and the map list members and jobs by how well they match what was searched for (trade, area and dates), then by whether the member has passed our checks, distance, availability and how recently the profile or job was updated. Nobody can pay to be listed higher.

Subcontractors appear on the map at a rough position for their area, never their address, and can hide from the map. How far away you are shown for work depends on the travel distance you set and, where the site offers it, your job rate, so members charging more can be shown for jobs further away. Showing you for a job is not a promise of work.

13. Invoices

When you create an invoice on the site, you are the one issuing it. You are responsible for what it says, for charging VAT and making any CIS deductions correctly, for following up payment, and for any information about your clients you enter, which we handle under our data processing terms.

Invoices to a Contractor for work on a contract recorded here are paid in the app, as set out in section 2. Invoices to anyone else are yours to send and collect: we don't take payment on them and aren't responsible if a client doesn't pay. Creating an invoice doesn't replace recording a contract with a member you met here (section 9).

14. Fees

• Joining, building a profile, posting jobs, and finding and applying for work are free.
• Our fee on contracts. When a Subcontractor invoices a Contractor for work on a contract recorded on Trade-Link-UK, we add a fee of 2% of the invoice's value before VAT. For day and weekly rates, that is the value of the approved days. The Contractor pays the fee together with the invoice in the app, on top of the invoice amount, so Subcontractors don't pay this fee. If an invoice on a contract is paid some other way, the fee on it is still owed and we will ask the Contractor to pay it. The fee isn't charged on a cancelled invoice that hasn't been paid.
• Founding members. Everyone who joins Trade-Link-UK before 1 March 2027 is a founding member and gets a Founding Member badge on their profile. A Contractor who is a founding member pays a fee of 0.5% instead of 2% on contracts made in their first 3 months (counted from 10 November 2026 for members who joined before then). The rate is fixed when the contract is made, so it applies to every invoice on that contract.
• Payouts. Subcontractors are paid out on Stripe's daily payout, which is free, or can choose instant payouts. With instant payouts we keep 1% of each invoice, taken from the payment when the Contractor pays. Instant payouts are free with the Earnings and tax plan. Some banks can't take instant payouts, and Stripe sometimes can't make one. When that happens the money goes on the next daily payout instead, and the instant payout fee is not refunded. You can switch back to daily payouts, which are free, at any time. Stripe holds a Subcontractor's first payout for up to about 7 to 14 days, so it can't go instantly and no instant payout fee is taken on payments made before that first payout. To start that wait sooner, once a Subcontractor has set up Stripe and we've checked their ID, we send them £1. This is an advance, and we take it back from the first invoice paid to them in the app.
• The Earnings and tax plan. The optional Earnings and tax plan costs £19.99 a month. It gives you the Earnings page and invoices drafted for you from approved work, and, for Subcontractors, free instant payouts. It is paid monthly by card through Stripe. Your first plan starts with 30 days free: we take your card details at the start but charge nothing if you cancel before the free period ends. You can change card, switch plan or cancel at any time from the Earnings and tax plan page or by emailing support@trade-link-uk.com. Cancelling stops the next payment and you keep the plan to the end of the month you have paid for. Deleting your account stops it straight away.
• Prices are in pounds.
• We will give you at least 30 days' notice before changing our fees.

15. What you post

You own what you post (profiles, posts, photos, job adverts and messages). You give us a free, non-exclusive licence to store, copy and display it to run and promote the site, including on public pages where the site shows it to visitors, for as long as it is on the site. You must have the right to post it, and it must follow our acceptable use policy. We may remove anything that doesn't.

16. Tools on the site

The Earnings page gives estimates of tax, profit and return on costs. These are estimates only and not tax or financial advice. The help assistant gives automated answers that can be wrong, so check anything important with us or a professional.

17. Suspending or closing accounts

You can delete your account at any time on Your data.

We may remove content, remove a badge, or limit, suspend or close an account if a member breaks these terms, gives false documents, puts others at risk or doesn't pay fees owed. We tell the member what we did and why. Except for serious or repeated breaches, illegal activity or risk to others, we give at least 30 days' notice before closing an account. Members can challenge any of these decisions through our complaints process.

Fees already due are still payable after an account closes, and sections 2 to 7, 9 and 14 continue to apply.

18. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We'll show the date of the latest version at the top of this page and tell members by email or on the site before any important change takes effect, giving at least 15 days' notice of changes that affect you. If you keep using the site after that, the new terms apply. If you don't agree, you can delete your account before they take effect.

19. Complaints

Our complaints and disputes page explains how to complain about us and how we can help with disagreements between members.

Contact

Questions about these terms: support@trade-link-uk.com.