Last reviewed: 5 October 2026. Every fact about Bullhorn below comes from Bullhorn's own pages or the sources listed at the end, read on that date. Marvin publishes this guide, so treat our section as a vendor's description.
TL;DR
- Bullhorn Back Office (time and expense, invoices and commissions, announced in 2014) no longer has a product page. Its successor, Bullhorn Middle Office, covers time capture, time interpretation and invoicing, and Bullhorn's UK site says the platform extends to middle and back office in North America.
- UK Bullhorn agencies usually combine the CRM with a workforce management edition for time capture and approval, and a pay and bill partner such as RSM InTime for payroll and self-billing.
- If your contractors are paid on a day rate and you do not need the CRM to run payroll, you can keep timesheets, client sign-off and invoicing inside the CRM instead.
- Keep a pay and bill provider if you pay hourly temps through PAYE: Marvin does not run payroll.
What "Bullhorn Back Office" means in 2026
Bullhorn announced Bullhorn Back Office in 2014, describing it as including "Time and Expense, Time and Expense Mobile, Invoices, and Commissions modules". On 5 October 2026, the old product address redirects elsewhere, and the product Bullhorn presents today is Middle Office: "Middle Office provides time interpretation, invoicing, and time capture". Bullhorn separates it from payroll, which it describes as the back office: "Back office covers payroll processing and financial reporting".
On its UK homepage, Bullhorn says its platform "in North America it extends to middle and back office". Middle Office does not appear in the UK product menu, and the UK pricing FAQ lists "Middle Office, Onboarding, and Bullhorn Recruitment Cloud" as "separately quoted products". In the US, Bullhorn says payroll runs with a partner, Greenshades.
How UK Bullhorn agencies run contract work today
Three building blocks come up on Bullhorn's UK pages and its partners' sites:
- The workforce management edition of Bullhorn Recruitment Cloud, on quote: shift scheduling, time capture, timesheet approval, mobile engagement and rate card management. Bullhorn describes timesheet approval as a way "to drive speed in the payroll and billing processes": the payroll and billing themselves happen elsewhere.
- A pay and bill partner. RSM InTime presents pay and bill information from Bullhorn, calculates deductions for PAYE workers, generates self-bill invoices for limited company and umbrella workers and handles RTI. RSM says it processes "three million timesheets" a year for "over 400 recruitment agency clients".
- A timesheet and pay and bill tool connected by API, such as Timesheet Portal, which connects to Bullhorn through a custom API after a scoping exercise. See our Timesheet Portal alternative.
This set-up works, and it is the right one for many agencies. Its cost is the number of systems: placement data is pushed from the CRM to the timesheet or pay and bill tool, and every change of rate, date or client contact has to reach both.
What Bullhorn does better
- Ecosystem. Bullhorn's Core plan includes an app marketplace of pre-integrated technology partners, which Bullhorn's own pages count at between 100+ and 350+. Whatever you need, a partner probably integrates with it.
- Scale and reach. Bullhorn says it powers "10,000+ recruitment agencies", including over 4,500 customers with fewer than 10 users, and offers editions up to enterprise.
- Hourly and shift work. The workforce management edition handles shift scheduling and time capture. Marvin records time in days and half-days and does not schedule shifts.
- Payroll through established partners. With RSM InTime, a Bullhorn agency can run PAYE, RTI and self-billing for every worker type. Marvin does not run payroll.
- A lower entry price. Bullhorn Starter is £80 per user per month, below Marvin's Pro plan.
The alternative for day-rate contract desks
If your desk places IT, engineering or professional contractors and interim managers on a day rate, the back office you need is often smaller than a full pay and bill platform: a timesheet per month, a client signature, an invoice, a margin. Marvin keeps those on one record:
- Assignments in People hold the client, the dates, the client day rate, the contractor's rate and the client contacts allowed to sign timesheets.
- Contractors fill in one monthly timesheet in days and half-days, even across several assignments, in their own space, opened with an emailed link or a Google account.
- Clients sign off each timesheet from a secure link, without creating an account. Every signature is stored with a snapshot of what was signed.
- Cash drafts the client invoice once the month's timesheets are approved: approved days multiplied by the day rate, with rechargeable expenses on a separate line. The same app invoices perm placement fees.
- Reminders to contractors and client contacts can run automatically.
The full loop is described in our guide to timesheet software for recruitment agencies.
Bullhorn (UK) and Marvin, side by side
| What you need | Bullhorn in the UK | Marvin |
|---|---|---|
| ATS and CRM | Yes, from Starter | Yes, from Pro |
| Time capture and timesheet approval | The workforce management edition of Recruitment Cloud, on quote | Included in Pro: days and half-days, client sign-off by link |
| Hourly time, shifts, rate cards | Yes, in that edition | No |
| Client invoice from approved time | Middle Office invoicing is presented for North America; in the UK, via partners | Yes, drafted in Cash at the day rate |
| PAYE and RTI payroll | Through partners such as RSM InTime | No |
| Public price (per user/month) | Starter £80, Core £120; Pro and Max on quote | Pro £129 annual (£149 monthly); Suite £169 annual (£199 monthly); 12-month minimum term, monthly billing included |
Who should switch, and who should not
Consider Marvin if most of your contractors are on a day rate, are paid through their own limited company or an umbrella company, and you want the timesheet, the client signature and the invoice in the same tool as your candidates and clients.
Stay with Bullhorn and a pay and bill partner if you pay hourly temps through PAYE, schedule shifts, need RTI and self-billing run for you, or depend on integrations from Bullhorn's marketplace. Marvin also does not decide IR35 status: read our IR35 guide for agencies and our guide to umbrella company PAYE rules from April 2026.
Questions to ask before you move your back office
- Which of your workers are paid by the hour, and which on a day rate?
- Who runs payroll today, and will it change?
- Can the client approve timesheets without an account, and what is kept as proof?
- Is the invoice generated from approved time, or re-typed?
- How does a rate change reach the timesheet tool, and does it rewrite past margins?
Our wider comparison of eight vendors is in Best recruitment CRM for UK agencies (2026). For the rest of the contract picture, see contract and temp recruitment software, the Spott alternative for contract agencies and our guide to agency workers and the AWR.
Try it on one of your assignments
Book a demo and we will run one of your real day-rate assignments through Marvin: the contractor's timesheet, the client sign-off and the invoice.
Sources
All read on 5 October 2026.
- Bullhorn: UK homepage, UK pricing, Recruitment Cloud workforce management (UK), Middle Office, pay and bill (US), marketplace, 2014 Back Office press release
- RSM: recruitment pay and bill service
- Timesheet Portal: Bullhorn integration
Frequently asked questions
Is Bullhorn Back Office available in the UK?
Not under that name. Bullhorn Back Office, announced in 2014 with time and expense, invoice and commission modules, no longer has a product page. Bullhorn's current product is Middle Office (time capture, time interpretation and invoicing), and its UK site states that the platform extends to middle and back office in North America. In the UK, payroll goes through partners such as RSM InTime.
How do UK Bullhorn agencies handle timesheets and payroll?
Bullhorn sells a workforce management edition of Bullhorn Recruitment Cloud in the UK, on quote, with shift scheduling, time capture, timesheet approval and rate cards. Payroll, self-billing and RTI go through a pay and bill partner, such as RSM InTime, which integrates with Bullhorn, or Timesheet Portal, which connects through a custom API.
What is the alternative for a day-rate contract desk?
A CRM where the assignment, the timesheet, the client sign-off and the invoice live on the same record. In Marvin, contractors fill in a monthly timesheet in days and half-days, the client signs it off from a secure link without an account, and Cash drafts the invoice from the approved days multiplied by the day rate.
Does Marvin replace a pay and bill provider?
No. Marvin does not run PAYE or RTI payroll, does not produce payslips and does not decide IR35 status. It hands your payroll provider, or the contractor's umbrella company, approved and signed timesheets. Agencies paying hourly temps through PAYE should keep a pay and bill provider.
What does Marvin cost compared with Bullhorn?
Bullhorn's UK pricing page lists Starter at £80 and Core at £120 per user per month, with Pro, Max, Messaging, Onboarding and Middle Office on quote. Marvin's Pro plan, which includes missions, timesheets and invoicing, costs £129 per user per month billed annually or £149 billed monthly; Suite costs £169 billed annually or £199 billed monthly. Both have a 12-month minimum term, including on monthly billing.
