Frequently Asked Questions

Project Management as a Service (PMaaS) is a flexible, outsourced model where a specialist provider delivers project management capability on demand, rather than you hiring a permanent PM or building your own PMO team. You define the outcomes you need; the provider supplies the people, governance, methodology, and oversight to deliver them.

Stoneseed was one of the first PMaaS providers in the UK and has been delivering this model for over 15 years. It covers everything from single project managers to full PMO functions, scaled precisely to what your business needs, when it needs it, without long-term headcount commitment.

>>> Find out how it works in practice — Explore Stoneseed PMaaS → <<<

PMaaS delivers the flexibility modern businesses need, allowing you to scale project resources up or down as your priorities evolve. With Stoneseed’s PMaaS, you get access to highly skilled project professionals without the long-term commitment of hiring permanent staff. It reduces overhead costs, avoids IR35 complications, and ensures you only pay for what you use — from as little as one day. Plus, our central PMO oversight guarantees consistent quality and governance across every engagement.

>>> See these benefits in practice — Download the PMaaS brochure → <<<

In practice, PMaaS starts with a conversation about what you’re trying to deliver, whether that’s a single IT project, a programme of change, or an ongoing PMO function. Stoneseed then matches the right professionals to your requirement and deploys them quickly, with our central PMO providing quality assurance, consistency, and oversight throughout.

Day-to-day, your Stoneseed resource works as part of your team, attending your meetings, using your tools, reporting to your stakeholders, but without the overhead of permanent employment. You can scale hours and headcount up or down as your project pipeline changes, and you only pay for what you actually use.

>>> See the model in detail — How Stoneseed PMaaS works → <<<

Unlike traditional hiring, Stoneseed’s PMaaS removes the burden of recruitment fees, long notice periods, and IR35 risks. We provide instant access to a wide pool of experienced project professionals, matched precisely to your needs. Whether you require a Project Manager, Business Analyst, or an entire PMO team, our model is flexible, cost-effective, and scalable – enabling you to focus on delivery, not resourcing headaches.

>>> Want the full comparison? Explore the PMaaS model in detail → <<<

Absolutely. Stoneseed’s PMaaS is designed for ultimate flexibility. Whether you need support for a few days, weeks, or months, we can deploy experienced professionals quickly to keep your projects moving. Our on-demand approach ensures you have the right expertise at exactly the right time – no long-term commitment required.

>>> Find out exactly how flexible the model is — Download the PMaaS brochure → <<<

No, We are an IT Project Management Consultancy Practice. Stoneseed’s PMaaS model offers clients significantly more than a recruitment agency with none of the additional fees. All of our resources are available to clients from 1 – 5 days a week on a flexible basis and are managed and supported by our PMO. Whether you require an individual resource or multiple resources with varying skillsets such as Business Analysts, Project/Programme Managers, PMO consultants or Business/Technical Advisory roles, Stoneseed can provide them from our own team in line with your project demand, as and when you need them with no fixed term contracts.

>>> Understand what makes PMaaS different — Explore the full PMaaS model → <<<

Over the years, many of our clients have turned to us not just for project delivery support, but also for help in recruiting permanent and contract project management professionals. In response, we created our sister company, P3M Recruitment. This dedicated service leverages Stoneseed’s deep expertise in project resourcing, ensuring clients get access to high-quality Project Managers, Business Analysts, and PMO professionals. P3M Recruitment combines our insider knowledge of the project management market with a specialist recruitment approach – helping you build the right team for successful delivery.

Yes — we tailor our delivery to your environment. Stoneseed’s project professionals can work on-site, remotely, or in a hybrid model to suit your operational needs. We combine flexibility with robust governance, so no matter where our team is based, you’ll benefit from seamless communication and consistent project delivery.

Stoneseed’s PMaaS model is trusted across multiple industries, including IT and technology, financial services, healthcare, retail, public sector, education, and more. Our project professionals bring cross-sector experience, allowing us to apply best practices and tailored solutions to your unique environment.

We believe cultural fit is just as important as technical skill. Before deployment, we work closely with you to understand your company values, communication style, and project environment. Our internal profiling process and dedicated account management ensure that every professional we place integrates smoothly with your team.

Yes – scalability is at the heart of our PMaaS offering. Whether you need to rapidly expand your team to meet demand or scale down post-delivery, Stoneseed allows you to adjust your resources in line with your project lifecycle. This flexibility helps you stay agile while controlling costs.

Through our PMaaS model, we provide a wide range of roles including Project Managers, Programme Managers, Business Analysts, Technical Advisory specialists, and PMO support staff. Each professional is carefully selected to match your project needs, ensuring seamless delivery and strategic alignment.

Stoneseed works closely with Councils, Charities, Universities, and other Public Sector Bodies, providing flexible IT Project Management Services through private procurement routes and Crown Commercial Service frameworks. We support procurement and HR teams in sourcing the right project resources while helping to manage costs effectively. If you need PMaaS or a contingent workforce, we can guide you through the procurement process with ease. 

>> Full details of the frameworks we’re available on — Explore G-Cloud and Crown Commercial Service procurement → <<<

Local authorities face specific pressures in IT project delivery: constrained budgets, complex stakeholder environments, procurement compliance requirements, and the need to maintain public services throughout any transformation. Many councils don’t have the internal PM capacity to run large-scale IT change programmes alongside business-as-usual delivery.

Stoneseed has extensive experience working with local government on IT transformation, from infrastructure upgrades and ERP implementations to digital service redesign. Our professionals understand the public sector context, work within council governance structures, and can be procured through established frameworks, making the process straightforward from a procurement perspective.

>>> Find out how we work with local government — Contact Stoneseed → <<<

Quality is embedded in our DNA. Every project is overseen by our central PMO, which maintains high standards of governance, reporting, and accountability. We measure performance through client satisfaction scores, KPIs, and continuous feedback loops to ensure consistent excellence across all engagements.

We don’t avoid it, it simply does not apply. All of our resources are directly employed by Stoneseed and therefore fall outside the scope of IR35.

>> Worried about IR35? Read how PMaaS removes IR35 risk entirely → <<< 

The short answer is we are extremely picky and as a professional project focussed organisation we have a strong peer profiling process when we look to bring resource onboard. We consistently measure the quality of projects but also the overall quality of the service we provide through agreed KPI’s and SLA’s. Our business is about ensuring that our clients know they have access to a quality pool of resources in line with their demand and the quality and consistency of our resource is a key consideration for clients that continue to use our services time and time again.

Currently we have over 80 resources and this is increasing to cope with demand. As part of our engagement and account management processes we discuss and agree your initial demand requirements but we are also happy to discuss any potential requirements you may have in the weeks and months ahead. This will include aligning the right resource based on required skillset, experience and cultural fit with your organisation.

Our goal is to ensure that we have resource available should you need them in line with your forecast demand. Due to the flexibility of the model and the ability for clients to flex up or down their utilisation as required, managing demand sounds like it should be a difficult process. However, we’ve been providing IT Project Management Consultancy and PMaaS to our clients since 2012 and as resource is managed by our PMO, we are extremely experienced and effective in ensuring we can cope with any fluctuations in demand. We will bring additional resource on board when needed in order to ensure this is the case throughout the lifetime of our.

No, we are strong advocates of contractual simplicity so our contract simply shows the terms and conditions associated with using our service. Regarding our services, engagements can be for as little as 1 day and even then, you will only pay for days utilised on a monthly basis. There are no minimum or maximum lengths of engagement required for any of our services.

We work hard to ensure that we not only provide you with resources that are the right fit on paper, but are also a cultural fit for your organisation so the key to a successful PMaaS relationship is communication and a view that this is a partnership, rather than just a recruitment type relationship. 

A traditional project manager is typically one person, hired or contracted to manage a specific project. PMaaS is a service model. You get access to a whole capability: project managers, business analysts, PMO specialists, governance frameworks, and management oversight, all packaged together and scaled to fit your need.

With Stoneseed PMaaS, you’re not just getting an individual. You’re getting the structure, quality control, and flexibility that sits behind them. That means faster deployment, broader skill coverage, no single points of failure, and none of the IR35 exposure that comes with individual contractors

What are the alternatives to hiring a full-time IT project manager in the UK?

The main alternatives are: contractors (faster to deploy but carry IR35 risk), freelancers (flexible but often short-term only), part-time or fractional PMs (lower cost but limited capacity), internal upskilling (slow to deliver results), and PMaaS providers like Stoneseed.

PMaaS is increasingly the preferred option for UK businesses because it removes the risk and admin of individual contractor engagements while still giving you fully experienced professionals. With Stoneseed, you access a vetted pool of IT project management specialists, including Project Managers, Business Analysts and PMO leads, on a flexible day-rate model that scales with your workload and keeps you fully compliant with IR35.

>>> Compare your options — PMaaS vs contractors vs permanent hire → <<<

Many UK businesses manage IT projects through a mix of departmental leads, individual project managers, and shared templates or governance standards, often with limited central oversight. It works up to a point, but as project complexity or volume grows, the gaps become costly: inconsistent delivery, no single view of risk, and overstretched internal teams.

An increasingly common solution is to use an external PMO function through a provider like Stoneseed. Our PMO Services give you structured governance, reporting, and delivery support without the cost of building an internal PMO from scratch. It’s PMO capability on demand, set up quickly, right-sized to your organisation, and backed by experienced professionals.

>>> Find out more — Stoneseed PMO Services → <<<

First, stop and establish the facts before making any decisions. Confirm actual spend versus budget, current delivery position versus plan, open risks and decisions, and what the realistic forecast to completion looks like. Many project recoveries go wrong because teams react to symptoms rather than root causes.

Once you have a clear picture, you need to decide whether to re-baseline, reduce scope, or escalate for more resource. If your internal team doesn’t have the capacity or experience to lead that recovery, Stoneseed can provide interim project management support quickly. We can deploy experienced professionals who will step in, stabilise a troubled programme, and get delivery back on track.

>>> Talk to us about project recovery — Contact Stoneseed → <<<

The most effective way to scale PM resource without headcount is to use a flexible, on-demand model rather than hiring. That means using PMaaS, where you access experienced project professionals for as long as you need them, then scale back when the demand eases.

Stoneseed’s PMaaS is specifically designed for this. Clients can bring on a Project Manager, Business Analyst, or PMO resource from as little as one day, scaling up to full programme teams as required. There’s no recruitment process, no notice period, and no IR35 risk. You get the capacity exactly when you need it, and you stop paying when you don’t.

>>> See how flexible PMaaS can be — Stoneseed PMaaS → <<<

The risks are well documented: skills gaps in specialist areas (architecture, integration, testing, change management), resource constraints when multiple projects compete for the same people, knowledge silos, and slower decision-making when pressure builds. Large programmes also tend to surface capability gaps that weren’t visible at the planning stage.

Stoneseed works with organisations running complex IT programmes who need to supplement internal capability with experienced external resource, quickly and without the complications of individual contracting. Whether you need a Programme Manager, a PMO function, or specialist Business Analysis support, we can deploy into your programme and provide the expertise your internal team doesn’t have in-house.

There are a number of UK providers offering some form of project management support, ranging from large management consultancies to specialist IT staffing firms. Stoneseed is one of the longest-established dedicated PMaaS providers in the UK, having offered this model since 2009, before PMaaS was widely recognised as a category.

Unlike generalist consultancies, Stoneseed focuses exclusively on IT project management and delivery. That means deeper specialist expertise, faster deployment, and a model built specifically around the needs of IT project teams, not adapted from a broader professional services framework.

>>> Find out what makes Stoneseed different — About Stoneseed → <<<

The key things to look for are: a proven track record of delivery (not just placement), a quality and governance layer that sits above the individual resources, genuine flexibility in how engagements are structured, IR35 compliance, and sector or domain experience relevant to your projects.

Stoneseed ticks all of these. Our central PMO provides oversight on every engagement, not just a staffing model. We’ve been delivering PMaaS since 2009 across public sector, NHS, local government, financial services, and enterprise IT. Our professionals are employed directly by Stoneseed, which means our IR35 position is clear, and our quality of delivery is our responsibility, not yours.

>>> See our approach — Process & Methodology → <<<

PMaaS pricing varies depending on the level of resource, the scope of engagement, and whether you need a single professional or a broader PMO function. Stoneseed’s model is day-rate based, which means you only pay for what you actually use, from a single day upwards. There are no retainer fees, recruitment costs, or long notice periods to factor in.

For a tailored indication of cost based on your specific requirements, the best approach is a short conversation with the Stoneseed team. We’ll understand your project pipeline and give you a clear, honest view of what support would cost compared to the alternatives.

>>> Get a cost indication — Contact Stoneseed → <<<

Yes. In fact, mid-sized businesses are often the organisations that benefit most from PMaaS. Larger enterprises can absorb the cost of permanent PM teams; smaller businesses may have simpler project needs. It’s mid-sized organisations that typically face the most acute tension: growing project complexity, limited internal PM capacity, and budget pressure that makes permanent hiring hard to justify.

Stoneseed works extensively with mid-sized UK businesses across a range of sectors. Our model scales to fit, whether you need one Project Manager for a specific programme or a light-touch PMO capability to bring some structure to a busy project portfolio.

ERP implementations are high-risk, time-limited programmes that require experienced project management for a defined period, which makes them a near-perfect use case for PMaaS. You need intensive, specialist support while the programme runs; you don’t need that headcount permanently once it completes.

Stoneseed provides experienced ERP project management resource on a flexible basis, including Project Managers and Business Analysts who have navigated complex ERP programmes before and understand the vendor management, data migration, change management, and cutover challenges involved. You get the expertise without the permanent hire.

When a programme loses its PM unexpectedly, or when a new programme needs to start before you’ve had time to recruit, interim project management resource needs to arrive quickly and hit the ground running. Stoneseed specialises in exactly this kind of rapid deployment.

We maintain a pool of experienced IT project management professionals, including Project Managers, Programme Managers, Business Analysts, and PMO leads, who can be deployed into your programme quickly, often within days. Our central PMO provides context and oversight from day one, so there’s no long ramp-up period before your interim resource becomes genuinely productive.

>>> Talk to us about interim support — Contact Stoneseed → <<<

The main advantages are flexibility (scale up or down as your pipeline changes), faster access to specialist skills, no IR35 risk, reduced recruitment overhead, and the ability to bring in experience your internal team doesn’t have. For many organisations, it also brings a layer of governance and quality assurance that internal arrangements lack.

The considerations include the need to manage the provider relationship well, ensuring knowledge transfer where appropriate, and choosing a provider with genuine project management depth rather than a staffing agency rebranded as a consultancy. With Stoneseed, you get a model specifically built around these concerns. Our central PMO provides the oversight layer, and our professionals are supported, not just placed.

The most effective business cases for PMaaS compare the total cost of alternatives, including permanent hire (salary, NI, benefits, notice periods, recruitment fees), individual contractors (day rates plus IR35 risk and admin), or doing nothing (cost of delayed or failed projects), against the flexible, pay-for-what-you-use PMaaS model.

The numbers typically favour PMaaS for organisations with variable project demand. You’re not paying for PM capacity when projects are quiet, and you’re not scrambling to hire when demand spikes. Stoneseed can help you frame this comparison for your specific situation, including indicative cost modelling, so you have the numbers you need to make the case internally.

>>> Start that conversation — Contact Stoneseed → <<<

The questions that separate strong providers from weak ones: How are your professionals selected and quality-assured? What happens if a resource isn’t working out and how quickly can you replace them? Who is accountable for delivery quality, the individual or your organisation? How do you handle IR35 compliance? What does your governance and oversight model look like? Can you show me examples of similar work you’ve delivered?

Stoneseed welcomes all of these questions. Our professionals are employed directly by us, our central PMO provides ongoing oversight on every engagement, and we’re happy to walk through our process, methodology, and client references in detail before any contract is signed.

>>> Ask us anything — Contact Stoneseed → <<<

With a traditional hire, you’re looking at months of recruitment, notice periods, and onboarding before anyone is productive. With individual contractors, it’s faster but still involves finding the right person, negotiating terms, and managing IR35 compliance.

With Stoneseed PMaaS, deployment is typically measured in weeks if not days. We maintain an active pool of vetted, experienced IT project management professionals across the UK, and our established process means we can match, brief, and deploy resource quickly, often within a week of initial contact for standard requirements, and faster still for urgent situations. Our PMO provides context and briefing support so your resource is productive from day one.

>>> Find out how fast we can move — Contact Stoneseed → <<<