Frequently asked questions

Teal is verification infrastructure for UK businesses, starting with income and employment. Lenders, letting agents, screening providers and fintechs use it to verify a person's income and employment directly from source, with that person's authorisation.

Through four sources, used in whatever order suits your journey: Direct Connections (an automatic match against payroll records), User Connections (the applicant logs in to their payroll account), Doc Scan (uploaded payslips and bank statements) and Gov Connect (HMRC tax records).

Employees, through Direct Connections and User Connections with their payroll provider. Self-employed people, landlords and others with income beyond a payslip, through Gov Connect. And anyone who can upload payslips or bank statements, through Doc Scan.

A way to verify income and employment without asking the applicant to log in or upload anything. Teal matches their details against payroll records through direct integrations with payroll providers, and returns verified payroll data.

The applicant's forename, surname, date of birth, National Insurance number and postcode.

Where a match is found, verified payroll data comes back in seconds, in the response to the same API call.

Only authorise the check, for example by agreeing to it as part of your application form. Teal won't run a Direct Connection without that authorisation, and once it's given, there are no logins or uploads.

You can invite the applicant to connect their payroll account through a User Connection, or to upload payslips through Doc Scan.

The applicant connects their own payroll account. In Teal's webapp they search for their employer, Teal shows the payroll provider linked to it, they log in, and Teal retrieves their payroll data.

They can add their employer themselves and choose their payroll provider from the list, then log in as normal.

Doc Scan lets applicants upload documents when their payroll data can't be retrieved. From payslips, Teal extracts pay details into the same format as payroll data. From bank statements, it extracts account details, balances and transactions.

It checks each PDF for signs of editing, such as text changed after saving or suspicious editing software, and gives it a High, Medium or Low trust score.

Gov Connect retrieves an applicant's HMRC tax record, with their authorisation. It shows income a payslip can't, such as self-employment and property income, by tax year.

A Government Gateway account. They sign in on HMRC's own page and authorise access.

Three, and they can be combined. Use the API on its own and build your own screens. Use the API with Teal's hosted webapp, which handles the applicant's side of the journey. Or use the Teal Console with no code at all, adding applicants and sending them verification links from the dashboard.

You create the applicant with their details and record their authorisation, then run the sources you need. A Direct Connection returns payroll data in the API response. For journeys where the applicant takes part, you generate a secure link to Teal's webapp. Results are available through the API, with webhooks to tell you when data is ready. Documentation is at docs.goteal.co.

A ready-made, hosted journey for applicants, so you don't need to build one. Applicants search for their employer, log in to their payroll account (including entering verification codes), upload payslips if needed, or connect their HMRC record. It shows your logo, and applicants reach it through a secure link sent from the API or the Console.

A web dashboard for risk, underwriting and operations teams. Underwriters can see each applicant's verified income and employment, including HMRC data, and review uploaded payslips with Doc Scan's trust findings. Managers can track verification volumes and conversion rates across the team.

Yes. In the Console, teams can add applicants one at a time or by CSV upload, email them a verification link individually or in bulk, and view the results as they come in.

Admins invite team members and assign them roles, and sign-in is protected with multi-factor authentication. Developers manage API keys and webhooks from the same Console.

A Direct Connection checks the applicant's payroll records at the point of application and returns verified income in seconds. If there is no match, the applicant can connect their payroll account or upload payslips. With recurring authorisation, lenders can re-check income weekly or monthly after the loan is made.

A Direct Connection returns verified payroll income in seconds, once the customer has authorised the check, with no further action from them. That lets it sit inside a checkout or application flow.

Teal returns payroll history from source, with base salary, bonus, tax, National Insurance and pension deductions for each pay period where the provider supplies them. For self-employed applicants, Gov Connect adds their HMRC tax record.

With Gov Connect. The applicant signs in to their Government Gateway account and authorises access, and Teal retrieves their HMRC record, including self-employment and property income by tax year.

The tenant authorises Teal to retrieve their pay from their payroll provider, so referencing is based on verified gross and net pay rather than documents. Teal's hosted webapp handles the tenant journey, with payslip upload as a fallback.

Teal returns employer names and start and leave dates straight from payroll records, with the candidate's authorisation, plus job titles where the payroll provider supplies them.

Employment and income data such as employer, employment dates, gross and net pay, tax, National Insurance and pension deductions. Available fields depend on the payroll provider. Payroll data comes back in the same format from Direct Connections, User Connections and Doc Scan, and each record shows its source.

Yes. You choose how many months of history to request, so you only receive what your use case needs, in line with data minimisation.

Yes. Teal records which terms were accepted and when, so you can evidence what was agreed.

Teal is ISO 27001 certified, and applicant data is held in the UK.

Teal charges per successful verification: you are only billed when verified income or employment data is delivered, not for failed logins or unsupported documents. Plans carry a minimum monthly commitment. Get in touch for a quote.