ONSHORE UK PHP TEAM — 30 YEARS

PHP development services

Legacy PHP upgrades, stalled project rescue and new builds — delivered by onshore UK developers for publishers, councils, banks and retailers.

TRUSTED BY UK PUBLISHERS, COUNCILS, BANKS AND RETAILERS

Hachette UK
Taylor & Francis Group
NewDay
Selftrade from Equiniti
Kent County Council
Oxfordshire County Council

Where do you want to start?

Most people arrive here with one of three problems. Pick the one that sounds like yours.

Upgrade legacy PHP

PHP 8.1 and earlier no longer receive security fixes, and 8.2 loses them on 31 December 2026. We move legacy applications up version by version, with tests in place, so nothing breaks on the way.

Rescue a stalled project

Inherited a codebase nobody can maintain, or a build that has stopped moving? We take PHP projects over mid-flight: audit first, then a fixed scope to a working release you actually control.

Build something new

Custom PHP applications, portals, CRM and e-commerce — built to documented standards, delivered in two-week sprints, with your team in the loop from the first one.

LEGACY AND END-OF-LIFE PHP

Still running PHP 8.1 or earlier?

Unsupported PHP is not only a performance problem. Cyber Essentials, PCI DSS and most ISO 27001 controls expect software that still receives security patches, and public-sector buyers and insurers increasingly ask you to prove it.

We audit the codebase, tell you what is actually blocking the upgrade — removed functions, abandoned libraries, a database driver nobody has touched since 2016 — and give you a fixed-scope route to a supported version.

PHP 8.1 and earlier

End of life. No security fixes are issued at all.

PHP 8.2

Security fixes only — and they stop on 31 December 2026.

PHP 8.3

Security fixes only, until December 2027.

PHP 8.4 and 8.5

Actively supported. This is where we take you.

Source: php.net supported versions, September 2026.

ABOUT INFLUENTIAL SOFTWARE

Thirty years of PHP, in production

We build and maintain the systems businesses cannot switch off — public-facing websites, intranets and portals, BI tools, CRM and e-commerce — for publishers, local authorities, banks and retailers across the UK.

Our PHP developers work onshore, in your timezone, with a named project manager on every engagement. You see working software every two weeks, not a status report at the end of the quarter.

Diagram showing PHP at the centre of websites, applications, business intelligence and e-commerce

Why teams hand us their PHP

Six things clients tell us made the difference.

Onshore UK developers

No offshore hand-off. Your developers are UK-based, on your clock, and on the same call as your own team.

Thirty years in regulated sectors

Publishing, banking, local government, logistics and education — places where downtime and data handling are not negotiable.

Code the next developer can read

Well-structured, documented PHP designed for long-term scalability, not just for launch day.

Enterprise or SME, same team

A bespoke build or a hand with ready-made tools, scoped to the budget you actually have.

A project manager who tells you first

An agile approach with a named PM who flags the problem before you have to chase it.

Stable, scalable applications

Built to hold up under real load, and to be handed on without a rewrite.

PHP solutions we build

Eight things we are asked for most often. All of them start with the same 30-minute call.

Business intelligence

Dashboards and reporting your board will actually open.

Data mining

Pull the signal out of systems that were never designed to share it.

Data management

Clean, migrate and govern data across databases and services.

Intranets and portals

Secure internal platforms for staff, members and partners.

Content management

WordPress, Umbraco and bespoke CMS your editors can run alone.

Public-facing websites

Fast, accessible sites built to WCAG and public-sector standards.

Custom CRM platforms

CRM shaped to your process instead of the other way round.

E-commerce

WooCommerce, Magento and custom checkouts that survive peak.

CMS migration and replatforming

Moving off a platform that no longer fits? We migrate content, users, URLs and integrations from Magento, Wix, Umbraco, Shopify and bespoke systems onto a stack you can maintain — WordPress where it fits, custom PHP where it does not.

Magento
Wix
Umbraco
Shopify

Recent PHP projects

Three we can talk about. There are more we cannot.

SECURITY INDUSTRY

Rebuilding a modern digital presence for a security business

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Streamlining debt collection with an upload and storage solution

PUBLISHING

Modernising global publishers with integrated BI

How a project starts

No discovery workshop you have to pay for before you know whether we can help.

01

A 30-minute call

You describe the system and what is going wrong. We tell you on the call whether we are the right team for it.

02

Technical audit

We go through the codebase, the PHP version, the integrations and the risks, and write up what we find.

03

Fixed proposal

Scope, timeline and cost in writing, agreed before any development starts.

04

Delivery and support

Two-week sprints with working software at the end of each one, then a plan that keeps you on a supported version.

PHP questions we get asked

Which PHP versions do you work with?

We work from PHP 5.x upwards. Most of our upgrade work today is moving applications off 7.x, 8.0 and 8.1, which no longer receive security fixes, onto PHP 8.3 or 8.4.

Can you take over a project another agency started?

Yes. Project rescue is a large part of what we do. We start with an audit of the code and the contract position, then give you a fixed scope to get to a working, deployable release.

How long does a legacy PHP upgrade take?

It depends on how much of the codebase relies on functions and extensions that have been removed. An audit typically takes one to two weeks and gives you a firm timeline and cost before you commit to the work.

Are your developers based in the UK?

Yes. Our PHP developers are onshore in the UK, working in your timezone, with a named project manager on every engagement.

Do you support the application after launch?

Yes. We offer ongoing support and hosting, including keeping you on a PHP version that still receives security fixes.

What does it cost to start?

The first 30-minute technical call is free. After the audit you get a written proposal with a fixed scope and cost, and nothing is built until you approve it.

Tell us what is running, and what is going wrong

A legacy version to move off, a project that has stalled, or something new to build — send the detail and we will come back with a straight answer.

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    What happens next

    We reply within one working day. The first call is 30 minutes, with a developer on it, and there is no charge for it.