Enter any salary for the exact employer NI, pension and overhead breakdown — updated for 2026/27.
Calculate employer costsAdjust the salary — results update instantly.
Enter gross salary, then choose employer pension rate for a realistic statutory baseline.
Include software, equipment and workspace costs, then apply Employment Allowance if eligible.
Review total employer cost, NI split and cost-above-salary before approving hires.
12 live tools covering employer cost, payroll obligations and HR calculations. All updated for 2026/27 rates.
Salary + NI at 15% + pension + overheads. Full employer cost with band breakdown for 2026/27.
Ready-made NI calculations at 48 salary levels. Shareable pages updated for the April 2025 rate change.
Statutory and contractual holiday for full-time, part-time and mid-year starters.
Statutory redundancy by age, service years and weekly pay. Includes PILON and tax treatment.
6-week higher rate + 33-week lower rate. Employer cost and SMP recovery.
Statutory vs contractual notice, exact end dates, and payment in lieu of notice.
Estimate settlement value including notice, redundancy, compensatory amounts and tax treatment.
Convert full-time salary to part-time equivalent by days or hours per week.
SSP eligibility, waiting days, weekly amounts and duration for 2026/27.
Auto-enrolment costs on qualifying earnings. Employer minimum, total minimum and opt-out rates.
Absence scoring for HR teams. Input episodes and days to calculate Bradford Factor score.
Basic award + compensatory award estimates. Updated for Employment Rights Act 2025 changes.
Pre-calculated employer cost at every salary level — NI, pension and total cost. Updated for 2026/27.
If you are budgeting after the April 2025 changes, compare a salary in three steps: check employer NI at 15% above £5,000, check minimum pension at 3% of qualifying earnings, then compare against your old 2024/25 baseline. This gives a realistic year-on-year increase you can use in hiring approvals and cashflow planning.
Quick answers for specific hiring situations — each uses 2026/27 rates and links to the full calculator.
Practical guides for UK employers and HR teams. Written for decision-making, not theory.
15% rate, £5,000 threshold, Employment Allowance increase. Impact on your payroll.
→Beyond salary: NI, pension, recruitment, onboarding, equipment and hidden costs.
→£10,500 maximum. Who qualifies, how to claim, and common mistakes.
→Minimum contributions, qualifying earnings, opt-out rates and cost modelling.
→Statutory pay, consultation requirements, notice periods and settlement alternatives.
→Day-one rights, unfair dismissal changes, zero-hours reforms and implementation timeline.
→All the costs above salary. What employers actually pay beyond the headline number.
→London salary benchmarks, employer NI and total hiring costs with worked examples.
→Manchester salary benchmarks and employer NI at common pay levels.
→Edinburgh salary benchmarks and employer NI. Employer NI is UK-wide — Scottish income tax does not affect employer costs.
→Cardiff salary benchmarks and total hiring costs at common Welsh salary levels.
→Compare Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent and Employment Hero — once your employer cost model is done, this is the next step.
→Sheffield salary benchmarks in manufacturing, engineering and digital, with employer NI and total above-salary cost.
→Nottingham employer costs across healthcare, retail and professional services. Worked examples at common salary levels.
→True cost breakdown for first-time employers: NI, pension, Employment Allowance eligibility and practical setup checklist.
→Employer NI and pension rules for part-time workers. The £5,000 NI threshold is not pro-rated — see what that means in practice.
Quick reference for UK employer NI, pension and total hiring cost calculations.
15% on earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold (£96/week). No upper cap. Rate was 13.8% above £9,100 in 2024/25. Reduced rate of 0% up to £50,270 for under-21s and apprentices under 25.
Minimum employer contribution: 3% on qualifying earnings (£6,240–£50,270 band). Total minimum: 8% (employer 3% + employee 5%). Triggers for eligible employees aged 22–state pension age earning over £10,000/year.
Eligible employers can offset up to £10,500 of employer NI per tax year (increased from £5,000 in 2024/25). The £100,000 eligibility cap has been removed. Single-director companies without other employees remain excluded.
£25k: ~£28,563/yr · £30k: ~£34,463/yr · £35k: ~£40,363/yr · £50k: ~£58,063/yr · £75k: ~£86,813/yr. Includes employer NI + 3% pension.
If you are moving from estimating employer costs to actually running payroll, accounting or staff administration, these are types of tools commonly used by UK employers. We do not endorse any specific product — this is an editorial summary only.
Cloud payroll bundled with Xero accounting. Handles RTI submissions, auto-enrolment and payslip generation. Commonly used by UK small businesses already on Xero for bookkeeping.
See Xero Payroll →Payroll add-on for QuickBooks. Used by UK small employers for PAYE, NI, pension and HMRC RTI. Integrates with QuickBooks accounting.
See QuickBooks Payroll →Long-established UK payroll software with HMRC recognition. Works standalone (without Sage accounting) and is widely used in small businesses and accountancy practices.
See Sage Payroll →HR and payroll platform used by growing UK teams. Combines contracts, onboarding, leave management and payroll in one system. HMRC RTI integrated.
See Employment Hero →EmployerCalculator is part of a family of three UK financial calculators built to work together.