Employees calculators

What hiring actually costs once employer National Insurance and pension are added, using 2026/27 rates.

What these calculators help with

A salary is never the full cost of an employee. Employer National Insurance is charged on pay above the Secondary Threshold, workplace pension contributions sit on top, and equipment, software, insurance and recruitment costs are easy to forget. This calculator adds them together so you can budget a hire properly, and shows the monthly equivalent for cash-flow planning.

Who they are for

For small employers taking on their first or next member of staff, and for directors budgeting their own payroll. It is written for people who run payroll through software or an accountant but still need a reliable cost figure before making an offer.

How they fit together

The employee cost calculator gives the full annual and monthly cost of a hire, and the holiday entitlement calculator gives the statutory paid leave that comes with it — the two numbers you need before a job advert goes out. Directors comparing their own pay should also look at salary versus dividends, since employer National Insurance is what makes that comparison worth doing.

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