True cost of an employee
Salary is only part of the story. Add employer National Insurance, pension and overheads to see what a hire actually costs you per year, per month and per working day. UK 2025/26 rates, all editable.
Enter a gross salary and we add the real costs on top: employer National Insurance, pension and your overheads per head. Adjust any rate if yours is different.
Why an employee costs more than their salary
The headline salary is what lands in the employee's bank account. On top of it you carry employer National Insurance, a pension contribution, and the running costs of actually having someone in the business. Added up, a UK hire usually costs 1.2 to 1.3 times their gross salary.
The three things you add on top
- Employer National Insurance - 15% on earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold (2025/26). On a £30,000 salary that is £3,750.
- Pension - the auto-enrolment minimum employer contribution is 3%, though many pay more.
- Overheads - software, a laptop, a desk, training, benefits and recruitment cost spread over their time with you. A few thousand pounds a head is normal.
Turning it into a day rate
Dividing the true annual cost by around 227 working days(a year, minus weekends, holiday and bank holidays) gives you the real cost of a day of that person's time. That is the number to hold against a day rate when you are deciding whether to hire, use a contractor, or price a piece of client work.
Rates are 2025/26 UK figures and are editable in the calculator. Check GOV.UK for the current thresholds before budgeting.
Know the margin on every person and placement
Jeanus is a B2B CRM used by recruitment and agency teams to track what people and placements really cost against what they bring in, so you can see true margin per client, per project and per hire instead of guessing.