Salary is only part of the bill. Add employer National Insurance and pension contributions to see the true 2026/27 cost of a hire.
A £35,000 salary costs £40,362.80 a year — 15.3% on top of the salary itself.
Statutory minimums · before Employment Allowance · auto-enrolment employer minimum
When you agree a salary with a new hire, you're committing to more than that number. Two statutory costs come on top:
For a typical salary, the two together add roughly 15–18% to the headline figure — worth knowing before you make an offer, not after.
The Employment Allowance wipes out up to £10,500 of employer NI a year for most small businesses, which can make the first hire or two dramatically cheaper than the headline rate suggests. And if you're at that stage, PayAdjust handles the auto-enrolment assessment, the pension calculations, and the HMRC reporting that come with employing people — so the admin doesn't cost you evenings as well.
Statutory minimums for 2026/27, before the Employment Allowance — an estimate, not accounting advice.
Salary to payslip: income tax, National Insurance, pension, and student loan — see your monthly net pay.
See how much of a pension increase is offset by tax relief — and what it really costs your take-home pay.
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