What will your team really cost?

• Employees: monthly cost = salary ÷ 12 + employer National Insurance + employer pension + equipment and software.
• Employer NI = NI rate × (salary − NI threshold), never below zero. Default 15% above £5,000 a year.
• Employer pension = pension rate × qualifying earnings, where qualifying earnings are the part of salary between the lower and upper limits. Default 3% of earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 (the auto-enrolment minimum).
• Recruitment fee = fee % × annual salary, paid once in the employee’s start month.
• Contractors: monthly cost = day rate × days per month. No NI, pension or recruitment fee is added. Contractors bring their own kit unless you tick the equipment box.
• SkilledUp Life volunteers: always £0. Volunteers cannot be paid in any form (no salary, stipends, gift vouchers or expenses), and equipment and software costs are never applied to them.
• Volunteer saving = the cost of the role as an employee at the equivalent salary (salary, employer NI, pension, equipment and recruitment fee) for the months the role is active within the 24-month plan.
• Headcount counts every active role: employees, contractors and volunteers.
• Year 1 is months 1–12 and year 2 is months 13–24. Salaries are held flat: no pay rises, bonuses, share options or leavers.

Not included: Employment Allowance (which can reduce the NI bill for many small companies), the apprenticeship levy, benefits, office space, VAT on contractor invoices, and salary sacrifice. All figures are estimates to help planning, not tax or payroll advice.