What does it cost to employ someone at a given salary? Start with their gross salary or desired take-home pay to estimate salary, employer National Insurance and pension costs.
1. Enter your details
The starting numbers are examples. Replace them with your own. Results update below the form.
Money reaching the bank account, after selected deductions.
Leave at 0 if there is no bonus. Included in annual averages, not a prediction of a particular month’s payslip.
Pension contributions — check these percentages
Set to 0 for no employee contribution; maximum 100%.
An additional employer contribution, not the employee’s salary sacrifice.
For relief at source, enter the gross percentage: 5% means 4% deducted plus 1% added by the provider. Extra tax relief claimed from HMRC is not part of the bank-pay target. Check pension arrangements with payroll.
Student loans — noneWhich student loan plan am I on?
Use your funding body and course start date, not the location of your university. Check your Student Loans Company account if unsure.
Plan 1: Student Finance England or Wales, course started before 1 September 2012; or Student Finance Northern Ireland.
Plan 2: Student Finance England, undergraduate/PGCE course started 1 September 2012–31 July 2023; or Student Finance Wales, undergraduate/PGCE started from 1 September 2012. England’s Higher Education Short Course Loans also use Plan 2.
Plan 4: Student Awards Agency Scotland funding, including postgraduate study.
Plan 5: Student Finance England, undergraduate/PGCE course started from 1 August 2023. Advanced Learner Loans follow England’s relevant start-date rules.
Postgraduate: England/Wales master’s or doctoral loan. Tick the separate box; it can apply alongside another plan.
Plus £0.00 annual bonus. Estimated bank pay: £3,000.00 per month / £36,000.00 per year.
Annual salary and bonus
£47,485.97
Income Tax
£6,508.33
Employee National Insurance
£2,603.33
Employee pension deducted
£2,374.30
Student and postgraduate loans
£0.00
Annual bank pay
£36,000.00
Where your gross pay goes
Every slice is part of your pay. Employer contributions and provider tax relief are shown separately below.
75.8%take-home
Take-home pay£3,000.0075.8%
Income Tax£542.3613.7%
National Insurance£216.945.5%
Pension from pay£197.865%
Employer cost — separate from employee deductions
Salary and bonus paid (after salary sacrifice)
£45,111.67
Employer National Insurance
£6,016.75
Employer pension, including salary sacrificed
£3,798.88
Total annual employer cost
£54,927.30
Average monthly employer cost
£4,577.27
Salary sacrifice is moved into the pension, not added to salary twice. Employer NI assumes standard category A and is before any Employment Allowance. Excludes Apprenticeship Levy, benefits, recruitment, equipment, insurance and other overheads. Special NI exemptions and employer sharing of NI savings are not modelled.
Assumptions and official sources
Annualised 2026/27 estimates for a full tax year, standard Personal Allowance and a person below State Pension age. No custom tax codes, taxable benefits, other income, multiple jobs, workplace share schemes or charity deductions in these planning tools. Pension annual-allowance limits and minimum-wage eligibility are not checked. Use the main calculator for SIP, SAYE and GAYE. Estimates are not payroll or personalised tax advice.
Checked 23 September 2026. Your input figures are calculated in your browser; these tools do not upload your salary.
Worked employer-cost examples
Examples use 2026/27 England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates, no student loans, no pension and no bonus. They are independent of the inputs above. Your own settings can produce different results.
At a £30,000.00 salary, employer NI is £3,750.00, giving £33,750.00 annual cost before pension, allowances and overheads.
At a £45,000.00 salary, employer NI is £6,000.00, giving £51,000.00 annual cost before pension, allowances and overheads.
At a £60,000.00 salary, employer NI is £8,250.00, giving £68,250.00 annual cost before pension, allowances and overheads.
Questions about this calculator
What is included in employer cost?
This estimate includes salary and bonus, standard category A employer National Insurance and the employer pension contribution you enter. It is not the full cost of operating a business: equipment, recruitment, insurance, benefits and other overheads are excluded.
Is salary sacrifice counted twice?
No. Sacrificed salary moves from cash salary into employer pension payments. The calculation counts that money once and works out employer National Insurance on the reduced relevant earnings.
Does this include Employment Allowance?
No. Employment Allowance depends on employer eligibility and applies across an employer’s NI bill; it cannot automatically be assigned to one employee. The result is before this allowance, special NI reliefs and Apprenticeship Levy.