🇬🇧 Hire in United Kingdom: cost, rules and best EOR options
Highly skilled English-speaking professionals in finance, fintech, AI and software, with a mature legal system. It is in the same time zone as West Africa and 5 hours ahead of US East Coast.
- Employer on-costs: 14–18% of gross salary (on a $60,000 salary, about $68,400–$70,800 total)
- EOR onboarding: Days to ~2 weeks (provider claims; specific figure unverified); own entity: Roughly 2-6 weeks for a UK Ltd plus PAYE and pension setup (estimate, not verified)
- Probation: No statutory probation; 3-6 months commonly used. Notice usually shortened during probation by contract.
- Currency: Pound sterling (GBP)
- Data confidence: medium, verified 2026-10-05
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What it costs to employ someone in United Kingdom
Employer on-costs run roughly 14–18% on top of gross salary. Employer Class 1 National Insurance is 15% on earnings above the secondary threshold of GBP 5,000 per year (frozen until April 2031), for 2025/26 and 2026/27. Add the minimum auto-enrolment pension contribution of 3% of qualifying earnings (GBP 6,240-50,270 band in 2025/26). For a GBP 50,000 salary: NIC about 13.5% + pension about 2.6% = ~16%. For GBP 30,000: about 12.5% + 2.4% = ~15%. Excludes holiday and sick pay cost, Apprenticeship Levy (0.5% of payroll above GBP 3m) and any company benefits; pension is higher if the employer offers more than the minimum.
| Contribution | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Employer Class 1 National Insurance | 15% above GBP 5,000/yr (GBP 96/week) | Secondary threshold frozen at GBP 5,000 until April 2031. Employment Allowance (GBP 10,500) can offset for eligible small employers. |
| Workplace pension (auto-enrolment) | minimum 3% employer of qualifying earnings (8% total) | Employees aged 22 to State Pension age earning over GBP 10,000 are auto-enrolled. |
| Apprenticeship Levy | 0.5% of annual pay bill above GBP 3m | Only larger employers. |
Employer operates PAYE: deducts income tax and employee Class 1 NIC (8% between the primary threshold and upper earnings limit, 2% above), plus employee pension contributions and student loan deductions.
Mandatory benefits
- Statutory paid holiday 5.6 weeks
- Statutory Sick Pay
- Statutory maternity/paternity/shared parental pay
- Workplace pension auto-enrolment
- National Minimum / Living Wage
- Written statement of employment terms from day one
Employment rules at a glance
| Payroll | monthly (weekly or 4-weekly also common); real-time information (RTI) reporting to HMRC each payday |
|---|---|
| Probation | No statutory probation; 3-6 months commonly used. Notice usually shortened during probation by contract. |
| Notice & severance | Statutory minimum employer notice: 1 week after 1 month of service, then 1 week per full year up to 12 weeks. Contracts often require more. Statutory redundancy pay is available after 2 years' service: up to 0.5, 1 or 1.5 weeks' pay per year depending on age, with a weekly pay cap and 20-year cap. |
| Working time | Maximum average 48 hours/week unless the worker opts out in writing; 11 hours daily rest, 20-minute break over 6 hours. No statutory overtime premium; follows contract. |
| Paid leave | 5.6 weeks (28 days for a 5-day week) including bank holidays; 8 bank holidays in England and Wales. |
| Minimum wage | National Living Wage GBP 12.71/hour for age 21+ from April 2026 (per the 2025 government announcement, from general knowledge; confirm on gov.uk). 18-20: GBP 10.85. |
Termination
Unfair dismissal protection currently requires 2 years' service, and the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms phase in changes, so confirm the current rule with counsel before relying on the 2-year qualifying period. Automatically unfair reasons (discrimination, whistleblowing, pregnancy) have no qualifying period. Collective consultation required for 20+ redundancies in 90 days.
Employee or contractor in United Kingdom?
IR35 / off-payroll working rules: medium and large private clients must decide status of contractors engaged via personal service companies; if inside IR35, the fee-payer operates PAYE and NIC. Employment status tests (control, substitution, mutuality of obligation) are applied. HMRC can recover underpaid tax and NIC.
Compare contractor vs employee cost →
Hiring through an EOR in United Kingdom
A foreign company can employ UK staff only by registering as an employer with HMRC, which in practice requires a UK presence (entity or establishment) for PAYE and pension; EOR avoids that. Providers advertise days to a couple of weeks; no specific cited figure.
Typical onboarding: EOR Days to ~2 weeks (provider claims; specific figure unverified); own entity Roughly 2-6 weeks for a UK Ltd plus PAYE and pension setup (estimate, not verified). GMT (UTC+0) / BST (UTC+1) in summer; 4-5 hours ahead of US Eastern.
Providers worth shortlisting
| Provider | Best for | EOR pricing | Coverage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deel | Companies that want one platform for contractors, EOR and a US PEO, with transparent per-seat list prices. | $599 per EOR employee per month (public list price, checked 2026-10-05) | 150+ countries (vendor claim, per Deel's own and third-party descriptions) | Visit Deel |
| Remote | Teams that want a published price for each product (EOR, global payroll, contractors, contractor of record, US PEO) and an affiliate program with 12-month revenue share. | $699 per employee/month (public list price, checked 2026-10-05) | 90+ countries for EOR (vendor pricing page claim) | Visit Remote |
| Rippling | Companies already running (or willing to adopt) a unified HR, IT and finance platform who want global hiring as an add-on module. | — | Visit Rippling | |
| Oyster | Distributed teams that want published EOR and contractor prices and a long-running affiliate program with tiered revenue share. | $699 per employee/month (public list price, checked 2026-10-05); annual discounts available; refundable deposit required | 120+ countries EOR; contractors in 180+ countries (vendor claim) | Visit Oyster |
| Papaya Global | Mid-size and larger companies that need multi-country payroll orchestration and workforce payments, and will go through a sales process. | 160+ countries (vendor claim as repeated on FlexOffers listing and third-party pages) | Visit Papaya Global | |
| Multiplier | Cost-conscious teams that want EOR priced below $500 per employee with an annual discount. | Third-party summary of Multiplier's pricing: EOR from $459/employee/month on annual contracts and $499 on monthly contracts (not confirmed; multiplier pricing page returned 403 to our fetch) | — | Visit Multiplier |
| Remofirst | Small teams that want the lowest published EOR starting price and a free contractor tier. | Starting at $199 per person/month (public list price, checked 2026-10-05); 'no hidden fees, setup fees, or minimum contract terms' per vendor page | 185+ countries for EOR (vendor claim) | Visit Remofirst |
| Pebl (formerly Velocity Global) | Companies that want an EOR with a tiered reseller/partner program and are comfortable with a recently rebranded vendor. | Third-party reports a flat $399 per employee/month (not confirmed on vendor page; hellopebl.com/pricing returned 404) | 185+ countries (third-party report) | Visit Pebl (formerly Velocity Global) |
Paying and covering your team in United Kingdom
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FAQ
What employer National Insurance rate applies in the UK?
15% on earnings above GBP 5,000 per year, for 2025/26 and 2026/27.
Is employer pension mandatory?
Yes. Eligible employees must be auto-enrolled with minimum total contributions of 8% of qualifying earnings, of which the employer pays at least 3%.
How much holiday do UK employees get?
5.6 weeks (28 days for a 5-day week), which can include bank holidays.
What is the statutory notice period?
1 week per full year of service up to 12 weeks, after the first month.