Hiring in the UK through an EOR: £9,846 of employer cost on £55,000, then the fee
Summary
UK employer cost is mostly one line. Employer National Insurance, Class 1 secondary, is 15% with no ceiling, and the other two lines are small. That makes the UK a country where the share hardly falls as pay rises, unlike Germany or the Netherlands, where ceilings do the work. The annual cost article used £60,000; this page uses £55,000, the figure on this site's country page.
The statutory part: three lines, £9,846
| Line | Rate | Charged on | On £55,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employer National Insurance, Class 1 secondary | 15.00% | no ceiling | £8,250 |
| Workplace pension, minimum employer auto-enrolment contribution | 3.00% | the £6,240 to £50,270 band | £1,321 |
| Apprenticeship Levy (employers with a pay bill over £3m) | 0.50% | no ceiling | £275 |
| Statutory employer contributions | £9,846 |
Employer cost £64,846, 17.9% above the salary. At £110,000 it is 16.7% (£18,371), a drop of only 1.2 points, and the pension band stopping at £50,270 is the whole reason.
Leave is 5.6 weeks, 28 days on a five-day week, and the eight bank holidays may be counted inside that figure. No statutory thirteenth month, no general statutory severance (statutory redundancy pay is a separate thing).
On the levy line. The 0.5% applies only to employers whose annual pay bill exceeds £3 million. Through an EOR the employer is the provider's entity, so it is that entity's UK pay bill that counts. The larger providers probably exceed it; whether the levy is passed into your quote is a question for each one. This site includes the line.
Against Deel's 18.80%
Deel's UK hiring page estimates employer cost at "18.80% of employee salary." This site's floor is 17.9%. The 0.9 points could be a pension contribution above the 3% minimum or an item not on this list; the page gives no breakdown. With only three lines, the UK is one of the easier countries to reconcile a quote against.
The fee, in dollars
| Provider | Published fee, monthly | Year | Checked | Provider site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native Teams | $99, starting | $1,188 | 2026-09-28 | See Native Teams EOR pricing |
| RemoFirst | $199, starting | $2,388 | 2026-09-28 | See RemoFirst EOR pricing |
| Skuad | $199, starting | $2,388 | 2026-09-06 | See Skuad EOR pricing |
| Horizons (RemotePeople) | $199, list | $2,388 | 2026-09-06 | See Horizons EOR pricing |
| Deel | $599, list | $7,188 | 2026-09-06 | See Deel EOR pricing |
| Remote | $699, list | $8,388 | 2026-09-06 | See Remote EOR pricing |
Scroll sideways on a phone.
Pounds and dollars are not added together here. Remote and Oyster say they can bill in pounds (Remote in twelve currencies, Oyster in USD, EUR, GBP and CAD); the others do not state a billing currency. A UK company rarely needs an EOR at home, but an overseas company hiring UK staff can remove one exchange line by being billed in sterling.
Provider terms that matter in the UK
- Days to start. Remote lists the UK among its two-working-day countries, after self-enrollment with the right to work. Deel's UK page says "as little as 7 days." It is one of the few countries where Remote quotes the shorter figure.
- Remote's cutoff. The standard 11th.
- Deposit. Deel's standard one to one and a half months applies; the UK is not among the four countries where Deel requires variable pay to be deposited in full.
Who can employ in the UK
| Provider | The UK on its own pages | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Remote | Country explorer, Employer of Record listed | 2026-10-01 |
| Deel | Country hiring page | 2026-10-01 |
| Oyster | In the "Hire in" list on the availability page | 2026-10-01 |
| The other eleven | Not checked |
Links on this page currently go directly to providers without affiliate tracking.
Sources
- Employer cost of hiring in United Kingdom, on this site (statutory lines, sources per line, read 2026-08-21)
- https://www.deel.com/hiring/employees/united-kingdom/
- https://remote.com/country-explorer
- https://support.remote.com/hc/en-us/articles/11109199121933
- https://www.oysterhr.com/country-availability
- EOR pricing per employee, by published price, on this site
The three lines' sources are on the UK country page.
Related on this site
- Employer cost of hiring in the United Kingdom in 2026
- How do you add up what one EOR hire really costs in a year?
- Deel at $599 and RemoFirst at $199: what the $400 a month is buying
- What does an EOR charge you on top of the monthly fee?
Related on this site
- Hiring in Germany through an EOR: 21.3% on top of the salary, then the fee
- Hiring in India through an EOR: a 6.1% floor, a gratuity accrual, and a fee that looks large
Written by Kaz, independent publisher. No commercial relationship with the providers named unless it is listed on the disclosure page.
Page last updated 2026-10-02. Sources are listed per figure and labeled statutory or payroll reference. Rates last verified 2026-08-21. This is not legal, tax or payroll advice and we do not file anyone's payroll.
Every formula on this site is written out in full on Method. Ordering is by computed cost, never by what a provider pays us.
Corrections: contact form.