Recruitment finance tool
Recruitment charge rate calculator.
Build a PAYE temporary worker charge rate from the true employment cost up—including holiday pay, employer NI, pension and optional commercial costs.
Use the calculatorThe commercial distinction
A pay rate is not the same as the cost of employing the worker.
The visible pay rate is only the starting point. A defensible charge rate also needs to reflect the selected employment on-costs, commercial assumptions and the contribution the agency intends to retain.
The model builds in:
- Holiday pay using the selected worker and pay arrangement
- Employer NI calculated across aggregate weekly earnings
- Workplace pension using qualifying earnings or a custom basis
- Optional levy, funding and operating-cost assumptions
UK employment-cost assumptions: 2026/27
Build the charge rate from pay upwards.
Enter the worker economics and your target contribution. Illustrative starter inputs are shown; replace them with your own rate and target.
Commercial assumptionsAdvanced settings
The 12.07% default is a commercial cost assumption for qualifying irregular-hours and part-year workers, used to provision the economic holiday cost in the charge rate; it is not universal to every PAYE worker. Whether holiday pay is paid alongside wages or accrued and paid when leave is taken is a payroll/payment arrangement, so it does not need to drive this commercial rate build. Actual entitlement, payment arrangements and payroll treatment can vary.
Standard mode applies the 2026/27 weekly qualifying-earnings band. Actual scheme bases can differ.
Levy is an employer-level liability. Selecting Yes applies the marginal 0.5% rate without attempting to allocate the annual allowance.
Optional commercial assumption based on invoice or charge value.
Use for payroll processing, systems, insurance, central overhead or other costs your agency chooses to allocate.
Under-21s, qualifying apprentices, veterans and certain special categories can have different employer NI treatment and are outside this V1 model.
Required rate
From true employment cost to charge rate.
For 40 hours per week at a 20.0% contribution target.
Per-hour cost bridge
Compared with charge rateWeekly view
40 hours- Basic weekly pay
- £600.00
- Holiday pay
- £72.42
- SSP / sickness provision
- £0.00
- Employer NI
- £86.46
- Employer pension
- £16.57
- Apprenticeship Levy
- £0.00
- Weekly employment cost
- £775.46
- Break-even charge rate
- £19.39 / hr
- Weekly invoice value
- £969.32
- Weekly commercial contribution
- £193.86
Employer NI uses the 2026/27 weekly Secondary Threshold—not a flat percentage of all earnings.
Standard pension modelling uses the 2026/27 weekly qualifying-earnings band.
Commercial rate modelling only. This is not payroll software or confirmation of an actual tax, employment-law or statutory liability. Worker circumstances, NI category, pension scheme, holiday-pay arrangement, Employment Allowance, Apprenticeship Levy position and other factors can change actual costs.
Calculations run locally in your browser. The values you enter are not saved or sent to Scalehouse.
2026/27 assumptionsView rates, thresholds and primary sources
- Employer NI
- 15% above the £96 weekly Secondary Threshold for standard Category A modelling, before employer-level reliefs such as Employment Allowance.
- Holiday pay
- 12.07% default commercial provision, corresponding to the statutory method available for qualifying irregular-hours and part-year workers. Actual entitlement, payment arrangements and payroll treatment can vary.
- Pension
- 3% employer contribution on qualifying earnings from £120 to £967 per week in standard mode.
- Apprenticeship Levy
- 0.50% marginal pay-bill rate when the user identifies the organisation as a levy payer.
- SSP
- User-entered commercial provision. The 2026/27 statutory weekly maximum is £123.25, or 80% of average weekly earnings if lower, but actual cost depends on sickness and worker circumstances.
These are UK 2026/27 modelling assumptions. Actual employment and payroll circumstances may vary.
Use the right model
Designed for building temporary PAYE charge rates.
The standard model uses weekly Category A employer NI and qualifying-earnings pension assumptions for 2026/27. PAYE, umbrella, PSC and other contract structures can create different economics and obligations, while permanent recruitment follows a different commercial model.
Use the result as a transparent rate-building model—not as a payroll calculation, employment-status decision or substitute for advice based on the worker and scheme facts.
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