Your team
Hidden costs included
Employer's NI (15.05%) · Pension (5%) · Recruitment (15%, amortised 2yr) · Equipment (£3K/person) · Training (£1K/person)
The comparison
Your in-house team
Plus 39 sick days & 140 holiday days of lost output/yr
Parallel Agents
Methodology
Where the numbers come from.
Employer's NI
15.05% on earnings above £5,000/yr. April 2025 rate. On a £35,000 salary: £4,515 per employee.
Pension
Auto-enrolment minimum 3%. Most competitive employers: 5-8%. We use 5%.
Recruitment
Agency fees: 15-25% of salary. Internal hiring: £3-5K per role. We use 15% amortised over 2 years.
Sick days
7.8 days/employee/yr average (ONS/CIPD 2024). Highest since 2004. 5 people = 39 days lost.
Holiday
28 days statutory minimum. 5 people = 140 days. 26.9% of total working capacity unavailable.
Equipment
Laptops, software (Adobe, Mailchimp, SEMrush, Hootsuite), training. £3,000/person/yr.