Employer of Record platforms make UK hiring quick, and you pay for that convenience. Here is what an EOR actually costs in 2026, the extras that are easy to miss, and the cheaper route for anyone you intend to keep on the team.
The major UK EOR platforms publish a per-employee management fee of roughly 599 to 699 US dollars a month, which is about £470 to £550 at current rates. A few price in pounds directly, and rates move, so treat any figure as a starting point and check the quote you have been given.
That fee sits on top of the things you would pay anyway: the salary, employer National Insurance and the workplace pension. Those costs are the same whoever runs the payroll, so they are not really part of the comparison. What you are buying with the EOR fee is for the platform to be the legal employer in the UK on your behalf.
The monthly fee is rarely the whole bill. Depending on the provider, budget for some or all of these, and ask about each before you sign.
An EOR earns its fee when you need someone employed this week, or you want zero UK employer obligations, or you are hiring across many countries at once. For a UK hire you plan to keep, the maths rarely favours it for long.
You do not need a UK company to run your own payroll. With no UK entity, the route is a DPNI scheme, set up in the employee's name, which a specialist runs for you. Our fixed fee for that is £157 a month per scheme, plus a one-off HMRC scheme setup. Against a typical EOR fee of £470 to £550 a month, the difference adds up quickly.
One employee, rough service fees for a year
EOR at about £500 a month: ~£6,000. Your own DPNI payroll at £157 a month plus a one-off HMRC scheme setup at current early tax-year rates: ~£2,300 in year one, and about £1,900 a year after that once the setup is behind you. Salary, employer NI and pension are the same either way.
We would rather tell you straight. An EOR genuinely wins when you need someone employed almost immediately and cannot wait for any scheme setup, when you want another party to hold the contracts and liability entirely, when the hire is short-term or exploratory, or when you are standing up teams in several countries at once and want one vendor for all of them. If none of those apply, you are probably paying for flexibility you will not use. Many companies start on an EOR and move to their own scheme once they have settled, and we handle that switch too.
Tell us your headcount and situation and we will confirm the right route and a fixed fee, including whether an EOR genuinely suits you better. Honest answers, within one UK business day.
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