Employer of Record UK for Spanish companies: cost and the NI-only route

These are US dollar prices, not euros. Pounds are at HMRC's exchange rate for October 2026, 1.3456 US dollars to the pound, rounded to the nearest pound. Each figure is a platform's own published starting price for its fee; for the price of your own hire, ask the provider. Our full pricing comparison sets the same range beside our direct routes.

An Employer of Record becomes the legal employer and takes on the employer's duties; we run the payroll while you stay the employer, so the fees pay for different things.

Employing the person yourself, with no UK company

A Spanish company with no UK place of business has two routes, and on both the company stays the employer. Someone working in the UK for an employer in the EU usually pays UK National Insurance, unless they have a certificate of coverage (an A1) from that country. If your employee already has one, there's no National Insurance scheme to register and no fee for one.

When someone works in the UK for an employer based in the EU and UK National Insurance is due, it is due on both sides, the employee's and the employer's, so the scheme is an NI-only scheme in the employer's name and not a DPNI or DCNI. The employer registers the NI-only scheme in its own name, and can give us authority to act for it. We will ask HMRC for the scheme that fits your facts, and they may suggest a different one once they have the full facts.

Employer's National Insurance is the company's cost

For most employees, UK employer's National Insurance is 15% of pay above £5,000 a year. An employer based in the EU, Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein can owe it too, where the employee works in the UK and UK National Insurance is due. It is the employer's cost, not the employee's. Under the UK and EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, an employer based outside the UK pays these contributions just as if it were based here.

Your employee's income tax on an NI-only scheme

This scheme doesn't take your employee's income tax off their pay. They pay their income tax through their own Self Assessment or, if they'd rather, through a tax-only scheme in their name.

If you provide benefits or expenses

If an employer also provides expenses and benefits, HMRC set its record up as a "P" scheme instead of an NI-only one, because they expect a form P11D(b) and a Class 1A National Insurance charge. It's a different kind of HMRC record, not a different price, and we charge the same either way.

Or run UK PAYE in the company's own name

The other route is for the company to run UK PAYE in its own name. A UK PAYE scheme in the company's own name starts at £225 a month plus £8 per payslip, and setting it up costs £350.

The A1 from the TGSS, and the older UK and Spain agreement

In Spain, the A1, which Spain calls the certificado de legislación aplicable, comes from the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS). It's for a worker registered with Spanish social security, and Spain's own guidance applies it to work in the UK, Gibraltar included. The company asks the TGSS for it online, through the RED system or the TGSS's electronic office, and the employee can make the request too. Once it's issued, the certificate shows that the worker stays under Spanish social security, so contributions aren't paid in the country they've gone to.

An A1 is for someone your company sends to the UK for a limited time while they stay employed in Spain. GOV.UK puts it as coming to work temporarily in the UK for up to two years, employed in an EU country by an EU employer who normally works there. For the UK, Spain's guidance sets a firm limit: postings are accepted for 24 months at most, with no agreement to go beyond that. A certificate confirms that your employee doesn't need to pay National Insurance in the UK, and as an employer your liability follows theirs. Someone you take on to live and work here, with no A1, is in the position described above.

The older UK and Spain agreement

The UK and Spain also have an older social security agreement. HMRC's list of agreements with contribution provisions shows it under a 1975 Statutory Instrument, number 415, with a protocol in 1976, number 1916. This page doesn't rely on it. The answer here rests on the Trade and Cooperation Agreement: HMRC's employer guide for 2026 to 2027 lists Spain among the European Union states, and the EU among the agreements that include employer obligations.

Euros, and the two pagas extraordinarias

If you agree the salary in euros

A salary paid in another currency is still chargeable in the UK, and the amount has to be worked out in pounds sterling. Currency conversion costs and any loss on the exchange can't be deducted. When you send us pay details, please convert them to pounds sterling first, rather than leaving them in another currency.

The two extra payments

Spanish law gives employees in Spain two extra payments a year, the pagas extraordinarias: one at Christmas, the other in a month set by collective agreement or agreed with the workers' representatives. A collective agreement can instead spread them across the twelve monthly payments. If you pay your UK employee the same way, tell us which months the extra payments fall in.

UK National Insurance looks at pay when it's paid. HMRC treat an extra payment as part of the total pay at the time it's paid, no matter when it was earned, so the month an extra payment lands in carries more employer's National Insurance than an ordinary month. Spread across twelve months instead, every month is the same.

Payroll works National Insurance out each payday against a monthly threshold of £417, and twelve of those come to £5,004, which is why the month-by-month total is 60p lower. The example assumes the standard rate: employees under 21, apprentices under 25 and veterans can have a 0% employer rate up to an upper threshold. It assumes no A1, and it leaves out your employee's own National Insurance, any pension and our fee. Figures are indicative, not a quote.

Our fee for the first twelve months

An NI-only scheme costs £157 a month for one employee, and £150 a month plus £7 per payslip for two or more. Setting up is a one-off £750, however many employees the scheme covers, or a one-off £500 if you go ahead within two weeks of your quote. We are not VAT registered, so no VAT is added. We will ask HMRC for the scheme that fits your facts, and they may suggest a different one once they have the full facts.

Spanish companies hiring in the UK: common questions

How much does an Employer of Record cost a Spanish company in the UK?

Four of the best-known Employer of Record platforms publish starting prices of $399 to $699 per employee per month on their own pricing pages, read 22 October 2026, with $599 the most common. At HMRC's October 2026 rate of 1.3456 dollars to the pound, that is about £297 to £519, and about £445 for $599. These are US dollar prices.

Which HMRC scheme does a Spanish employer use?

When someone works in the UK for an employer based in the EU and UK National Insurance is due, it is due on both sides, the employee's and the employer's, so the scheme is an NI-only scheme in the employer's name and not a DPNI or DCNI. We will ask HMRC for the scheme that fits your facts, and they may suggest a different one once they have the full facts.

Who issues the A1 for someone coming from Spain?

The Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS), for a worker registered with Spanish social security. It covers someone sent to work in the UK for a limited time while they stay employed in Spain, and for the UK, Spain's guidance accepts postings of 24 months at most. A certificate confirms that your employee doesn't need to pay National Insurance in the UK.

How are the pagas extraordinarias treated on UK payroll?

HMRC treat an extra payment as part of the total pay at the time it's paid, no matter when it was earned. On a £44,800 salary paid in 14 payments, employer's National Insurance is £417.45 in an ordinary month and £897.45 in a month with an extra payment, about £5,970 over the year.

Can we agree the salary in euros?

A salary paid in another currency is still chargeable in the UK, and the amount has to be worked out in pounds sterling. When you send us pay details, please convert them to pounds sterling first, rather than leaving them in another currency.

What does the direct route cost a Spanish company?

An NI-only scheme costs £157 a month for one employee, and £150 a month plus £7 per payslip for two or more. Setting up is a one-off £750, however many employees the scheme covers, or a one-off £500 if you go ahead within two weeks of your quote. A UK PAYE scheme in the company's own name starts at £225 a month plus £8 per payslip, and setting it up costs £350. No VAT is added. We will ask HMRC for the scheme that fits your facts, and they may suggest a different one once they have the full facts.

How long does the direct route take?

We'd allow four to eight weeks for HMRC to set the scheme up, and that's our own estimate, not a figure from HMRC. Nothing goes to HMRC until the engagement is signed and our identity checks are done, so our four to eight weeks starts then, not today.

Read next

• Hiring in the UK from Spain, the two payroll routes, what the employer must do, and timing.
• The NI-only scheme, what it is and who it is for.
• Employer's National Insurance explained, the rates and thresholds behind the worked example.
• Employer of Record cost vs your own payroll, with an interactive comparison.
• Employer of Record UK for Italian companies, the INPS A1 and a thirteenth month.
• Employer of Record UK: the complete guide, every EOR guide in one place.