Why does three employees cost £471 on a DPNI scheme but £171 on an NI-only scheme?

Because a DPNI scheme is registered to the employee and an NI-only scheme is registered to the employer. Three employees on DPNI means three separate HMRC schemes, three PAYE references, three sets of real time filings and three year ends, so it is three payrolls rather than one. An NI-only scheme covers the whole UK team under a single scheme. Which applies depends on where your business is based and whether your employer's National Insurance is due, and we confirm it before anything is set up.

No. We are not VAT registered, so the price you see is the price you pay.

When do I pay the setup fee?

Only once your scheme is actually live with HMRC. We do not invoice setup when you sign, because the manual HMRC step can take weeks and you should not be paying for something that has not happened yet.

Can the price change after I have started?

Your fee is fixed in writing in the engagement letter before any work begins. We review fees annually, and we re-quote if the work materially changes, for example your headcount or pay frequency. Either way you are told in advance, never billed a surprise.

Is there a minimum term?

No. There is no lock-in and no minimum term. If you leave, we hand your data over in a form your next provider can use.

Pricing

Our pricing

Every price we charge is on this page. There is no VAT to add, nothing is quoted "on application", and your fee is fixed in writing before any work starts.

The full list

Service	Scheme shape	Income tax at source?	Employer's NI?	Monthly	One off setup
UK Employer Payroll, Essentials UK employer, 1 to 9 staff	One scheme, all your staff	Yes	Yes	£55/mo + £7 per payslip	from £100
Managed Payroll From 6 staff, or anyone wanting the full service	One scheme, all your staff	Yes	Yes	from £110/mo + £7 per payslip	from £100
DPNI scheme ⭐ Overseas employer, no UK presence	One scheme per employee	Yes	No	£157/mo per scheme, all in	£750 per scheme
DCNI scheme ⭐ Overseas employer, no UK presence	One scheme per employee	No, via Self Assessment	No	£157/mo per scheme, all in	£750 per scheme
NI-only scheme ⭐ Overseas employer where employer's NI is due	One scheme, several staff	No	Yes	£150/mo + £7 per payslip	£750 once
Overseas employer with a UK PAYE scheme You already hold a UK PAYE scheme	One scheme, several staff	Yes	Yes	from £225/mo + £8 per payslip	£350
Director Bundle Your company payroll plus your personal tax return	One scheme, one director	Yes	Yes	from £85/mo	from £100

Rates for the 2026/27 tax year. Setup is invoiced only once your scheme is actually live, not when you sign.

Why two businesses with three UK staff can pay very different amounts

This is the question we are asked most, and the answer is scheme count rather than headcount.

A DPNI or DCNI scheme is registered to the employee, so three UK employees means three separate HMRC schemes, three PAYE references, three sets of real time filings and three year ends. Three employees therefore costs £471 a month, because it is genuinely three payrolls.

An NI-only scheme is registered to the employer, so one scheme covers the whole UK team. The same three employees costs £171 a month. Nothing is being discounted, there is simply one scheme instead of three.

Which one applies to you is not a choice. It depends on where your business is based and whether your employer's National Insurance is due. We confirm it before anything is set up, and we will tell you if the cheaper answer is the right one.

Worked examples

Situation	What applies	Monthly
A UK company with five staff, paid monthly	Essentials	£90 (£55 + 5 × £7)
A US employer with one UK employee, tax at source	One DPNI scheme	£157
A US employer with three UK employees	Three DPNI schemes	£471
An EU employer with three UK employees, employer's NI due	One NI-only scheme	£171 (£150 + 3 × £7)

What the fee does not include

Your fee covers running the payroll. It does not include the money that leaves your business anyway: salaries, employer's National Insurance, and pension contributions. Those cost the same whoever runs your payroll, and we will tell you what they come to before you commit.

Personal tax returns

A simple Self Assessment return is from £145. Self employed or landlord returns are from £200. Returns with dividends, property, foreign income or capital gains are from £375. The exact fee is agreed before we start, never after.

Two things we will not do

We will not quote a headline price and add to it later. If the work turns out to be different from what we were told, we say so and re-quote before doing it, not afterwards.

We will not tie you in. There is no minimum term. If you want to leave, you give notice and we hand over cleanly, including your data in a form your next provider can actually use.