01 Worker pay
£
Below National Living Wage (£12.71/hr, 21+). Check worker age band.
hrs
PAYE: holiday pay, employer NI and pension are costs on top of the worker's pay.
02 Employment & agency costs
Holiday pay — treatment
%
Accrued: holiday is a cost you set aside on top of pay and pay out when leave is taken. 12.07% is the irregular-hours accrual method — not right for every contract.
Employer National Insurance — 15% above £96/week
Workplace pension — 3% employer on qualifying band
Apprenticeship Levy — 0.5% (payroll > £3m only)
Finance cost — invoice funding % of charge
% of invoice
Factoring / invoice finance charged on the invoice value. Most calculators ignore this — it comes straight out of your margin.
Advanced — other costs
£
£
%
£to £
%
03 Agency return
Margin = profit ÷ charge rate. Markup = profit ÷ your total cost. Same % gives different charge rates.
%
★ Presets
Illustrative only — real rates depend on assignment, location, terms and service level.
Client charge rate
£0.00/hr ex VAT
—
Margin / hr
£0.00
Gross margin
0%
Weekly profit
£0
Hourly breakdown
| Line | £/hr | % of charge |
|---|
How the forward calculation works
The charge rate has to cover the worker's pay, the statutory and contractual costs of employing them, your agency costs, and the profit you need to run the service.
- Worker hourly pay
- + Holiday pay — PAYE only: accrued (set aside, paid when leave is taken) or rolled-up (paid in every payslip as an itemised uplift). Same cost per hour; rolled-up changes what the worker sees and what NI/pension are assessed on.
- + Employer NI — 15% on earnings above the weekly threshold, converted to £/hr
- + Pension — employer % on the qualifying earnings band, converted to £/hr
- + Other per-hour costs
- = Total cost
- + Agency margin (by margin %, markup %, or fixed £/hr)
- + Finance cost (a % of the resulting charge — solved simultaneously)
- = Client charge rate, ex VAT
How the reverse calculation works
Most agency pricing in practice runs the other way: the client tells you the rate, and you work out what you can afford to pay. That isn't just subtraction — employer NI and pension depend on the pay rate you haven't found yet, so the calculator solves it iteratively until pay, costs, margin and finance all balance to the charge.
- Start from the client's charge rate and the margin you want to keep
- Remove finance cost and margin → what's left must cover pay + employment costs
- Find the pay rate whose holiday, NI and pension costs fit inside that amount
- = Maximum worker pay that delivers your target margin
Margin vs markup — not the same thing:
| Method | On £16 total cost | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| 20% gross margin | £16 ÷ 0.80 | £20.00 |
| 20% markup | £16 × 1.20 | £19.20 |
2026/27 assumptions: National Living Wage (21+) £12.71/hr · Employer NI 15% above £96/week secondary threshold · Pension qualifying band £120–£967/week, 3% employer minimum · Holiday accrual 12.07% (irregular-hours method). Illustrative calculation only — confirm statutory rates and contractual treatment with your payroll provider. Your entries stay in this browser.