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Measured on six things

Free calculator to see real employer costs including NI, ...

Security

HTTPS enforced with SPF and DMARC, but missing HSTS, CSP, frame protection, and other headers (4/12 checklist). No SOC 2, ISO, or security page found. No breach history in collected evidence.

Screenshots

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UK True Cost of an Employee Calculator

About this app

The UK True Cost of an Employee Calculator by UK Creative Ventures is a free, no-sign-up tool that helps business owners, finance professionals, and HR managers accurately estimate the full cost of hiring. It goes beyond the gross salary to include employer National Insurance (15% from April 2025), auto-enrolment pension contributions, holiday accrual, recruitment fees, and overhead costs. The calculator is updated for 2026/27 tax rates and includes features like cost per hire (SHRM/ANSI standard), salary comparison, and contractor vs. employee analysis. It's an essential budgeting tool for making informed headcount decisions.

Key features

1Calculates true cost including employer NI (15%), auto-enrolment pension, holiday accrual, recruitment fees, and overheads.
2Cost per hire calculator using SHRM/ANSI standard, covering internal and external costs.
3Salary comparison tool to compare two salary levels and see the full cost difference.

Target customer profile

Drawn from the product itself, not from a survey.

Demographic

Small business owners and start-up founders

Pain points

Underestimating hiring costs, cash flow surprises, difficulty planning headcount budget

Primary needs

Accurate cost breakdown, easy-to-use tool, understanding of employer NI and pension obligations

Demographic

Finance directors and accountants

Pain points

Need precise cost modelling for budgets, financial forecasting, and business cases

Primary needs

Up-to-date tax rates, comprehensive cost components, ability to compare scenarios

Demographic

HR managers and recruiters

Pain points

Justifying hiring decisions, calculating cost per hire, explaining benefits to stakeholders

Primary needs

Cost-per-hire metrics, benchmark data, amortised recruitment costs, and simple reports

Scout Review

Written by AI from measured evidence, scored out of 100.

The UK True Cost of an Employee Calculator is a genuinely useful tool for UK business owners and finance professionals, addressing a real pain point with the April 2025 NI changes. It's free, no-sign-up, and more comprehensive than its alternatives, covering holiday accrual, recruitment fees, and overheads. The design is functional but marred by generic agency branding, and the page is long and text-heavy. Speed is acceptable but not great, and security is basic with missing headers. Accessibility has real issues that need fixing. Growth potential is limited by its positioning as a free tool on an agency site, but it's a solid lead magnet. Overall, it's a competent tool that does its job well, but it's not a game-changer.

Measure by measure

Usability

Inputs and results update in-viewport, making iteration fast. Multiple calculators (true cost, cost per hire, compare) are useful, but the page is long with dense text and no clear onboarding for first-time users.

Design

Clean, functional calculator with a standout result card and clear cost breakdown bar. Generic agency nav and red CTAs clash with the tool's focused aesthetic; below-fold text is dense.

Speed

Lighthouse mobile performance 76/100 with LCP 3.8s (above 2.5s good threshold) and TBT 273ms. Desktop scores 65/100. No user complaints found; static page with minimal JS.

Security

HTTPS enforced with SPF and DMARC, but missing HSTS, CSP, frame protection, and other headers (4/12 checklist). No SOC 2, ISO, or security page found. No breach history in collected evidence.

Accessibility

Lighthouse accessibility 86/100 but with real failures: prohibited ARIA attributes, insufficient contrast, form elements without labels, and no main landmark. No WCAG statement or multi-language support found.

Growth

Real problem (UK NI hike, pension costs) with a specific tool that's more comprehensive than alternatives. But it's a free tool on an agency site — limited wedge for standalone growth.

Improvement areas

Fix accessibility issues: form labels, contrast ratios, and add a main landmark.
Improve mobile performance by reducing LCP time below 2.5s.
Add security headers like HSTS and CSP to strengthen the site's security posture.

Design & Usability

The calculator's design is functional and clear, with a standout result card that makes the 47% uplift immediately visible. The cost breakdown bar is a nice touch, but the generic agency navigation and red CTAs clash with the tool's focused aesthetic. Usability is strong for quick iterations — inputs and results update in the same viewport — but the page's length and dense text blocks can overwhelm first-time users. The multiple calculators (true cost, cost per hire, compare) are useful, though the lack of a guided onboarding flow means users must figure out the tabs themselves. Overall, it's a solid tool that prioritizes function over polish, but the surrounding marketing elements dilute the experience.

Speed & Security

Speed is decent but not stellar: mobile LCP at 3.8s is above the 2.5s 'good' threshold, and desktop performance is lower at 65/100. The page is static with minimal JS, so there's no heavy scripting to blame — it's likely the images and third-party scripts. Security is a mixed bag: HTTPS is enforced, and SPF/DMARC are present, but the absence of HSTS, CSP, and frame protection leaves the site exposed to common attacks. There's no SOC 2 or security page, which is typical for a small agency tool, but the missing headers are a missed opportunity for a site handling financial calculations. No breach history was found, which is reassuring, but the security posture is basic.

Accessibility & Growth

Accessibility is a weak point: the Lighthouse score of 86/100 masks real issues like prohibited ARIA attributes, insufficient contrast, and form elements without labels. There's no WCAG statement or multi-language support, which limits the tool's reach. Growth potential is moderate: the problem is real (UK employers face new NI and pension costs), and the tool is more comprehensive than Indeed's or The Salary Calculator's offerings. However, it's a free tool on an agency's site, so its standalone growth is limited — it's a lead magnet, not a product. The category has headroom, but the wedge is narrow without a clear path to monetization or standalone distribution.

Conclusion

If you're a UK business owner trying to budget for a new hire, this calculator is worth a bookmark. It's free, accurate, and covers more than the basics. But don't expect it to be your one-stop HR solution — it's a tool, not a platform. The agency behind it clearly knows the subject matter, but they need to polish the presentation and fix the accessibility issues to make it truly shine. For now, it's a solid free resource that does what it says on the tin.

Suggestions for improvement

Add a guided onboarding flow that walks users through the calculator tabs step-by-step.
Fix the accessibility issues: add labels to form elements, ensure contrast ratios meet WCAG AA, and add a main landmark.
Add a 'printable report' feature so users can save or share the cost breakdown easily.
Consider adding a standalone domain or subdomain for the tool to reduce agency branding and improve SEO.

How we score

Alternatives comparison

Named competitors, point by point. Nobody paid to appear here or to be left out.

	UK True Cost of an Employee Calculator	Indeed Hiring Cost Calculator	The Salary Calculator
Employer NI calculation (April 2025 rates)	Includes 15% NI with secondary threshold £5,000, updated for 2026/27.	Focuses on advertising and time-to-hire; does not calculate employer NI.	Provides take-home pay and employer NI, but lacks overhead and recruitment costs.
Holiday accrual cost	Calculates holiday accrual as ~10.8% of working time (28 days).	Not included; focuses on hiring process costs.	Not included; only salary and NI.
Recruitment fees and overheads	Includes agency fees, job ads, equipment, office space, and training costs.	Includes advertising and time-to-hire, but not overheads or equipment.	Does not include recruitment or overhead costs.
Cost per hire (SHRM/ANSI standard)	Uses SHRM/ANSI formula covering internal and external costs.	Provides a cost estimate but not SHRM/ANSI standard.	Not applicable; focuses on salary and NI only.
Free, no sign-up access	Yes, completely free with no sign-up required.	Free but may require contact info for full features.	Free, no sign-up.