Recruitment Calculator
See the full cost of a £60,000 hire
Salary, employer contributions, agency fee and one-off setup costs, separated so a budget conversation can start from a real number.
What the agent was given
- Role
- Senior Customer Success Manager
- Location
- Manchester (hybrid)
- Contract
- Permanent
- Annual salary
- £60,000
- Agency fee
- 18% of starting salary
- VAT on fee
- 20% (included)
- Employer costs
- United Kingdom, 2026/27 rates
- One-off costs
- Equipment, licences, advertising
What came back
Recurring employment cost
£69,863
Every year · salary plus employer contributions
One-off recruitment cost
£15,910
Once · agency fee, VAT and setup
First 12 months
£85,773
43% on top of the £60,000 salary
Paid every year
Recurring employment cost
This is the figure that repeats. A salary increase, a bonus or a change to employer rates all move it, and it is the number a headcount budget needs. The first-year total below is not.
Paid once
Recruitment and setup cost
These do not recur. Hiring the same role again next year would cost them again; keeping the person you hired would not.
What to take to the budget conversation
First-year total
Reading this correctly matters. The first-year figure of £85,773 is what leaves the business in year one. The ongoing cost is £69,863. Quoting the first-year number as an annual cost overstates the role by £15,910 every year after the first.
Rates used
- Employer National Insurance
- 15% above £5,000
- Employer pension
- 3% above £6,240
- Tax year
- 2026/27
These figures are computed by the same calculation the live agent runs, against the employer cost profile currently loaded in the product, so this page cannot drift away from the tool it is demonstrating. They are approximate planning guidance, not a payroll calculation. The pension figure models a 3% contribution on all earnings above the lower threshold; an employer contributing the statutory minimum on capped qualifying earnings would pay less at this salary.
Assumptions and limits (6)
- Cost period: the first 12 months of employment. Employer National Insurance and pension recur annually; the agency fee, VAT and setup costs do not.
- UK employer rates for the 2026/27 tax year: NI at 15% above the £5,000 secondary threshold, and employer pension at 3% of earnings above £6,240.
- No relief has been applied. The under-21, apprentice under 25 and veteran 0% categories and the Employment Allowance would each reduce the NI figure.
- The pension figure is 3% of all earnings above the £6,240 lower threshold. An employer contributing the statutory auto-enrolment minimum on qualifying earnings, which are capped at £50,270, would pay less than this at a £60,000 salary.
- The 18% agency fee is an illustrative rate. Fees vary by agency, sector and whether the search is contingent or retained.
- £60,000 is a scenario input, not a benchmarked market rate for this role or location.
Why this matters
A salary figure is not a hiring budget. Before a Senior Customer Success Manager on £60,000 costs your business anything, an employer also pays National Insurance above the secondary threshold, a minimum pension contribution on earnings above the pension lower threshold, and, where an agency is involved, a placement fee calculated as a percentage of the starting salary. Those additions are predictable and they are large, but they are usually assembled by hand in a spreadsheet at the point someone asks for approval.
Read the rest of the background
Taligent's Recruitment Calculator brings them into one breakdown and, importantly, keeps two different kinds of money apart. Employer National Insurance and pension are recurring employment costs: you pay them every year the person is employed. An agency fee, VAT on that fee, a laptop and a first year of software licences are one-off recruitment and setup costs: you pay them once. Adding the two together produces a first-year figure that is useful for a budget request but misleading as an ongoing cost, so the example below shows them separately and labels each total.
The employer contribution rates used here are the current UK figures for the 2026/27 tax year: employer National Insurance at 15% on earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold, and a 3% employer pension contribution on earnings above £6,240. They are approximate guidance for planning, not a payroll calculation. No relief has been applied: the under-21, apprentice and veteran rates and the Employment Allowance would each reduce the National Insurance figure. The pension figure is modelled on all earnings above the lower threshold rather than on capped qualifying earnings, so an employer paying the statutory minimum would pay less at this salary.
Run this for your own role
Create a free account and Recruitment Calculator works from your role, your requirements and your numbers. You start with 3 credits; each agent shows what a run costs before you start it.