White-label accounting vs hiring in-house
A UK accounting hire costs a lot more than the salary on the job advert. On top of pay you have employer National Insurance, workplace pension contributions, a recruitment fee and holiday cover. This guide works through the real 2026/27 numbers using official rates and published salary data, so you can compare like with like.
What you pay on top of salary in 2026/27
- Employer National Insurance: 15% on each employee's earnings above the secondary threshold of £5,000 a year. Eligible employers can claim the Employment Allowance, worth up to £10,500 a year, which reduces this bill across all staff. (Source 1)
- Workplace pension: at least 3% from the employer, on qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year. The total minimum is 8%, with the employee paying the rest. (Source 2)
- Recruitment fee: UK agencies typically charge 15–20% of the first year's salary for a permanent placement, and more for hard-to-fill roles. (Source 5)
- Holiday: a full-time employee is entitled to 5.6 weeks (28 days) of paid leave a year, so you pay for roughly 11% of the year in which the work still has to be covered. (Source 3)
Typical salaries for accountancy roles
Salaries vary a lot by region. The figures below are the "typical" salaries from the Hays UK Salary & Recruiting Trends 2026 guide, based on data gathered during 2025. We show London and the North West to give a high and a mid-range picture. Newly qualified figures are for SMEs. (Source 4)
| Role | North West | London |
|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | £33,000 | £43,000 |
| Assistant accountant | £34,000 | £46,000 |
| Newly qualified accountant (SME) | £50,000 | £60,000 |
The true monthly cost of a hire
Here are those salaries with employer National Insurance (15% above £5,000) and the minimum 3% employer pension added. We have not deducted the Employment Allowance, because whether you can claim it, and how much is left of it, depends on your whole payroll. We have also left out the recruitment fee, software, equipment, training and holiday cover, so these are minimum ongoing costs.
| Role and region | Salary | Employer NI | Pension (3%) | Cost per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper, North West | £33,000 | £4,200 | £803 | £3,167 |
| Bookkeeper, London | £43,000 | £5,700 | £1,103 | £4,150 |
| Assistant accountant, North West | £34,000 | £4,350 | £833 | £3,265 |
| Assistant accountant, London | £46,000 | £6,150 | £1,193 | £4,445 |
| Newly qualified, North West | £50,000 | £6,750 | £1,313 | £4,839 |
| Newly qualified, London | £60,000 | £8,250 | £1,321 | £5,798 |
Calculation: employer NI = (salary − £5,000) × 15%. Pension = (salary, capped at £50,270, − £6,240) × 3%. Monthly cost = (salary + NI + pension) ÷ 12, rounded to the nearest pound.
Add a one-off recruitment fee of 15–20%, which for a £34,000 assistant accountant is £5,100–£6,800, and the first-year cost rises further.
How that compares with a dedicated white-label team member
| The Bakoffice role | Per month | Closest in-house comparison above |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated bookkeeper | £1,350 | Bookkeeper: £3,167–£4,150 |
| Dedicated accountant | £1,850 | Assistant accountant: £3,265–£4,445 |
| Senior / ACCA accountant | £2,450 | Newly qualified: £4,839–£5,798 |
Our prices are full-time equivalents with no recruitment fee and no VAT added, as we are not VAT-registered. Your own savings depend on your location, the level of the role and whether you can claim the Employment Allowance. Use the savings calculator to run your own figures.
When hiring in-house makes sense
- Client-facing roles where people expect to meet the same person in your office.
- Trainees you want to develop into managers or partners.
- Work that has to be done on site, or that relies on knowledge only your team has.
When white-label makes sense
- Repeatable compliance work: bookkeeping, VAT returns, year-end accounts and CT600s.
- The extra volume from MTD for Income Tax, where one annual return becomes four quarterly updates plus a final declaration.
- Peak-season overflow around January and year-end deadlines.
- Firms that can't find or keep qualified staff at a price that works.
What to check before you outsource
Your firm stays responsible for the work and for your clients' data, so put these in place first:
- A written agreement covering confidentiality, quality review, anti-money laundering responsibilities and professional indemnity insurance. ICAEW's helpsheet on using a subcontractor covers each of these, with checklists. (Source 6)
- A data processing agreement, because your provider handles personal data on your behalf under UK GDPR.
- A lawful basis for any overseas transfer. If client personal data leaves the UK, the transfer rules apply. The ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) is one of the approved safeguards you can use. (Source 7)
- Your engagement letters. Check what you have told clients about subcontracting, and update your terms if you need to.
- A pilot on real files, so you can judge the quality before you commit.
Sources
- HMRC: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 (GOV.UK)
- Workplace pensions: what you, your employer and the government pay (GOV.UK)
- Holiday entitlement (GOV.UK)
- Hays UK Salary & Recruiting Trends 2026: Accountancy & Finance (PDF)
- Startups.co.uk: Recruitment costs
- ICAEW: Subcontracting accountancy services – using a subcontractor
- ICO: A brief guide to international transfers
This guide is general information, not tax, legal or employment advice. Rates are for the 2026/27 tax year and were checked on 10 November 2026.