Outsourced HR in the UK usually costs from under £100 to around £800 a month for a small or medium-sized enterprise. Some outsourcing HR companies such as Neathouse Partners, that offer personalised HR & Law consultants, have their contracts starting at only £95/mo.
Where you'll land in that pricing range depends mostly on how many people you employ and how much support you need.
That's a wide range, so this guide breaks the price down. We cover the main pricing models, what each level includes and what pushes the price up. We also compare outsourcing with the two options most businesses weigh it against: hiring an HR manager, or paying an HR consultant by the day when something comes up.
Want an exact figure for your business? Get a fixed monthly quote from Neathouse.
There isn't one market price, because providers charge in different ways. The table below shows the four models you'll come across most often, with typical UK prices.
|
Pricing model |
Typical UK price |
What it usually covers |
Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Monthly retainer (fixed fee) |
From about £100 to £800+ a month. Neathouse Partners start at £95 per month. |
Ongoing advice, documents and case support from an adviser or team |
Businesses that want predictable costs and regular support |
|
Per employee, per month |
About £20 to £30 per employee |
The same as a retainer, priced by headcount |
Growing businesses that want the price to scale with them |
|
HR software with an advice line |
From about £17 per employee a month (BrightHR) |
Software for absence, records and documents, plus phone advice |
Businesses that mainly need admin tools |
|
Pay as you go (consultant) |
A median of £525 a day |
One-off projects or individual cases |
Occasional needs, such as a single restructure |
These figures come from the Startups.co.uk guide to HR outsourcing costs, ITJobsWatch contract rates for HR consultants and the providers' own websites.
Here's what some providers publish on their websites, to give you a sense of real numbers:
Most of the larger providers, including Peninsula, Citation and Croner, don't publish prices and quote each client individually. That's normal in this market, but it does mean you'll need written quotes to compare like for like. If you'd like to see how the main providers differ beyond price, our comparison of the top HR outsourcing companies in the UK covers that.
Price only means something once you know what's included, and this is where quotes that look similar can turn out to be very different.
At the entry level, a typical HR service package gives you:
At the fuller end, which is what most businesses with 10 or more staff end up needing, you'd expect:
As an example, here's what each Neathouse package includes:
You can compare all three on the packages page.
Once you start asking for quotes, you'll notice the price moves depending on a handful of things. Knowing them in advance helps you understand why two quotes differ.
So when you compare quotes, compare the scope as well as the price. A £150 package that only includes an advice line isn't cheaper than a £250 package that includes a personal adviser and employment lawyers. It's just a different product.
For most small and medium-sized enterprises, the real alternative to outsourcing is hiring someone in-house. A salary figure on its own makes that look cheaper than it is, so here's a fuller picture for an average HR manager.
|
Cost |
Approximate annual figure |
|---|---|
|
Average HR manager salary in the UK |
£41,500 |
|
Employer National Insurance (15% above £5,000) |
£5,500 |
|
Workplace pension (3% minimum employer contribution) |
£1,050 |
|
Total before other costs |
About £48,000 a year, or £4,000 a month |
The salary figure comes from PayScale, and we worked out National Insurance and pension using 2026/27 rates.
That £48,000 doesn't include recruitment fees, training, an HR software licence, or cover when your HR manager is on holiday or off sick. It also doesn't buy you legal expertise. Most HR managers are generalists, so you'd still need an employment solicitor for anything that might end up at tribunal.
That's why outsourcing tends to make financial sense until a business reaches a size where HR is a full-time job. Even then, many larger businesses keep an outsourced adviser alongside their in-house team as a second opinion on difficult cases. If you're weighing up when to make that switch, our guide on when growing UK firms should outsource HR goes into more detail.
The other option is to call in help only when something goes wrong. That can work if your business is very small and problems are rare, but the costs add up quickly once they don't.
Pay-as-you-go still has its place. If you need help with a one-off restructure or a handbook rewrite, a project fee can be the cheapest route, and our HR consultancy services work on that basis too.
It's worth putting the monthly fee next to the cost of getting something wrong. An unfair dismissal or discrimination claim can be expensive even when you win. In our guide to how much an employment tribunal costs a UK employer, we explain why legal fees alone can run past £10,000 for a defended claim, before any compensation is awarded.
Most of those claims start with a process that went wrong months earlier: a missing contract, a rushed dismissal, or a grievance that wasn't handled properly. Good outsourced HR is mostly about preventing that. Your adviser gets the process right at the start, and if a claim does come in, our employment tribunal services take it from there.
We charge a fixed monthly fee, so you know what HR will cost before anything happens. Pricing starts at £95 per month, and the exact fee depends on two things: how many people you employ and how much support you need.
For that fee, you get a personal adviser who learns how your business works and handles your cases from the first call to the outcome. Larger clients get two advisers or a small team, always the same people, and a wider team covers holidays. Behind them sit employment solicitors for anything that needs legal advice. Sandstone Care, which runs 13 care homes, describes its responses as "typically the same day" in its success story.
If you run a smaller business, our page on outsourced HR support for small businesses explains how the service works at that size. If you need health and safety support as well, it's available as a separate package, and our health and safety services page covers what's included.
Find out what outsourced HR would cost your business. Get a quote and meet your adviser.
Because most providers quote individually, the best way to compare them is to ask every provider the same questions and get the answers in writing.
Published prices and averages only get you so far, because what you'll actually pay depends on your headcount, your sector and how much support you need. The quickest way to get a real number is to ask for a quote based on your own business.
At Neathouse, that starts with a short call with one of our advisers. We'll ask how many people you employ and what's keeping you busy on the HR side, then give you a fixed monthly price in writing. You'll also meet the adviser who would look after your business, so you know who you'd be working with before you decide.
Get your HR pricing quote. Book a call with a Neathouse adviser.
For full HR support, providers that price per head typically charge about £20 to £30 per employee per month. Software-led services with an advice line can cost less, with BrightHR starting from £16.67 per employee. Many providers, Neathouse included, quote a fixed monthly fee based on headcount instead of a strict per-employee rate.
For most small and medium-sized enterprises, yes. An average HR manager costs around £48,000 a year once employer National Insurance and pension are added, while outsourced HR for a small business usually costs a few hundred pounds a month. The balance shifts once HR becomes a full-time job, although many larger businesses still keep an outsourced adviser alongside their own team.
The median day rate for HR consultants in the UK is £525, with most charging between £457 and £651, based on contracts advertised in the six months to November 2026.
It depends on the provider and the package. Some packages only cover HR advice and documents, while others include employment solicitors and tribunal support. At Neathouse, employment solicitors are part of the team, so legal questions go straight to them.
HR software with an advice line is usually the cheapest monthly option, and pay-as-you-go consultants can be cheaper if you rarely need help. The trade-off is that neither gives you someone who knows your business when a difficult case comes up. A fixed monthly fee with a personal adviser costs more than software alone, but it also covers the cases where getting the process wrong would cost far more.