Work out if you can afford your first employee

Help me work out whether I can afford to take on my first employee.

My business: [what you do, and whether you're a sole trader or a limited company]
The role I have in mind: [e.g. part-time admin, an apprentice, a second pair of hands on jobs]
Hours and pay I'm thinking of: [e.g. 20 hours a week, and the hourly rate]
Roughly what the business brings in and spends each month: [figures, or ranges]
Work I'm turning away or doing badly now: [e.g. two jobs a month, quotes left for a week]
What I'd do with the time it frees up: [e.g. more quoting, more jobs, my evenings back]
What my own time earns: [e.g. day rate or typical job value]

Before you start, ask me up to 6 short questions, a few at a time, about the work, the hours and how steady my income is. Wait for my answers.

Then:
1. A table of the full monthly cost of this person: the wage plus each extra a UK employer usually pays, such as employer National Insurance, workplace pension, paid holiday, employers' liability insurance, payroll and equipment. Use current GOV.UK rates if you can check them; otherwise leave the figure blank and mark it "check on GOV.UK".
2. How much extra work or income I'd need each month to cover that cost, and how much of it the time I free up could realistically bring in.
3. A plain verdict: looks affordable, tight, or not yet, with the reasons and the biggest risk.
4. Two or three alternatives worth comparing, such as fewer hours, a freelancer or a trial period, with the main trade-off of each.
5. A checklist of what to sort before they start, in order, each with the official page to check.
6. The first three jobs I should hand over, and how I'd show them.

Show your sums, work only from my figures, and say where you're guessing. This is planning help, not financial, tax or legal advice, so I'll check the rules on GOV.UK or with an accountant before I commit. Only use what I've told you, leave blanks for anything I haven't given, and don't invent facts or figures. UK English.

For current UK employer rates on GOV.UK, use web search and name the page you used. If it doesn't search on its own, open View all tools and choose Search.

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