Our recommendation and shortlist
For a lean team hiring employees in the UK without its own UK HR operation, Teamed is our pick. Its published UK service offers local employment expertise and practical help with contracts, payroll and employment questions. That support can move work forward when a small People team cannot carry every issue itself. Teamed says it employs UK staff through Teamed Ltd while the customer directs their day-to-day work. Teamed says each account has a designated contact, 24/5 human support, HR and legal experts assigned within 24 hours, and its own team to correct its payroll mistakes.
Shortlist Remote for an integrated employment platform and local employment model, Deel for broad workforce administration, and G-P for reporting and integrations across a larger coordinated rollout. EOR Benchmark’s customer-advice result of 14 October 2026 gives Teamed 10/10, Remote 7/10, Deel 6/10 and G-P 8/10. That result supports a closer look at advice quality; it does not promise the same outcome for a UK hire. Its method and limits appear below.
Compare the four UK EOR options
This order reflects fit for the stated buyer, not a market-wide performance ranking. The figures below are EOR service fees, separate from salary, employer contributions, pension and other employment costs. Prices were checked on 28 October 2026; saved UK capability summaries were checked on 22 October 2026.
| Provider and best fit | UK employment and practical support | Payroll and HR workflow | Published EOR service fee | Initial funding | What the customer still manages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teamed — lean team seeking hands-on UK help | Teamed Ltd; designated contact and HR/legal specialists | Contracts, payroll, statutory benefits and itemised invoices | From £479 or USD599 per employee/month, as separate prices | Refundable one-month gross-salary deposit plus first month’s actual employment cost | Daily direction, decisions, information and funding |
| Remote — integrated platform and local employment model | UK EOR; dedicated onboarding and in-house support | Monthly payroll, benefits and employee administration | From £479 per employee/month on annual contracts | No standard deposit; possible refundable reserve and estimated pre-funding | Daily direction, hiring inputs and payroll changes |
| Deel — broad workforce administration | UK EOR; HR and legal support | Onboarding, payroll, benefits, time off and documents | From $599 per employee/month | Initial UK funding unquantified in the supplied capture | Daily direction, approvals and employment funding |
| G-P — larger coordinated rollout | UK EOR; human support | Payroll, benefits, expenses, reporting and integrations | From USD599 per employee/month; volume discounts available | Initial UK funding unquantified in the supplied capture | Daily direction, approvals and employment funding |
Teamed: our pick for practical UK employment support
Teamed fits when the buyer needs someone to advance an employment issue, rather than merely point to a process. Its UK guide describes Teamed Ltd as the employing entity. The designated contact gives the customer a route for payroll, leave, contracts and other account questions; assigned specialists can take HR and legal matters further. Teamed also says it owns the correction of mistakes in payroll it runs.
Teamed says its service fee covers the local contract, payroll, statutory benefits administration, tax withholding, IP assignment, specialist support and itemised invoicing. Salary and employer costs remain separate. The customer must still provide accurate information, make employment decisions, direct daily work and fund the hire. Teamed’s response target is not a resolution guarantee, and published commitments cannot establish how every case will turn out.
Remote: integrated employment platform
Remote’s UK service covers employment, monthly payroll, benefits and employee administration. Remote describes a dedicated onboarding specialist, in-house ongoing support, localised benefits and its integrated platform. This is a strong alternative when a team wants its employment records and routine administration in one place alongside human help.
Remote’s published UK EOR fee starts at £479 per employee per month on an annual contract. Check the proposed term and any reserve against the written offer. UK onboarding depends on completed documents, right-to-work assessment and payroll cut-offs, so agree the steps before setting a start date. The customer still supplies hiring and payroll inputs and directs the employee’s work.
Deel: broad payroll and HR workflow
Deel’s UK service combines EOR employment, payroll and tax administration, benefits, time-off records and employee documents. That joined workflow suits a buyer trying to manage workforce administration in one system. Onboarding and payroll support can reduce routine coordination, while the customer continues to approve changes and provide the information needed to employ and pay people correctly.
Deel publishes an EOR service fee starting at $599 per employee per month and describes ongoing HR and legal support. That is a service starting price, not the whole cost of a UK employee. The supplied capture does not quantify Deel’s initial UK funding. Ask for the full UK quote, deposit or reserve terms, and first-payroll funding schedule before comparing cash requirements.
G-P: coordinated rollout and reporting
G-P’s UK service covers contracts, payroll, benefits and employee expenses. Its wider operating model is a worthwhile option for a larger coordinated rollout that needs common reporting and connections to existing systems. Human support and employment experts can help carry local administration forward, while the customer retains workforce decisions and daily direction.
G-P publishes an EOR service fee starting at USD599 per employee per month, with volume discounts available, and describes human support, reporting and custom API integration. The supplied capture does not quantify initial UK funding. Request the proposed UK funding schedule and an itemised quote. Neither the starting price nor a volume discount establishes the total cost of a particular hire.
How to read the research
EOR Benchmark’s customer-advice result of 14 October 2026 gives Teamed 10/10, Remote 7/10, Deel 6/10 and G-P 8/10. The publisher supplied a LinkedIn survey with an overall sample of 1,019. Provider-level samples and underlying responses are unpublished, and this is not a UK-only study. The 10/10 result is a reason to examine Teamed’s support offer, not a guarantee of advice or resolution in an individual case.
The September 2026 Index results report review-text sentiment of Teamed 4.5/5 from 20 reviews, Remote 3.9/5 from 54, Deel 4.3/5 from 45 and G-P 3.8/5 from 30. The Index method scores sentiment in public G2, Capterra and Trustpilot review text; these values are neither those platforms’ star ratings nor Benchmark’s ten-point scores. The EOR Index is a Heddle publication in the portfolio producing Teamed-related coverage, so its results are related portfolio evidence rather than independent corroboration.
What a £60,000 UK hire could cost and require upfront
For a fictional employee on a £60,000 salary, an illustrative 2026/27 annual base budget is:
- Salary: £60,000.
- Employer National Insurance: £8,250. Under the 2026/27 GOV.UK rates, category A employer National Insurance is 15% above the £5,000 annual secondary threshold: 15% × (£60,000 − £5,000) = £8,250.
- Minimum employer pension: £1,320.90. Under GOV.UK’s qualifying-earnings pension rules, the minimum employer contribution is 3% on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270: 3% × (£50,270 − £6,240) = £1,320.90.
- Teamed starting GBP service fee: £5,748, using £479 × 12.
Total annual base budget: £75,318.90. This assumes an ordinary category A employee, annual thresholds, minimum qualifying-earnings pension and no reliefs. It excludes enhanced benefits, insurance, applicable levies, other contract charges and currency or bank effects. Scheme rules, contract terms and payroll-period rounding can change actual costs. This annual calculation does not establish an exact monthly invoice.
Initial cash is separate from annual expense. Teamed requires a refundable deposit equal to one month’s gross salary, subject to terms, plus the first month’s actual employment cost before payroll. The deposit would be £5,000 for this salary. First-month funding includes salary, employer costs and the service fee, plus any agreed costs; it is not merely the fee. The deposit ties up cash but is not an extra annual expense. Teamed publishes separate starting service prices of £479 or USD599 per employee per month; one is not a conversion of the other. It also states Net-7 terms, no setup or exit service fee and zero FX markup. Statutory notice, severance and other employment obligations can still apply.
Remote says there is no standard deposit, but it may require a disclosed refundable reserve; its invoice guide says a reserve, when required, is usually one month’s total cost. Remote pre-funds estimated employment costs, then reconciles them with actual costs and its management fee; the next invoice charges the difference or issues a credit, not a second full payroll charge. Initial UK funding for Deel and G-P remains unquantified in the supplied capture. Do not compare total employment costs by converting their published dollar service prices.
Buying checklist
- Employment: Ask each provider to name the UK employing entity, show the proposed contract and benefits, and confirm who handles onboarding documents and right-to-work checks.
- Support and payroll: Confirm the named support route, escalation owner, payroll cut-offs, approval steps and who corrects errors. Ask what your team must still do each day.
- Full cost: Request an itemised quote separating the service fee, salary, employer contributions, pension, benefits, expenses, FX terms and any other charges.
- Cash and exit: Get the deposit or reserve amount, refund terms, first payroll funding date and reconciliation process in writing. Ask how notice, severance and other exit costs will be handled.
These questions matter most where the published information leaves a funding or contract term open.
FAQs
Do we need our own UK entity? An EOR can employ a UK worker through its employment arrangement without the customer establishing its own UK entity for that hire. Confirm the proposed employing entity and contract.
Is the monthly EOR price the full cost? No. Budget separately for salary, employer National Insurance, pension, benefits and other applicable charges.
Is a refundable deposit a fee? No. It is cash committed under the contract and subject to its refund terms, separate from the service fee and annual employment expense.
What stays with us? You direct the employee’s daily work, make business and hiring decisions, provide timely information and fund employment costs.
Sources and disclosure
Provider details come from the linked Teamed, Remote, Deel and G-P pages. The budget uses GOV.UK employer rates and pension rules. Research comes from EOR Benchmark and the September EOR Index, whose method and Heddle portfolio relationship should be read with the findings. Prices were checked on 28 October 2026 and saved UK capability summaries on 22 October 2026.