What counts as on-costs?

Employer NICs, pension contributions, apprenticeship levy and benefits — include them for a true picture.

No — it's a free illustration. Your actual Creditcorp offer depends on an assessment of your company.

Wage cost ratio calculator — Calculators

How to use it

Enter your figures above — the result updates instantly and nothing leaves your browser. Results are illustrative, not a quote or credit decision.

How to interpret the result

A wage cost ratio on its own is neither good nor bad — it only becomes meaningful once you compare it against your own trend over time and against businesses doing similar work. A rising ratio quarter on quarter can mean pay is outpacing revenue growth, that headcount has grown ahead of demand, or that seasonal revenue has dipped while payroll stayed fixed. A falling ratio usually signals improving productivity, but it can also mean under-investment in the team needed to grow.

Sector matters a great deal here. Service and people-intensive businesses naturally carry a higher ratio than businesses built around materials, stock or automated processes, so the result is best read alongside the cost-to-income ratio calculator to see the full cost picture, not the wage line in isolation.

Limitations and good practice

This calculator gives a snapshot, not a forecast. It cannot tell you whether a given ratio is sustainable for your business model, and it takes no account of contractor or agency spend sitting outside payroll, which can understate true people-cost if left out. Treat the on-costs field as more than a rounding exercise — employer NICs, pensions and the apprenticeship levy can move the ratio meaningfully, as the FAQ on this page sets out.

Good practice is to run the figure regularly rather than once, using consistent definitions each time, and to look at it alongside cash and coverage measures such as the debt service coverage ratio calculator before drawing conclusions about affordability or hiring plans.