Employer on-costs are the values paid by the employer on top of an individual's gross pay. Departments can expect to pay on-costs for pension, national insurance and the apprenticeship levy.
Deductions can be affected by personal circumstances, so please contact your School Finance Manager if on-costs are not calculating as expected. Current employer rates can be found below.
Apprenticeship Levy
The Apprenticeship Levy will be charged from April 2017.
The levy is calculated at 0.5% of NI’able pay and will be charged in the same way as Employers National Insurance. Departments will see an increase in staff costs, including those borne by research grants, trust funds, donation and trading accounts. For those staff charged to Chest funds an additional allocation will be made to cover the increase.
Pension scheme rates
|
Scheme
Scheme |
Employer Rate
Employer Rate |
|---|---|
|
Scheme
Auto-enrolment Scheme |
Employer Rate
3.00% |
|
Scheme
CPS |
Employer Rate
12.60% |
|
Scheme
MRC |
Employer Rate
16.90% |
|
Scheme
NHS |
Employer Rate
14.38% |
|
Scheme
USS |
Employer Rate
14.50% |
Further guidance on pension schemes and rates can be found on the Pension website.
National Insurance rates
From 6th April 2025
|
NICs category letter
NICs category letter |
Earnings at or above the Lower Earnings Limit up to and including the Secondary Threshold
Earnings at or above the Lower Earnings Limit up to and including the Secondary Threshold |
Earnings above the Secondary Threshold up to and including the Upper Earnings Limit
Earnings above the Secondary Threshold up to and including the Upper Earnings Limit |
Earnings above Upper Earnings Limit
Earnings above Upper Earnings Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
|
NICs category letter
A, B, C & J |
Earnings at or above the Lower Earnings Limit up to and including the Secondary Threshold
0% |
Earnings above the Secondary Threshold up to and including the Upper Earnings Limit
15% |
Earnings above Upper Earnings Limit
15% |
|
NICs category letter
H (apprentice under 25) |
Earnings at or above the Lower Earnings Limit up to and including the Secondary Threshold
0% |
Earnings above the Secondary Threshold up to and including the Upper Earnings Limit
0% |
Earnings above Upper Earnings Limit
15% |
|
NICs category letter
M (under 21) |
Earnings at or above the Lower Earnings Limit up to and including the Secondary Threshold
0% |
Earnings above the Secondary Threshold up to and including the Upper Earnings Limit
0% |
Earnings above Upper Earnings Limit
15% |
Salary scales with on-costs can be found on the HR website.