Can I work less or hire a boss?
Hiring a manager frees your time but costs the company. See what you'd still take home in salary and dividends, what that is per hour you work, and the profit you'd need to stay level.
Your answer
Enter the company's profit, your dividends, the manager's salary and your hours to see what you'd take home.
About this calculator
For owner-directors of a limited company who pay themselves a salary and dividends, and are thinking about hiring a manager to run things day to day so they can work less.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
Now: we take your salary and employer's National Insurance on it off the profit, then Corporation Tax (19% up to £50,000, 26.5% on the slice to £250,000, 25% above). Your dividends are a share of what's left. After: profit moves by the change you expect, the company also pays the manager's salary, employer's National Insurance and pension, and you take the same share of the lower profit as dividends.
Your take-home is your salary and dividends less income tax (dividends on top of your salary: £500 tax-free, then 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35%) and your National Insurance. Per hour, we divide by your hours over 46.4 working weeks. The profit needed is the profit before your pay at which your take-home after hiring matches today's.
Worked example
With a manager on £45,000, you'd take home about £43,440 a year, £17,159 less than now, working 20 fewer hours a week.
2026/27 · limited company · UK rates · salary £12,570 both ways · profit −10% after hiring · Employment Allowance after hiring
| Now | |
|---|---|
| Company profit before your pay | £150,000 |
| Your salary | − £12,570 |
| Employer's National Insurance on your salary: 15% over £5,000 | − £1,136 |
| Profit before Corporation Tax | £136,295 |
| Corporation Tax on £136,295 (19% to £50,000, 26.5% on the slice to £250,000, 25% above) | − £32,368 |
| Profit after tax | £103,926 |
| Your dividends are 57.7% of it; the company keeps £43,926 | |
| You take your salary £12,570 and dividends £60,000 | £72,570 |
| Income tax: dividends sit on top of your salary; the first £500 of dividends is tax-free, then 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35% by band | − £11,971 |
| Your take-home a year | £60,599 |
| After hiring a manager | |
| Company profit before your pay, down 10% from stepping back | £135,000 |
| The manager's salary | − £45,000 |
| Employer's National Insurance on it: 15% over £5,000 | − £6,000 |
| The Employment Allowance covers it (up to £10,500 a year, the manager's first, then yours) | + £6,000 |
| Their workplace pension: 3% of £38,760 (pay between £6,240 and £50,270) | − £1,163 |
| Your salary (the same) | − £12,570 |
| Employer's National Insurance on your salary: 15% over £5,000 | − £1,136 |
| The Employment Allowance covers it | + £1,136 |
| Profit before Corporation Tax | £76,267 |
| Corporation Tax on £76,267 (19% to £50,000, 26.5% on the slice to £250,000, 25% above) | − £16,461 |
| Profit after tax | £59,806 |
| You take the same 57.7% as dividends; the company keeps £25,278 | |
| You take your salary £12,570 and dividends £34,528 | £47,098 |
| Income tax: dividends sit on top of your salary; the first £500 of dividends is tax-free, then 10.75%, 35.75% or 39.35% by band | − £3,658 |
| Your take-home a year | £43,440 |
| You take home less | − £17,159 |
| Your time | |
| Now: £60,599 ÷ (55 hours × 46.4 weeks: 52 less 5.6 weeks' holiday) | £23.75 an hour |
| After: £43,440 ÷ (35 hours × 46.4 weeks) | £26.75 an hour |
| Time freed: 20 hours a week × 46.4 weeks | 928 hours |
| Profit before your pay and the manager's that keeps your take-home at £60,599, paying out the same share as dividends | £195,027 |
Worked out using HMRC's published rates for the 2026/27 tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027), on a yearly basis.
Questions people ask
Does hiring a manager let me claim the Employment Allowance?
Often, yes. A company whose only employee is its one director can't claim it. Once the manager is on the payroll it usually can, and it takes up to £10,500 a year off employer's National Insurance on the manager and on your salary.
Why doesn't my take-home fall by the whole cost of the manager?
The manager's pay, National Insurance and pension are business costs, so Corporation Tax falls with them. And you pay less dividend tax on smaller dividends. Both soften the drop.
What if I keep my dividends the same and leave less in the company?
This calculator keeps the same share of profit paid out, so the company keeps less too. Paying out more is possible while there are past profits to pay it from, but it uses up the cash the business has kept back.
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