VA Cost
Calculator
Great support. Without the full-time price tag.
Wondering what business support could really cost? Let’s compare the numbers.
What does this calculator tell you?
Hiring an employee comes with more than just a salary. Employer National Insurance, pension contributions, recruitment, equipment and everyday overheads can all add up. With a Virtual Colleague, you can choose the hours of support your business actually needs.
How it works: Tell us how many hours of support you need each week, the salary you would expect to pay an employee, and the hourly VA rate. We calculate an estimated annual cost for a full-time employee, including typical employment expenses, and compare it with the cost of VA support for your selected hours. You can adjust the assumptions if you want a more tailored estimate.
What you will see: Your estimated annual saving or additional cost, a side-by-side annual cost comparison, a breakdown of employment expenses and an estimate of productive employee hours. Holiday, sickness and paid breaks reduce productive time in the calculation, rather than being charged as extra salary costs.
This compares a full-time employee with flexible VA hours, so it is a guide to overall spending rather than an identical-hours comparison.
Let's crunch the numbers
Just three questions. You can fine-tune the details too.
Customise the assumptions (optional)
Fixed model assumptions: full-time employee at 40 paid hours over five days, employer NI 15% above £5,000, employer pension 3% of qualifying earnings between £6,240 to £50,270 (2026/27). NI allowance, if entered, is capped at calculated employer NI.
with flexible VA support instead of a full-time employee
The annual cost comparison
Based on 20 VA hours per week for 52 weeks versus the annualised fixed cost of employing someone full-time.
What goes into the employee cost?
The time factor
Good to know: This is an illustrative comparison between hiring one full-time salaried employee and buying only the VA support hours selected. It is not a like-for-like comparison of two workers delivering the same hours, and a part-time employee or different employment arrangements could cost less. Holiday, sick leave and paid breaks are not added to salary again; they reduce the estimate of productive employee time. Results exclude VAT and any separate VA onboarding charges, and assume the selected hourly rate applies to all hours. Employer NI may be reduced by Employment Allowance or special categories. Review costs for your circumstances. 2026/27 reference figures: HMRC and The Pensions Regulator.