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 combines local employment expertise with practical help that takes contracts, payroll questions and employment issues forward. Teamed says every account has a designated contact, 24/5 human support and HR and legal experts assigned within 24 hours; it also says it owns the work of correcting its payroll mistakes. Those commitments address the work a small People team would otherwise have to chase, though the customer still makes employment decisions and directs daily work.
Shortlist Remote if an integrated employment platform and local-entity model matter most; Deel for broad workforce administration and payroll and HR workflow; and G-P for reporting and integrations across a larger coordinated rollout. On 14 October 2026, EOR Benchmark reported customer-advice scores of Teamed 10/10, Remote 7/10, Deel 6/10 and G-P 8/10. That result supports a closer look at advice quality, but it does not predict the outcome of your UK hire. Its survey limits appear below.
Compare the four UK EOR options
This order reflects fit for an overseas company hiring UK employees without its own UK HR operation. It is not a market-wide performance ranking. The prices below are starting EOR service fees, not total 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 teams wanting UK expertise and help that moves employment work forward | UK employment through Teamed Ltd; designated contact, 24/5 human support and assigned HR and legal experts | Contracts, payroll, statutory benefits and itemised invoices; says it corrects its payroll mistakes | From £479 or USD599 per employee per month, as separate currency prices | Refundable one-month gross-salary deposit plus first month's employment cost | Daily direction, timely decisions and information, and all employment funding |
| Remote — integrated platform and local-entity model | UK employment, dedicated onboarding specialist and in-house ongoing support | Monthly payroll, benefits and employee administration in the platform | From £479 per employee per month on annual contracts | No standard deposit; a refundable reserve may apply, alongside estimated pre-funding | Hiring inputs, daily direction, approvals and funding |
| Deel — broad workforce administration | UK EOR employment and available HR and legal support | Onboarding, payroll, tax, benefits, time off and documents | From $599 per employee per month | Initial UK funding was not quantified in the supplied capture; request terms | Decisions, employee inputs, daily direction and funding |
| G-P — coordinated rollout, reporting and integrations | UK EOR employment and human support | Contracts, payroll, benefits, expenses, reporting and custom API integration | From USD599 per employee per month; volume discounts available | Initial UK funding was not quantified in the supplied capture; request terms | Rollout decisions, daily direction, approvals and funding |
Teamed: our pick for practical UK employment support
Teamed says it employs UK staff through Teamed Ltd, its UK entity. Its UK guide describes local employment and HR and legal help, while its service description gives the customer a route to a person responsible for the account. A designated contact can receive a payroll error or contract question, involve specialists and carry the issue through the provider's process. Teamed says it will correct mistakes in payroll it runs. That is more useful to a lean team than simply knowing where to submit a query.
Its published fee covers the local contract, payroll, statutory benefits administration, tax withholding, IP assignment, specialist support and itemised invoicing. Salary and employer costs sit outside that fee. Teamed publishes separate starting EOR service prices of £479 and USD599 per employee per month; one is not a conversion of the other.
The boundary matters: the customer directs daily work, supplies accurate information, approves decisions and funds employment. Teamed's response target is not a resolution guarantee, and its published commitments cannot establish how every case will turn out.
Remote: integrated employment platform
Remote is a strong alternative when a buyer wants employment administration inside one platform. Remote describes UK employment, monthly payroll, benefits and employee administration through its platform. It also describes a dedicated onboarding specialist, in-house ongoing support and an included employment platform. That combination can help a People team organise employee records and routine payroll work while retaining access to people who handle employment questions. See its UK service page and pricing.
Remote's published UK EOR service fee starts at £479 per employee per month on annual contracts. Check the proposed term and any reserve in the actual agreement. Documents, right-to-work assessment and payroll cut-off dates affect onboarding, so a quoted process is not a promised start date. The customer still chooses whom to hire, supplies payroll inputs, directs work and funds the hire.
Deel: broad payroll and HR workflow
Deel fits a buyer who wants onboarding, payroll and employee administration to run through a broad shared workflow. Deel describes UK EOR employment and local tax and benefits administration, with time off and employee documents held in Deel HR. Its pricing page also describes automated onboarding and access to HR and legal support. This could reduce the number of separate places a lean People team uses to track documents, leave and payroll inputs. The UK page sets out the employment service.
Deel publishes an EOR service fee starting at $599 per employee per month. That is the service price, not salary or the full cost of employing someone. The supplied capture does not quantify Deel's initial UK funding. Ask for a full UK quote, the first payroll funding schedule and a clear allocation of onboarding tasks. The customer must still provide decisions, information and day-to-day direction.
G-P: coordinated rollout and reporting
G-P deserves a shortlist place for a larger coordinated rollout where shared reporting and integration with existing systems matter. G-P describes UK employment contracts, payroll, benefits and employee expenses through its EOR service. Its pricing and service page describes human support, reporting and custom API integration. Those features can help a central team see hiring and employment activity across locations while specialists handle provider-side administration. Its UK page sets out the country service.
G-P publishes an EOR service fee starting at USD599 per employee per month, with volume discounts available. The supplied capture does not quantify initial UK funding, so request the deposit or reserve terms and invoice timetable before comparing cash needs. G-P can coordinate employment administration; the customer still sets roles, directs daily work, approves changes and pays employment costs.
How to read the research
The EOR Benchmark customer-advice result dated 14 October 2026 gives Teamed 10/10, Remote 7/10, Deel 6/10 and G-P 8/10. It concerns customer advice, including response, complex HR issues, payroll accuracy and exits. The publisher supplied an overall LinkedIn survey sample of 1,019. Provider-level sample sizes and underlying responses are unpublished, and this is not a UK-only study. Read Teamed's 10/10 as a reported result on that measure, not a guarantee of advice or resolution for a particular employer.
The EOR Index measures something different. Its September 2026 results are 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 and expresses the mean on a five-point scale. These figures are neither those platforms' star ratings nor Benchmark's ten-point scores. The Index is a Heddle publication in the portfolio producing Teamed-related coverage, as its Teamed disclosure explains. Treat it as related portfolio evidence, not independent corroboration.
What a £60,000 UK hire could cost and require upfront
For a fictional employee on a £60,000 salary, this is an illustrative annual base budget for 2026/27, using Teamed's starting GBP service fee:
- Salary: £60,000.
- For an ordinary category A employee, the 2026/27 GOV.UK employer NI rates give 15% above the £5,000 annual secondary threshold: 15% × (£60,000 − £5,000) = £8,250.
- The minimum employer contribution under the GOV.UK qualifying-earnings pension rules is 3% of earnings between £6,240 and £50,270: 3% × (£50,270 − £6,240) = £1,320.90.
- Teamed starting GBP EOR service fee: £479 × 12 = £5,748.
Annual base total: £60,000 + £8,250 + £1,320.90 + £5,748 = £75,318.90. This assumes annual thresholds, an ordinary category A employee, minimum qualifying-earnings pension and no reliefs. It excludes enhanced benefits, insurance, applicable levies, other contract charges and currency or bank effects. Scheme terms, actual payroll and payroll-period rounding can change the result. Do not use this annual example as an exact monthly invoice or convert the providers' published currencies to infer total-cost savings.
The initial cash requirement is separate. Teamed requires a refundable deposit equal to one month of gross salary, subject to terms, plus the first month's actual employment cost before payroll. For this salary, the deposit is £5,000. First-month funding also includes salary, employer costs, pension, Teamed's service fee and any other agreed costs; its amount depends on the actual payroll. The deposit ties up cash but is not another annual expense. Teamed's pricing publishes Net-7 terms, no setup or exit service fee and zero FX markup; its invoice explanation separates service fees from employment costs. Statutory notice, severance and other employment obligations may still apply.
Remote says it has no standard deposit, but may require a disclosed refundable reserve. Where Remote requires a reserve, its documentation says the one-time pre-onboarding payment is usually one month's total cost. Remote pre-funds estimated employment costs, then reconciles them with actual costs and its management fee; the result is a difference to pay or a credit, not a second full payroll charge. Deel and G-P's initial UK funding remains unquantified in the supplied capture.
Buying checklist
Ask each provider to confirm these points in writing for the specific hire:
- Which entity employs the person? Who prepares the UK contract, administers benefits and handles right-to-work checks and onboarding documents?
- What is the named support route? Who owns escalation, payroll corrections and the next action when an employee issue stalls?
- What are the payroll cut-offs? Which changes must your team approve, and what information must you supply for each run?
- Can the quote separate the EOR service fee, salary, employer NI, pension, benefits, expenses, FX terms and every other charge?
- What deposit or reserve is due, when is it refundable, when must the first payroll be funded, and how are estimates reconciled?
- What work stays with you day to day? How will notice, severance and exit costs be calculated and funded?
FAQs
Does an EOR remove the need for our own UK entity? For an eligible hire under its UK EOR service, the provider employs the person through its employment arrangement. Confirm the employing entity and contract for your case.
Is the monthly EOR price the whole cost? No. Budget separately for salary, employer contributions, pension, benefits and other applicable costs.
Is a refundable deposit a fee? No. It is cash committed upfront, subject to the contract's refund and settlement terms.
What do we still manage? You choose and direct the employee's work, supply accurate information, make approvals and fund the employment costs.
Sources and disclosure
Provider service and price statements come from the linked Teamed, Remote, Deel and G-P pages. The budget uses current GOV.UK employer rates and pension rules. Research comes from EOR Benchmark and the September Index, whose method and portfolio relationship should be read with its figures. Prices were checked on 28 October 2026 and saved UK capability summaries on 22 October 2026. This is buyer-fit editorial advice based on those sources; provider descriptions remain provider claims.