We’ve built something pretty special – welcome to Umbrella Company Calculator

We’re delighted to announce that in our opinion, the team here at umbrellacompanies.org.uk has built the best, most accurate umbrella company calculator in the marketplace. Keep reading, and we’ll introduce you to Umbrella Company Calculator!

Request a free umbrella company calculator now

To request a free, instant umbrella company calculator, please click here. You will be taken to the new Umbrella Company Calculator website where you’ll need to complete a short form. Once you’ve submitted your information, you’ll receive an email with your umbrella company take home pay projection. There is no limit to the number of calculations you can request.

With over 500 umbrella companies to choose from in the UK, there is a huge amount of choice for contractors and freelancers. While most umbrellas are compliant, we’ve heard rumours that some are handing out misleading calculations to trick people into registering with them over the competition. This is the inspiration behind Umbrella Company Calculator. We have set out to build a tool that’s easy to use, transparent and provides realistic and accurate results – in accordance with UK tax rules and government guidelines.

What is Umbrella Company Calculator

Accurate. Transparent. Free. Umbrella Company Calculator is a new tool for temporary workers, and it’s live.

It’s been bought to our attention that several “compliant” umbrella companies are providing misleading calculations to temporary workers. What’s happening is these umbrella companies are inflating their pay projections to essentially trick workers into registering with them – rather than a competitor. When it comes to payday, umbrella employees are being left disappointed because their pay is far lower than what they were told they would retain before registering.

There is no place for misleading information in the umbrella company marketplace. Umbrella companies should be prioritising customer service and transparency. While most are, some have let the industry down, and we wanted to do something about it.

Rather than name and shame unethical umbrella companies, we thought it would be a better idea to build a new calculator. It’s available at www.umbrellacompanycalculator.co.uk. After all, we have nothing to win or lose – we’re not an umbrella company. Instead, we’ve made it our mission to provide our readers with trustworthy information, and we thought an independent umbrella company calculator would be a beneficial asset for temporary workers.

What are umbrella companies doing to produce misleading (inflated) take-home pay calculations?

Most umbrella companies take calculations seriously and do everything possible to provide temporary workers with reliable information. However, a few are falling short of the ethical standards you’d expect them to abide by, and here’s what they’re doing:

• Wrong working arrangements – Some umbrella companies base calculations on incorrect working scenarios. For example, they’ll use figures as if the employee is working every day of the year – without any time off. Obviously this approach is unrealistic.
• Expenses – If you use an umbrella company, it’s unlikely you’ll be eligible to claim tax relief on expenses (due to Supervision, Direction and Control). Apparently, a few sneaky umbrella companies are including expenses in their calculations. Why would they do this? Easy – to trick people into thinking they’re both eligible to claim expenses, and to think they’ll retain more of their money.
• Incorrect tax code – It’s been known for sneaky umbrella companies to use inaccurate tax codes to inflate a worker’s earning potential.
• The £100,000 abatement – The abatement means higher earns start to lose their tax free allowance. Plenty of umbrella companies will not take this into consideration.
• Student loan repayments – If you are paying back a student loan, make sure it’s accounted for in your umbrella company calculations.

How does the umbrella company calculator work?

Our new umbrella calculator takes plenty of important factors into consideration, and we run through these in more detail below. However, to summarise, the calculator uses up-to-date tax information to produce a tailored take-home pay calculation based on the data you enter. Requesting a personalised calculation will only take you a minute, and you’ll be instantly sent an email with your results. You can request as many calculations as you want – with no restrictions.

What is taken into account when requesting a projection using our new umbrella company calculator?

The following is often mentioned throughout our website, but it’s essential, and temporary workers must understand it. Every compliant umbrella company processes payroll in the same way (PAYE). The only thing that will change pay retention between umbrella companies is the margin they deduct. For example, if you were to approach two umbrella companies – both with a £25.00 per week margin (gross), you should expect to retain the same amount of your pay with each – to the penny.

We’ve written an article called How do umbrella companies process the payroll of employees, and we recommend you check it out.

We’ve not just produced a straightforward PAYE calculator like the ones you’ll find online. Instead, we’ve built a calculator that is based on over a dozen important variables.

• Tax code – Umbrella Company Calculator uses a 1257L Week 1 / Month 1 tax code and Class 1 National Insurance. This is the most common tax code and should ensure results are as accurate as possible.
• Frequencies – Weekly calculations are based on working 48 weeks in a year. Monthly estimates are based on 52 weeks because the calculator bases these figures on the average number of working days per month (21.66). For more information on payment frequencies, please click here.
• Clear deductions – Each deduction made to your pay by the calculator are clearly shown for transparency.
• PAYE – Official government figures are used in accordance with Pay As You Earn.
• Student Loan – Choose whether or not to include student loan repayments in your calculations.
• Pensions – A majority of umbrella company employees opt out of pension contributions. As a result, the calculator excludes pension contributions.
• Holiday Pay – Holiday Pay is included in calculations rather than being deducted (often referred to as accrued Holiday Pay). It’s our understanding that most umbrella employees prefer to have Holiday Pay distributed to them each payment frequency.
• Margin – The margin is available for you to choose from in £5 intervals. Play around with the margin and see how it alters your take-home pay.
• £100,000 abatement – Still not convinced our tool is clever? Well, here’s something you may not be aware of. For every £2 you earn over £100,000, you lose £1 of your personal allowance. Our umbrella calculator takes this into consideration! We’d be amazed if many UK-based umbrella companies take the £100,000 abatement into consideration, but our tool does!£100,000 abatement into consideration, but our tool does!

More information about Umbrella Company Calculator

The Umbrella Company Calculator website is full of helpful information about the tool and umbrella companies. We recommend you check out the site and read more information about how the umbrella company calculator works. Please visit the website’s blog, and don’t forget to go ahead and request a tailored umbrella company calculation!

Work in progress

A huge amount of time has gone into building the umbrella calculator. However, we’re going to continue looking for ways to improve the tool. If you have any feedback, please send your comments to info@umbrellacompanycalculator.co.uk.