Employment Allowance

The Employment Allowance lets most UK employers take up to £10,500 a tax year off their employer National Insurance. It comes off each time you run payroll, pay run by pay run, from the start of the tax year until the £10,500 is used up or the tax year ends on 5 April.

StaffBrik adds employer NI to every shift (see Understanding true cost). If you claim the allowance, tell StaffBrik, and your rota, dashboard and reports show the labour cost you actually pay, not NI the allowance has already covered.

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StaffBrik doesn't claim the Employment Allowance for you. You claim it in your payroll software, or whoever runs your payroll claims it for you, and it has to be claimed again every tax year. StaffBrik only needs to know whether you claim it and how much you've used, so its figures match what you pay.

The Employment Allowance is a UK scheme, so StaffBrik only offers it to UK businesses. Only owners and admins can answer the question, see what's left, or see the per-hour figures with the allowance. Owners, admins and members see the rota, dashboard and report figures after the allowance. Viewers see them at the full cost, as if you didn't claim it, and their CSV exports have no allowance columns.

Why it matters

For a small team, the allowance can cover all the employer NI for the year. Without it, StaffBrik's labour costs and wage % include NI you never pay.

	Small cafe	Bigger team
Staff and yearly pay	6 staff, £60,000	20 staff, £300,000
Employer NI before the allowance	£4,500	£30,000
Employer NI you actually pay	£0	£19,500

For the small cafe, at around 30% wages, that's about 2 points off its wage %.

As a rough guide, with staff on the standard NI categories, the whole year fits inside the allowance while your yearly pay bill is under £70,000 plus £5,000 for each person. Staff under 21 on category M usually carry no employer NI at all, so more fits.

Who can claim it

Most employers can. You can't if:

• your company's only employee paid above the NI threshold is its director
• a company you're connected to already claims it (only one company in a group can)
• you're a public body, or more than half your work is in the public sector (charities can still claim)

If you're unsure, ask whoever runs your payroll, or see Employment Allowance on GOV.UK.

Telling StaffBrik

The setting is in StaffBrik > Settings > Pay & rates, below Pay schedule. It reads Employment Allowance, "Up to £10,500 off your employer NI in 2026/27".

1. Click the pencil beside it.
2. Answer Do you claim the Employment Allowance this tax year? with Yes, No or Not sure.
3. If you answer Yes, fill in How much have you used so far this tax year? and As at, the last pay day that figure includes. See Where to find the used figure.
4. Click Save.

What each answer does:

• Yes - StaffBrik takes the allowance off your labour costs, pay day by pay day, until it's used up.
• No - employer NI shows in full, as it always has.
• Not sure - counts as not claiming, so employer NI shows in full and your costs never look lower than they are. A card stays on the StaffBrik dashboard until you answer Yes or No.

Whether you need the used figure depends on how far back your rotas in StaffBrik go:

• Your rotas go back to the start of the tax year - you can leave both fields blank, as the form says: "You can leave it blank: StaffBrik has your rotas from the start of the tax year." StaffBrik then counts the allowance from the start of the year itself, and the setting says "No used figure: StaffBrik counts it from the start of the tax year."
• Your rotas don't go back that far - for example, you started using StaffBrik part-way through the year. When you choose Yes, both fields are marked as required and the form says why: "StaffBrik's rotas don't go back to the start of the tax year, so it needs this figure to work out what's left." Save won't go through until you've filled them in.

If StaffBrik can't load the allowance, the setting says "We couldn't load the Employment Allowance." with a Try again button.

Where to find the used figure

It's the Employment Allowance total on your P32 (Employer Payment Record), the report in your payroll software that shows what you owe HMRC each tax month. Use the total of its Employment Allowance column from the start of the tax year to your latest pay run. If you don't have it to hand, ask whoever runs your payroll.

caution

Don't use the Gross Class 1 NIC column. It includes your staff's own NI as well as yours, so it's far bigger than the allowance you've used.

For As at, enter the date of the last pay day the figure includes. StaffBrik counts on from the pay day after it.

Example: your P32 shows £3,240.00 of Employment Allowance up to and including your 6 November pay run. Enter £3,240.00 as at 6 November. The setting then shows "£3,240.00 used as at 6 Nov 2026, from your payroll." and "Employment Allowance: £7,260 left."

Switched it on part-way through the year? If your first pay runs of the tax year didn't get the allowance, enter £0 used as at the day before the first pay day it came off, or the total used so far including that pay day. Either way, StaffBrik doesn't count the allowance on the pay runs that didn't get it.

What's left and when it runs out

Once you've said Yes, a balance line shows what's left of this year's allowance and how long it lasts:

• "Employment Allowance: £7,260 left. On the current rota it runs out around mid-February."
• "Employment Allowance: £7,260 left. At this rate it covers your employer NI until 5 April.", when it should last the tax year.
• "Employment Allowance: used up on 12 Sep. Employer NI is paid in full until 6 April.", once it's gone.
• "Employment Allowance: £7,260 left.", when there isn't a finished week to go on yet.

The run-out date is a projection. StaffBrik follows the rotas you've already planned. For the weeks ahead that don't have a rota yet, including at a site that plans less far ahead than your others, it uses the rate of your last four finished weeks. So it gives early, mid or late in the month rather than a date.

Until there's a finished week to go on, for example when you've just started using StaffBrik, it doesn't guess. The balance line shows what's left with no run-out date, and the date appears once your first week has finished.

Owners and admins see the balance line in settings, on the StaffBrik dashboard and at the top of the Weekly wage report.

Correcting it

StaffBrik works the balance out from your rotas, so it can drift from your payroll's figure (see Why StaffBrik's figure can differ from payroll). To bring it back in line, click Correct it beside the balance line in settings and enter the latest used figure from your P32, with its As at date. StaffBrik counts on from that date. The form opens with your current figure filled in and says "Enter the corrected figure, or leave it as it is." Saving with both fields empty keeps the figure you saved before.

If a site has finished weeks without a rota since your used figure's date (or since the start of the tax year), StaffBrik can't see the NI for those weeks. The balance line then adds, for example, "Estimate: 4 weeks without a rota.", with Correct it. A fresh figure from your payroll clears it, because only weeks after its date count.

Each site counts from its first rota, so a site you opened part-way through the year has no missing weeks before it. Weeks still ahead without a rota don't count here either: the run-out projection fills those in at your recent rate.

What changes when you claim it

The allowance comes off the way payroll takes it: pay day by pay day from the start of the tax year, until it's used up. The tax year a pay run counts in follows its pay day, not the days worked, so work from 30 March to 5 April that's paid on 10 April uses the new year's allowance. StaffBrik follows your pay schedule for this. If you haven't set one, it uses your rota weeks, with each week paid on its last day.

Cash figures and figures on shifts

On the rota, the planned cost is the cash the week pays out, holiday pay and SSP included, while the budget is judged on the planned shifts alone (see The budget). The allowance keeps to the same split:

• Cash figures take off the whole allowance. On the rota, that's the planned cost, its share of your forecast "in cash" in a week with leave pay, the actual wage % once takings are in, and each day's wage % in Wage % by day. It's also the week's cost on the StaffBrik dashboard, Home, and the reports.
• A wage % on shifts takes off only the allowance on the shifts' own employer NI. The part that covers the NI on holiday pay and SSP is set aside along with the leave pay, so the figure still reads your staffing. That's the share of your forecast in the budget tracker and the All locations view (marked "on shifts" in a week with leave pay), and the "on shifts" week figures in Wage % by day.
• Budget used, remaining and over budget stay at the full cost, on shifts. See What stays at the full cost.

Each wage % after the allowance shows the figure before it alongside, for example "(28% before the allowance)", whenever the two differ. In a week with no holiday pay or SSP, the planned cost is all shifts, so the two kinds of figure match.

Where you'll see it

• Rota - under the planned cost, the budget tracker adds "Labour cost £3,100.00, Employment Allowance −£240.00, after allowance £2,860.00", and Wage % by day gains an Allowance row. See The Employment Allowance on the rota, which works through an example week.
• StaffBrik dashboard - the wage cost card and the This week card add the allowance and the cost after it under the week's planned cost, for example "Employment Allowance −£240.00, after allowance £2,860.00". Their budget % stays at the full cost.
• All locations view - each site's card adds "Labour cost £3,100.00, Employment Allowance −£240.00, after allowance £2,860.00" under its planned cost.
• Home - Wage % by day is after the allowance, with the figure before it in each day's hover and beside the week totals.
• Reports - the Weekly wage report adds Allowance and After allowance columns, the Day analysis wage % is after the allowance, and both CSV exports have Employment Allowance (£) and Cost after allowance (£) columns. See The Employment Allowance in reports.

In the week it runs out, the figure after the allowance steps up to the full cost. That's real: from then on you pay employer NI in full. So it doesn't look like a mistake, owners and admins see a line under the figure after the allowance that week, on the rota and in the Weekly wage report: "The Employment Allowance runs out with the 12 Sep pay day. From then employer NI is paid in full, so the figure after the allowance steps up."

Weeks still ahead use the rota you've planned, so their allowance is an estimate until the days are worked. And because the allowance is used up in order through the year, correcting your used figure, or changing an earlier week, can move the allowance in the weeks after it.

What stays at the full cost

• Your budget. The % of budget, the bar, remaining, over budget and the over-budget alerts are all judged on the planned shifts at their full cost, before the allowance, and the budget tracker says so: "Budget is checked before the Employment Allowance." So a week can show a low wage % and still be over budget. That way your budget works the same all year, including after the allowance runs out.
• Per-hour and per-shift costs. Shift costs, cost per working hour, the New Hire Calculator and CostingBrik's labour rate keep employer NI in. Once the allowance has run out, the NI on every extra hour is real money, and recipe prices outlive the tax year.
• The Employee costs report. The allowance belongs to the business, not to any one person.

A second per-hour figure when it lasts the year

When the balance line says the allowance covers your employer NI until 5 April, the NI on an extra hour is covered too. So owners and admins also see what an hour costs with the allowance:

• On an employee's Pay tab, Cost per working hour adds With your Employment Allowance and a second figure. The Cost breakdown adds the same line under the shift cost (per hour) and under the cost per working hour.
• On the team list, the Cost/work hr column adds the figure "with your Employment Allowance" under each person's cost.

The second figure only shows where it's different. Someone on NI category M earning under its threshold has no employer NI to cover, so they keep one figure. Everyone goes back to one figure as soon as the projection says the allowance will run out before 5 April. And until there's a finished week to go on, StaffBrik can't yet tell whether the allowance lasts the year, so the second figure stays hidden. Shift costs on the rota keep the full cost, because the week's total already shows the allowance.

Dashboard cards

Owners and admins see a card at the top of the StaffBrik dashboard while the allowance needs something from them:

• Do you claim the Employment Allowance? - until you've answered Yes or No: "It takes up to £10,500 a tax year off your employer NI. Tell StaffBrik and your wage % shows what you actually pay." Answer in settings opens the setting.
• How much Employment Allowance have you used this tax year? - when you've said Yes, StaffBrik's rotas don't go back to the start of the tax year, and there's no used figure yet. Until you add one, employer NI shows in full. The card says where to find the figure on your P32, and Add the used figure opens the setting.
• Still claiming it for 2027/28? - in a new tax year, until you confirm. See Each new tax year.

When nothing's needed and you claim the allowance, the dashboard shows the balance line instead.

Each new tax year

The allowance starts again on 6 April, and HMRC needs you to claim it again every tax year. In your payroll software that usually means switching it on again in the payroll settings. Xero doesn't carry it over or remind you, and a pay run before you switch it on doesn't get the allowance.

StaffBrik sends owners and admins two reminders:

• A week before 6 April: "A new tax year starts on 6 April. Remember to switch the Employment Allowance on in your payroll settings before your first pay run, or that pay run won't get it."
• On the first pay day of the new tax year: the same reminder and, if you haven't confirmed the new year yet, "Still claiming it for 2027/28? Say so in StaffBrik settings, under Pay & rates."

If your team is paid through Xero, the reminders say "in Xero's payroll settings". Open settings on each one goes to the setting. They go to businesses whose answer is Yes or Not sure, so a business that said No, or never answered, gets none. Each is sent once a tax year.

Your answer carries over, so if you claimed last year StaffBrik keeps taking the allowance off from the new year's first pay day. The setting shows your answer marked "From last tax year", and from that first pay day the StaffBrik dashboard asks Still claiming it for 2027/28? with last year's answer already chosen. Pick Yes, No or Not sure and click Confirm.

If StaffBrik's rotas don't go back to the start of the new tax year, a Yes needs your used figure first. Picking Yes then swaps Confirm for Add the used figure, and the card says why. That button opens the setting with Yes already chosen, ready for the figure and its As at date. Nothing is saved until you click Save there.

If your payroll missed the allowance on the first pay runs of the year, enter £0 used as at the day before the first pay day it came off. Add it in settings on the card opens the setting, with Yes already chosen if you picked it on the card.

Why StaffBrik's figure can differ from payroll

StaffBrik works employer NI out from your rotas and clock-ins, so its running balance is an estimate:

• It only counts the people and pay in StaffBrik, not bonuses, back pay or anyone who isn't on a rota. A director on the payroll uses some of the allowance too.
• It works NI out a week at a time. If you pay monthly, your payroll works it out on each month's pay.
• Weeks without a rota at a site aren't counted, and the balance line says so.
• It applies one allowance to the whole business. If your sites are separate companies, only the company that claims it should get it.

So every few months, or whenever the balance line says it's an estimate, enter a fresh used figure from your P32 with Correct it.

StaffBrik doesn't show any allowance left over at the end of the tax year. HMRC may let you set it against other tax you owe, so ask whoever runs your payroll.