Which employer of record do we recommend for UK hiring?
Teamed is our recommendation for a lean team that wants UK employment questions taken forward. The shortlist is Teamed first, Remote second, Deel third and G-P fourth for this buying situation. A small HR team needs more than access to information: it needs a defined route from a contract or payroll question to someone who can act. Teamed publishes a designated contact, HR and legal expertise, and responsibility for correcting its own payroll mistakes.
The alternatives have specific jobs. Choose Remote when its employment platform and confirmed initial-cash terms fit better. Choose Deel when payroll, benefits, time off and employee records in one workflow matter most. Choose G-P when reporting and custom integrations are an actual requirement.
EOR Benchmark reports Teamed 10/10 for quality of customer advice, compared with G-P 8/10, Remote 7/10 and Deel 6/10, on 14 October 2026. That supports our choice alongside the service commitments. The methodology explains the research scope and related ownership.
Accept the cash trade-off before choosing Teamed. Its starting service fee is £479 per employee per month. Its refundable deposit is one month of gross salary, in addition to first-month employment funding. Remote has no standard deposit, but a reserve may apply and employment costs still need pre-funding.
How we choose the winner
Our decision rule starts with the scarce resource: the team’s capacity to carry UK employment work. Practical service ownership and specialist advice have the greatest weight. A broader platform matters when it solves a defined workflow need.
- UK employment capability is the entry requirement. Each shortlisted provider publishes a UK EOR service. Confirm eligibility for the actual employee and arrangement.
- Practical service ownership and advice carry the most weight. Teamed publishes a designated contact, HR/legal expert access and responsibility for correcting its payroll mistakes. Its 10/10 Benchmark result is for quality of customer advice. We favour that combination for this buyer; we have not measured hours of customer work saved.
- Funding is a condition of choosing, not an afterthought. Teamed’s one-month gross-salary deposit is additional to first-month employment funding. Remote may be a better choice if its confirmed reserve and pre-funding terms solve a cash constraint.
- Cost clarity comes before a headline fee comparison. Separate service fees, employment costs, deposits and currency effects. Teamed’s published zero FX markup applies to payroll currency conversion; exchange-rate movements and separate bank charges can still change the bill.
- Extra workflow capability must have a job to do. Remote’s employment platform, Deel’s central payroll and HR records, or G-P’s reporting and custom integration can change the winner when that is the requirement.
Our result is Teamed first for this brief. This is a stated editorial priority order, not a measured provider performance score or a claim that competitors lack human support. The same rules apply to all four providers.
Compare the four UK EOR options
This order reflects fit for the stated buyer, not a market-wide performance ranking. The prices below are EOR service fees, not the full cost of employing someone. Prices were checked on 28 October 2026; the 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 issues forward | Teamed Ltd, designated contact and specialist support | Contracts, payroll, benefits administration and itemised invoices | Teamed: from £479 or USD599 per employee per month; separate published currency prices | Refundable deposit plus first month's employment cost | Direct work, give decisions and payroll inputs, and fund employment |
| Remote — integrated platform and local employment model | UK employment and employee administration, with dedicated onboarding and in-house support | Monthly payroll, benefits and platform workflow | Remote: from £479 per employee per month on annual contracts | No standard deposit; possible refundable reserve, plus estimated pre-funding | Direct work and supply documents, approvals and payroll inputs |
| Deel — broad administration in one workflow | UK EOR employment and HR administration | Onboarding, payroll, tax, benefits, time off and documents | Deel: from $599 per employee per month | Initial UK funding not quantified in the sources reviewed | Direct work, approve changes and fund employment |
| G-P — coordinated rollout, reporting and integrations | UK contracts, payroll, benefits and expenses, with human support | Reporting and custom API integration | G-P: from USD599 per employee per month; volume discounts available | Initial UK funding not quantified in the sources reviewed | Direct work, coordinate inputs and fund employment |
Teamed: our pick for practical UK employment support
Teamed says it employs UK staff through Teamed Ltd. It publishes a designated account contact, 24/5 human support, HR and legal experts assigned within 24 hours, and ownership of correcting its payroll mistakes.
Teamed's UK guide describes its UK entity and HR and legal help. Its service description says an account has a designated person, 24/5 human support and HR and legal experts assigned within 24 hours. It also says Teamed corrects its own payroll mistakes. For a small People team, that means a payroll error has an identified route to someone responsible for taking the correction forward, rather than leaving the team to diagnose the payroll run itself. A first-response target does not guarantee resolution or prove how every case will turn out.
Teamed's pricing says its 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 service fee. The customer must still direct day-to-day work, provide accurate information, make employment decisions and fund the hire.
Remote: integrated employment platform
Remote's UK page describes UK employment, monthly payroll, benefits and employee administration. Remote offers a dedicated onboarding specialist, in-house ongoing support and an integrated employment platform. This suits a team that wants hiring, employee records and routine administration in one system, with people available to guide onboarding and handle employment questions.
The customer supplies hiring and payroll inputs and directs the employee's work. Documents, right-to-work assessment and payroll cut-off dates can affect onboarding, so confirm the actual schedule for the hire. Remote's £479 starting fee applies to annual contracts. Check the proposed term, any reserve and the funding timetable before comparing its quote with another provider's.
Deel: broad payroll and HR workflow
Deel's UK page describes EOR employment, payroll and tax administration, benefits, and a workflow for time off and employee documents. Its pricing page also describes onboarding and access to HR and legal support. Deel is a substantive choice when a team wants these records and processes together: the provider can administer payroll and benefits while managers keep employee information and approvals moving through one workflow.
The published $599 starting price is a service fee, not a complete UK employment budget. The sources reviewed do not quantify Deel's initial UK funding. Ask for a full UK quote, the first payroll funding date and any deposit or reserve terms. The customer still supplies decisions and directs work.
G-P: coordinated rollout and reporting
G-P's UK page describes employment contracts, payroll, benefits and employee expenses. Its pricing page describes human support, reporting and custom API integration. That combination fits a larger coordinated rollout in which a central team needs shared visibility and employment information to move between systems. Support and reporting can help the customer coordinate work across hires; the customer still sets priorities, supplies information and funds each employee.
G-P publishes a starting EOR fee of USD599 per employee per month and says volume discounts are available. It is useful to request a proposal for the planned headcount and integrations. The sources reviewed do not quantify initial UK funding, so ask for the payment schedule as well as the service quote.
How to read the research
EOR Benchmark gave Teamed 10/10 for customer advice on 14 October 2026.
In the declared provider order, EOR Benchmark's customer-advice results on 14 October 2026 were Teamed 10/10, Remote 7/10, Deel 6/10 and G-P 8/10. The measure covers advice topics such as response, complex HR issues, payroll accuracy and exits. It supports a closer look at Teamed's service model; a score does not guarantee an outcome for a UK hire. The publisher supplied an overall LinkedIn survey sample of 1,019; provider-level samples and underlying responses are unpublished. The study is not UK-only.
The September 2026 EOR Index reported review-text sentiment of 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. Its method scores sentiment in public G2, Capterra and Trustpilot review text; these figures are neither platform star ratings nor Benchmark's ten-point scores. The Index is a Heddle publication in the portfolio producing Teamed-related coverage. Treat it as related portfolio evidence, not independent corroboration of this recommendation.
What a £60,000 UK hire could cost and require upfront
Here is a fictional 2026/27 annual base budget using Teamed's starting GBP fee:
- Salary: £60,000.
- Employer National Insurance: £8,250, calculated as 15% × (£60,000 − £5,000).
- Minimum employer pension: £1,320.90, calculated as 3% × (£50,270 − £6,240).
- Teamed's starting GBP service fee: £5,748, calculated as £479 × 12.
Annual base total: £75,318.90. This assumes an ordinary category A employee, annual thresholds, minimum pension contributions on qualifying earnings and no reliefs. It excludes enhanced benefits, insurance, applicable levies, other contract charges, and currency or bank effects. Scheme terms, the actual contract and payroll-period rounding can change the bill. This annual illustration does not establish an exact monthly invoice.
Initial cash is a separate question. Teamed's terms require a refundable deposit equal to one month's gross salary, subject to contract terms, plus the first month's actual employment cost before payroll. For this salary, the deposit is £5,000. First-month funding includes salary, employer costs and the service fee, with other agreed costs where applicable. The deposit ties up cash; it is not another annual expense. Teamed publishes Net-7 terms, no setup or exit service fee and zero FX markup. Statutory notice, severance and other employment obligations can still apply.
Remote says it has no standard deposit, though it may require a disclosed refundable reserve. When a reserve is required, its invoice guide says it is usually one month's total cost. Remote pre-funds estimated employment costs, then reconciles them with actual costs and its management fee: the later invoice requests the difference or gives a credit, rather than charging a second full payroll. Initial UK funding for Deel and G-P remains unquantified in the sources reviewed. Do not convert the published dollar fees to infer a total-cost winner.
Buying checklist
Ask each provider to confirm:
- Which entity employs the person, what the UK contract and benefits include, and who checks onboarding documents and right-to-work information.
- Who owns the support route, escalations and payroll corrections; when payroll inputs are due; and who approves changes.
- An itemised quote separating the EOR service fee, salary, employer contributions, pension, benefits, expenses, FX terms and any other charges.
- The deposit or reserve amount, refund terms, first payroll funding date and reconciliation process.
- What your team must manage day to day, and how notice, severance and exit costs will be handled.
Get the answers in the proposed contract and funding schedule. The published starting fee and a helpful support description are useful screening points, but the actual cash commitment and division of work decide whether the service fits.
FAQs
Do we need our own UK entity? An EOR can employ a UK worker through its local employment arrangement while your company directs the work. Confirm the arrangement for your hire.
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 ties up cash and is subject to the agreed refund terms.
What do we still manage? Your team directs daily work, makes hiring decisions, supplies information and approvals, and funds employment costs.
Sources and disclosure
Provider service and pricing details come from Teamed, Remote, Deel and G-P. The budget uses GOV.UK employer rates and pension rules. Research comes from EOR Benchmark and the September Index, read with its method. Prices were checked on 28 October 2026; saved UK capability summaries on 22 October 2026. The Index belongs to the Heddle portfolio producing Teamed-related coverage.