High Definition Leadership

Portfolio/Tools to try

Can the business afford its next hire, and is the pricing strong enough to scale?

Put your real numbers in and see what they say about two questions a growing business tends to ask: can it afford to hire someone yet, and is the pricing strong enough to scale? The planner costs a hire properly (salary, employer NI, pension, holiday, sick pay, kit), builds the P&L, finds break-even, and lists the legal checks that come with each choice. Hover over, tap or tab to any dotted term for a plain-English explanation. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

How this was built

I first built this for the members of a financial education platform I run, as one of its 25+ tools, then rebuilt it here in this site's design. It costs each person the way an employer pays for them under the 2026/27 UK rules (employer National Insurance, the Employment Allowance, auto-enrolment, holiday, day-one Statutory Sick Pay and the minimum wage bands), builds a monthly P&L down to EBITDA with a rough Income Tax or Corporation Tax estimate, and projects twelve months of revenue, costs and cash with any proposed hires ramping in. The rates are re-checked every April.

Scenarios

Keep up to eight versions to switch between, for example with and without the hire. They last for this visit only: nothing is saved, and reloading the page clears them.

01Your business

How is the business set up?

How does money come in? Pick every one that applies.

What the terms mean: time & materials, subscription / SaaS.

Pick at least one so the planner knows how revenue behaves.

Other switches

Most employers may be able to knock up to £10,500 a year off their employer NI bill. Not available where the only person paid above £5,000 is a sole director. What the terms mean: VAT, Employment Allowance.

Counted as a real cost. A business that only works because you're unpaid isn't scaling, it's subsidised.

% of revenue

10 to 15% is a healthy service business; product and software can run higher.

02Revenue

Monthly figures throughout. Use what you actually billed last month if you have it, not what you hope for.

Pick how money comes in, in section 01, and the questions for each model appear here.

% a month

Applies to non-subscription income. Subscription income grows from its own new-customer and churn numbers instead.

months of costs

Three months is the common floor. Seven months of runway could give more room, which is why it is the starting figure here.

03Costs

Fixed costs are the same whether you sell one unit or a thousand. Variable costs rise with every sale. Team pay goes in the next section.

Fixed costs per month

Sits below EBITDA. It can stay blank if there are no loans or big kit.

Variable costs as a share of revenue

% of revenue
% of revenue
% of revenue
04Your team, and the hire you're weighing up

Add everyone you pay now, then add the person you're thinking of hiring and mark them Proposed hire. Each row shows the true annual cost, which is always more than the salary. 2026/27 employer rules are built in (employer NI 15% above £5,000, auto-enrolment 3% on qualifying earnings, holiday, day-one SSP).

The UK average is about 4 to 6 days. Salaried staff are paid anyway; for hourly staff SSP is now due from day one.

This is an educational model, not financial, tax, legal or employment advice, and not a personal recommendation. It applies published 2026/27 UK employer rules (National Living Wage £12.71, employer NI 15% above £5,000, Employment Allowance £10,500, auto-enrolment on £6,240 to £50,270, SSP £123.25 a week from day one) to the figures you enter, and shows common criteria for hiring and pricing decisions. Tax figures are rough estimates. It does not know your contracts, your pipeline or your sector, and it does not tell you what to do.

The four hiring signals are a marking scheme, not a verdict. The compliance checklist is something to take to an accountant or an employment adviser; it is not legal or tax advice. Any figure that matters could be checked with an accountant, and employment terms with ACAS or an employment adviser, before acting. Rates change every April.

The planner runs in your browser: nothing you enter is sent anywhere or stored. Scenarios last until you reload or close the page.