Full HR Management for SMEs saves time, eliminates HR headaches and provides peace of mind.
We’re your outsourced HR department – HR support, HR management, recruitment, performance and payroll – to keep your team focused on growth.
Full HR for SMEs
£35
per employee per month
Full HR Management for SMEs
HR Support
We support you with compliant HR documents and formal correspondence.
HR Management
We handle complex people management matters, to keep you compliant and in control.
Recruitment
We save you from endless emails and hours of admin, and help you find the right talent.
Performance
We help you get the best from your team, from difficult conversations to formal processes.
+ Payroll FREE
We handle all your payroll and pensions admin, so your workers are paid correctly, every time.
£35 per employee per month is based on a three-year term, paid monthly, and excludes optional add-ons. Alternative terms and rates are available.
For jurisdictions outside the UK, third-party payroll software fees are not included.
Minimum fee: £350 per month (equivalent to 10 employees). Set-up cost: £10 per employee.
Add-Ons
Add these optional extras to Full HR Management to meet the precise needs of your business.
From £24
per business per month
RECOMMENDED
Custom Projects
just £75 per hour
25% DISCOUNT
Monthly Pricing
volume dependent
RECOMMENDED
Just £2 extra per month
per employee paid weekly
PAID MONTHLY
At just £35 per employee per month, Full HR Management for SMEs includes Payroll FREE.
It’s a fraction of the cost of an in-house HR Manager and Payroll Administrator.
In-House HR Manager + Payroll Administrator
Estimate for two UK-based employees includes:
* Source: Indeed.com 5/11/2025, based on figures updated 27/10/25. Employer’s NI and pension based on 2025/26 thresholds and rates.
If you were to employ an HR Manager and a Payroll Administrator, additional employment costs your business may incur include:
Full HR Management by Exceed
Get an outsourced HR department for just £35 per employee per month – including payroll FREE.
Small Business Owner, 15 employees
“The day-to-day running of our business meant ‘real HR’ was always on the back burner – until we decided to stop firefighting and outsource it. Lynne stepped in, sorted our contracts and policies, and helped us fix some tricky performance and attendance issues. It’s a huge relief knowing we have Exceed to support us going forward.”
Full HR by Exceed
£35
per employee per month
Local Authority Director, 32 employees
“As a publicly funded authority, we have to focus our limited resources on service delivery, rather than HR and payroll paperwork. We outsourced our HR department to Exceed several years ago and it works really well. Their advice on HR matters is very practical and they get our weekly and monthly payrolls done without a fuss.”
Start Up Business Owner, 9 employees
“We had a great team, but payroll issues were costing us. When we outsourced payroll to Exceed, the troubleshooting and paperwork all left my desk… so I asked them to look after our HR too. We’ve now got proper contracts in place and well-trained managers, and I spend most of my time on product development and sales.”
Exceed provides HR Support for SMEs, Full HR Management and SME Payroll Services for small-medium businesses and organisations in the UK and crown dependencies.
Our services are always tailored to be compliant with the relevant legislation in that jurisdiction and to suit each individual client
With Full HR Management by Exceed – including payroll – your SME can consult our HR and payroll experts during 252 days of the year (260 weekdays less 8 public holidays).
Whereas, if you employ an in-house HR Manager, they’ll cost your business an annual salary PLUS all related employment costs. And, if they take 25 days holiday and 10 days sickness in addition to 8 public holidays, they may only work for 217 days each year.
This means your business has access to 35 EXTRA days of potential support by outsourcing to Exceed, for a small fraction of the cost of an in-house hire (see table above).
Exceed takes the confidentiality and protection of all data very seriously, as explained in our Privacy Policy.
If you have any particular questions or concerns, please get in touch.
You can outsource your HR and payroll/pensions administration to Exceed at any point in the year.
Depending on the timing, we may need certain information from you, such as previously recovered statutory payments, but we will guide you through it step-by-step.
Before we onboard your business, we’ll agree a transparent contract which clearly defines our service, including:
The minimum term for SME Payroll Services, HR Support for SMEs or Full HR Management by Exceed is 1 year.
Contracts are also available for 2, 3, 4 or 5 years.
Contracts do not automatically renew and can be cancelled at the end of the term, with break clauses also available within longer term contracts.
Please Get in Touch for more details.
Exceed’s outsourced HR and payroll packages are all charged monthly, on a per employee basis.
As your business grows, your monthly fee simply increases (or decreases) according to the number of staff employed at the time of your invoice. This is subject to our minimum fee (equivalent to 10 employees), and a one-off set up cost of £10 per employee for Full HR Management.
You can upgrade any time from SME Payroll Services or HR Support for SMEs, to Payroll PLUS HR Support, or to Full HR Management which includes FREE Payroll.
You can also add-on optional extras like HR Software (recommended), Bespoke HR for custom HR projects, FasterPay for employee payments and Weekly Payroll, all of which are charged monthly too.
Please allow 2 to 3 weeks for us to transfer your HR and/or Payroll to Exceed.
The actual time needed will depend on a number of factors such as the size of your business, payment frequencies and the availability of information and documentation.
If you have a specific deadline, we’ll happily work towards that – although we prefer to take the time to get everything right, rather than rush to complete onboarding too quickly.
HR by Exceed – FAQsWith HR Support for SMEs and Full HR Management by Exceed, your staff remain employees of your business or organisation throughout – you will not lose control of your people.
Exceed will simply provide professional HR services to support you and your team.
If Exceed manages your holiday requests, you will be in complete control, as holidays requests be sent to your business for authorisation.
Once authorised, Exceed will look after the administration of the holidays as well as absence reporting.
It is a legal requirement to give all employees a written statement of particulars of employment.
Having a staff handbook isn’t a legal requirement in itself, but it gives you an opportunity to set out in detail what you expect from your staff.
It is a means of sharing with employees important information about your organisation and how it works on a day-to-day basis.
An employee handbook is also a handy place to keep forms (or links to them) for sickness self-certification, requesting holidays, claiming expenses and so on.
Outsourcing to Exceed helps with all of this.
If your business is on a Full HR Management package, all your staff can contact us for support.
If you have a more limited HR Support for SMEs package, we will support pre-authorised individuals.
If you’re unsure or would like to learn more, please call us on 0800 024 8976 so that we can give guidance.
SME Payroll Services – worth £3 per employee per month for UK payroll – is included within Full HR Management for no additional cost – and with no compromise on service levels.
Costs for other jurisdictions may vary.
Exceed can pay to most pension providers, including NEST, AVIVA, Zurich, The People’s Pension and more.
Let us know which pension provider you would like to use, and if we aren’t already set up to work with them, we will contact them to see if we can!
Depending on your contract with Exceed, we will send payslips via secure email or make them available to download via an employee portal.
Don’t worry, we can correct and resubmit a pay run if errors have been made or changes are needed. (Depending on your contract, there may be a charge for this.)
