Exceed’s SME Payroll Services will remove the stresses of payroll queries, payroll software and admin overload from your business.
Our payroll specialists deliver fully compliant payroll and pensions admin, so your team stays focused on growth.
Payroll for SMEs
£3
per employee per month
We handle all your payroll and pensions admin, so your workers are paid correctly, every time.
Dedicated payroll specialists
Phone and email support
Compliance-guaranteed
£3 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: £30 per month (equivalent to 10 employees). Set-up cost: £5 per employee.
Add-Ons
Add these optional extras to outsourced payroll to meet the precise needs of your business.
Monthly Pricing
volume dependent
RECOMMENDED
Just £2 extra per month
per employee paid weekly
PAID MONTHLY
From £24
per business per month
RECOMMENDED
Custom Projects
£100 per hour
PAID MONTHLY
Easily Combine Payroll
and HR Support for SMEs
UPGRADE to Full HR Management
+ Fast-Track Your Growth
Compare Payroll Costs for SMEs in the UK
At just £3 per employee per month, Exceed’s outsourced payroll for small businesses
is a fraction of the cost of an in-house Payroll Administrator.
In-House Payroll Administrator
Estimate for a UK-based employee 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 employ a Payroll Administrator, additional employment costs your business may incur include:
Payroll by Exceed
Outsourced payroll by Exceed is just £3 per employee per month – less than a coffee!
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.”
Payroll for SMEs
£3
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.”
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.”
Exceed provides outsourced payroll and pensions administration for small-medium businesses in the UK and crown dependencies.
Our services are always tailored to the relevant legislation in that jurisdiction and to suit each individual client.
With outsourced Payroll by Exceed, your SME can consult our payroll specialists during 252 days of the year (260 weekdays less 8 public holidays).
Whereas, if you employ an in-house Payroll Administrator, 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 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.)
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 payroll and pensions administration for your SME 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 and are designed to suit the needs of SMEs.
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 £5 per employee for Payroll.
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 FasterPay for employee payments (recommended), Weekly Payroll, HR Software and Face-to-Face Consultations, all of which are charged monthly too.
Please allow 2 to 3 weeks for us to transfer your payroll and/or HR 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.
