Guidance on pensions, deductions and contractor payroll protection.
Explore guides covering salary sacrifice, workplace pensions, National Insurance, umbrella payroll deductions and key pay-related topics that can affect contractor take-home pay and long-term planning.
Browse protection, pension and payroll articles
Use these guides to understand how pensions, salary sacrifice, National Insurance and umbrella payroll deductions can affect your take-home pay and longer-term planning.
Salary sacrifice guide for umbrella company contractors
Learn how salary sacrifice works for umbrella company contractors, including pension planning, potential benefits, drawbacks and key points to check before opting in.
Why do umbrella employees have to pay Employers National Insurance?
Understand assignment rates, gross pay and why Employers National Insurance can appear within umbrella company pay calculations.
How is National Insurance calculated in the UK?
Understand how National Insurance contributions are calculated and how they can affect employees, employers, self-employed workers and contractor pay calculations.
How will the National Insurance rise affect the UK workforce?
Explore how changes to National Insurance can affect employees, employers, self-employed workers and the wider UK workforce.
Workplace pension scheme guide for umbrella company workers
Understand workplace pension schemes for umbrella company workers, including auto-enrolment, employee deductions and employer responsibilities.
How to use these protection and payroll guides
Start with the topic that affects your current payslip or planning decision. Pension and salary sacrifice guides are useful for long-term planning, while National Insurance and payroll guides help explain common deductions.
Need to check umbrella payslip deductions?
Use our umbrella payslip checker to review common deductions, pay patterns and possible warning signs in a structured way.