An IT manager in London costs £68,000–£98,000/year in total employer cost (salary + NI + pension + benefits). An IT support engineer costs £47,000–£68,000/year. Managed IT for 20 users costs £14,000–£24,000/year.
COST OF HIRING
AN IT MANAGER UK
Full employer cost breakdown — IT manager and IT support salaries, hidden costs, and how it compares with managed IT support for UK SMEs.
IT staff salaries UK —
total employer cost
"Total employer cost" includes salary + NI + pension + benefits + training. Excludes one-off recruitment fees.
| Role | London Salary | UK Salary | Total Employer Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| IT Support Technician (1st line) | £28,000–£36,000 | £22,000–£30,000 | £38,000–£52,000 |
| IT Support Engineer (2nd line) | £35,000–£48,000 | £28,000–£40,000 | £47,000–£68,000 |
| IT Manager | £50,000–£70,000 | £42,000–£60,000 | £68,000–£98,000 |
| Head of IT / IT Director | £80,000–£120,000 | £65,000–£100,000 | £108,000–£165,000 |
| Cyber Security Analyst | £45,000–£65,000 | £38,000–£55,000 | £62,000–£91,000 |
| Network Engineer | £40,000–£58,000 | £34,000–£50,000 | £55,000–£81,000 |
Data based on UK job market 2024–2025. Total employer cost calculated at salary + 13.8% NI + 3% pension + £3,000 equipment/training average.
Hidden costs of hiring
IT staff
What managed IT costs
by comparison
Managed IT support is priced per user per month. For a 20-person business, that's roughly £1,200–£2,000/month — or £14,400–£24,000/year. That's the cost of employer NI alone on one IT manager hire.
In exchange you get: a full team of engineers, 24/7 monitoring, endpoint security, Microsoft 365 management, patch management, and a documented IT environment — with no recruitment risk and no single point of failure.
IT manager salary & hiring
questions answered
Q.How much does it cost to hire an IT manager in the UK?
An IT manager in London earns £50,000–£70,000 in base salary. Adding employer NI (13.8%), pension (3%), equipment, training, recruitment fees, and holiday/sick cover, the true cost to the business is typically £68,000–£98,000 per year. Outside London, salaries are 15–25% lower but the total-cost calculation is similar. This is why many SMEs opt for managed IT support at £12,000–£30,000/year for equivalent or better coverage.
Q.How much does an IT support engineer cost to hire in London?
A 2nd-line IT support engineer in London commands £35,000–£48,000 in salary. The full employer cost including NI, pension, benefits, equipment, and training is typically £47,000–£68,000 per year. A junior 1st-line IT technician costs £28,000–£36,000 in salary, or £38,000–£52,000 in total employer cost.
Q.What are the hidden costs of hiring IT staff?
The most commonly overlooked costs when hiring IT staff are: employer National Insurance (13.8% of salary), pension contributions (3%+), recruitment agency fees (15–20% of salary if used), equipment and software licences (£3,000–£8,000 setup), annual training and certifications (£1,500–£4,000), and the cost of holiday/sick cover (effectively 15–18% uplift on real coverage). Total hidden costs typically add 30–50% to the headline salary.
Q.Is it cheaper to hire IT staff or use a managed IT provider?
For most SMEs under 150 staff, managed IT is significantly cheaper. A managed IT service for a 20-person company costs £14,000–£24,000 per year — less than the employer NI alone on a single IT manager hire. You also get a full team (helpdesk, network, security, cloud) rather than one generalist, with no recruitment risk, no sick/holiday cover gap, and built-in cyber security.
Q.When does hiring an IT manager make financial sense?
Hiring an in-house IT manager makes financial sense when: (1) you have 200+ users and IT complexity is high enough to keep a full-time manager occupied, (2) you have bespoke internal systems requiring permanent dedicated resource, or (3) you need an internal IT liaison who works alongside an external managed service provider (co-managed IT). For most SMEs, the break-even point is around 150–200 users depending on IT complexity.
Q.What is the average IT manager salary in London 2025?
IT manager salaries in London typically range from £50,000 to £70,000 for SME-level roles, with senior IT managers and Heads of IT commanding £80,000–£120,000. Salaries have increased 8–12% since 2023 due to demand and the expanding scope of the IT manager role (cyber security, cloud, compliance). Total employer cost including NI, pension, and benefits is typically 35–40% above the headline salary.
Compare the cost of managed IT
against hiring for your business
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