Free tools
Employee Benefits Benchmarkingfor UK and Irish Employers
See how your benefits package compares against employers of your size, in your industry, in your market. Enter your company profile and what you currently offer to get a percentile ranking for the package overall, plus a benefit-by-benefit comparison on pension, health insurance, life cover and income protection.
Industry
Technology
Headcount
51–200
What you offer today
Pension
Health insurance
Life cover
Income protection
Dental
Overall percentile
60th
Employer pension · UK tech · 51–200
Peer median
4%
Your contribution
5%
Top quartile
6%
Gaps that move your ranking most
How to use the benchmark
Step 1
Company profile
Choose your region — Ireland or the UK — plus your industry and headcount. Percentiles compare you against employers that match you, so a 40-person tech firm isn't measured against a 2,000-person bank.
Step 2
Your current benefits
Toggle on what you offer today, then add the detail: health insurance spend and dependant cover, pension percentages, group life multiple, income protection, dental, wellness and anything custom.
Step 3
Your report
Enter your work email to get your overall percentile, a benefit-by-benefit comparison against the market, and the gaps that move your ranking most. Most employers finish in under two minutes.
The benchmark is free and there's no call attached to it. Figures come from packages employers have published, so the output is a read on the market rather than an actuarial valuation. The benefits inspiration library shows what named companies offer if you want ideas before you start.
What a percentile tells you
If your package is at the 60th percentile, 60% of similar employers offer less than you and 40% offer more. It tells you how you stack up, not whether your package is well put together. Think of it as the answer to one question: if a candidate had your offer and a competitor’s side by side, which would look better?
- Benefits compared
- 6
- Time to your report
- Under 2 min
You can spend more than most employers and still fall short on the benefits people actually use. A generous pension with no income protection is a common example. It looks good on paper, but a candidate will notice what’s missing.
- Income protection
- Dental
- Dependant cover on health
Two packages can cost the same and look very different to a candidate.
How much you spend
What you put in per person: health insurance spend, pension contributions and how many times salary your life cover pays out. Most employers start here because it’s the easiest thing to change.
What you cover
Whether you offer income protection, dental, cover for partners and children, or a wellness allowance at all. These gaps are what candidates spot. Filling one usually does more for your ranking than topping up something you already offer.
Why the legal minimum isn’t a benchmark
In the UK and Ireland, the law sets a minimum pension. Meeting it doesn’t make your package competitive. The employers you’re hiring against usually add health insurance, life cover and income protection too. The benchmark shows how far you are from what they offer, one benefit at a time, so you can decide where you want to be.
About the benchmark
Companies in the dataset
1,830
Markets covered
UK & Ireland
Cost
Free
The figures come from benefits packages employers have published. Use them to see where you stand, not to price a policy.
Before you change your package
Benchmark the whole package, not one benefit
Moving your pension contribution up a point is the easiest change to make and rarely the one that shifts your ranking most. Adding cover employees don't have at all, such as income protection, dental or dependant cover on health, usually moves the percentile further per pound.
Check what's actually used
With KotaUtilisation tells you whether a benefit earns its cost, and it's the number that gives you leverage at renewal. Kota's benefits team benchmarks and renegotiates year-round rather than in the two weeks before the notice lands. See how pricing works.
Time it against your renewal
Adding cover mid-term usually means a separate policy and a second renewal date to manage. The benchmark asks for your health insurance renewal month for this reason. Changes are cheapest to make when the policy is already open.
Decide what you'll tell employees
With KotaA package employees can't see won't help you keep them. Every Kota employee gets an app showing exactly what they're covered for, along with a total reward statement.
Price the admin as well as the premium
With KotaKota runs health insurance, pension, life assurance and flexible benefits from one system wired into both, so the admin doesn't grow with each benefit you add.
Frequently asked questions
What is employee benefits benchmarking?
Comparing your benefits package against what comparable employers offer, in the same market, industry and rough headcount, so you can see whether it's competitive instead of guessing. It answers a narrow question: would a candidate choosing between you and a peer see a better package elsewhere?
Is the benchmark free?
Yes. You give a work email to receive the report. There's no charge and no obligation to speak to anyone.
What data is it based on?
Benefits packages published by employers across the UK and Ireland. It's the same dataset behind the benefits inspiration library, which currently covers 1,830 companies. The packages are disclosed rather than surveyed, so the output is useful for positioning yourself and not for pricing a policy.
Which benefits does it measure?
Health insurance (employer spend per employee per month, and whether dependants are covered), pension (employer and employee contribution percentages), group life (salary multiple), income protection (percentage of salary covered), dental, and a spend or wellness card. Anything else you offer can be added under other benefits.
Which regions does it cover?
Ireland and the United Kingdom.
What should a competitive benefits package include?
It depends on where you hire, your industry and your size, which is what the benchmark is for. Instead of working from a checklist, look at the gaps: benefits similar employers offer that you don’t, and ones where you offer less than they do. The legal minimum pension is a starting point, not a selling point.
How often should we benchmark?
Once a year, ahead of your main renewal, is enough for most employers. That's early enough for anything you want to change to be built into the renewal rather than bolted on afterwards. Benchmark again if your headcount changes materially or you start hiring into a new market.
Do we have to spend more to rank higher?
Not always. Ranking depends on which benefits you offer as much as how much you spend on them, so a package with a generous pension and no income protection often ranks below a more evenly spread one costing the same. The benefit-by-benefit view shows where the cheapest ranking gains are.
Run every benefit from one place
Kota brings pension, health insurance, life assurance, income protection and flexible spend into one platform, with the broker built in and automatic sync to payroll and providers.