Everyone in the moving sector knows that running a removals company is labour-heavy. You need professional drivers, porters, packers, surveyors and office staff to keep everything moving.
As your company grows, you may also invest more in training, equipment and other staff costs to keep your team performing well and your customers satisfied.
In 2026, we have already seen changes that affect the cost of employing a removals crew. The National Living Wage has increased and Statutory Sick Pay rules have changed. More employment changes are also on the way.
Source: GOV.UK – National Living Wage increases to £12.71 per hour
Among all the property and moving industry news, one question keeps coming up in conversations I have with removals companies:
What does one employee actually cost your removals business?
And just as importantly, how do you know whether each job is covering that cost?
Let’s start with what has changed.
What Is the True Cost of Employing a Removals Crew in 2026?
The £12.71 hourly wage is not the real cost
From April 2026, the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour, up 4.1% from £12.21. For example, a porter working 40 hours a week at that rate would earn around £508.40 per week, or £26,437 a year before tax.
But that salary is only the starting point.
Once you add employer National Insurance, pension contributions, paid leave and other employment costs, the real cost to the business is higher.
Here is a simple breakdown based on that £26,437 annual salary:
| Cost | What it means for the business | Approximate employer impact |
|---|---|---|
| Basic wage | 40 hours × £12.71 | £26,437/year |
| Employer National Insurance | Generally 15% above the £5,000 Secondary Threshold | ~£3,216/year* |
| Workplace pension | Minimum employer contribution is generally 3% of qualifying earnings | ~£606/year |
| Paid holiday | Most full-time employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks of statutory paid leave | Paid time when the employee is not available for jobs |
| Sick pay | SSP can now apply from the first full qualifying day of sickness | Up to £123.25/week at the standard cap |
| Overtime | Extra paid hours when jobs run beyond plan | Depends on hours and pay rate |
| Training, uniform & PPE | Keeping crews trained, safe and equipped | Varies by business |
| Idle time | Paid time not allocated to revenue-producing work | Often overlooked |
* Before any reduction through Employment Allowance or other applicable reliefs. Eligible employers can reduce their National Insurance bill through Employment Allowance, worth up to £10,500 in 2026/27.
The minimum workplace pension contribution for an employer is generally 3% of qualifying earnings. The 2026/27 automatic-enrolment review confirms that the qualifying earnings band runs from £6,240 to £50,270.
So before overtime, training, PPE, recruitment, sick leave or idle time, our example employee can already represent roughly:
£30,258 a year in wages, employer NI and minimum pension contributions.
Of course, the exact cost will vary depending on factors such as Employment Allowance, pension arrangements, age and apprenticeships. But the point is simple: the hourly wage is only part of what an employee really costs your business.
For a removals company, the important number is the real cost of putting that person on a job.
Sick days now cost differently
Statutory Sick Pay changed on 6 April 2026.
Eligible employees can now receive SSP from their first full qualifying day of sickness, with no minimum earnings requirement. For 2026/27, SSP is the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings or £123.25 per week.
For removals companies, the real cost can be higher.
A sick employee on moving day may require short-notice cover, crew changes or overtime. Unlike many other businesses, you cannot simply move the work to tomorrow when a customer is completing or needs to leave a property that day.
Staff absence is not just an HR issue. It is an operational cost too.
Flexible staffing rules are changing
Flexible staffing is important in removals because completion dates change, customers postpone moves, demand fluctuates and staff can be absent.
But the rules around flexible staffing are changing too.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces new rights covering guaranteed hours, reasonable notice of shifts and payments for some cancelled, moved or shortened shifts.
Some of the detailed rules are still being developed, but they will be particularly important for businesses that rely on zero-hours contracts or similar arrangements.
The flexible staffing practices your business uses today may need to be managed differently in the future.
Hiring decisions will matter more from 2027
Another important change takes effect on 1 January 2027. The qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal protection will fall from two years to six months.
For smaller removals companies, this adds another consideration to the cost of employing and managing a crew. Recruitment decisions may carry more weight, particularly for businesses where one new employee can have a significant impact on a small team.
Taken together, the picture is changing.
Wages are higher. Sick pay rules have changed. Flexible staffing rules are developing. And further employment protections are coming in 2027.
Some of these costs can be calculated. Others are much harder to predict.
So where can removals companies take back some control?
How UK Removals Companies Can Reduce Labour Costs Without Cutting Staff
1. Focus on the costs you can control
You cannot control the National Living Wage. You cannot rewrite employment law. And you cannot prevent every employee from calling in sick.
But you can improve how accurately you estimate each job, how you allocate crews and vehicles, and how quickly you spot when costs start moving away from the plan.
That starts with understanding what each move really costs to deliver.
2. Check whether a busy crew is actually profitable
Imagine quoting £1,200 for a move requiring three people for six hours:
18 crew-hours.
If parking, access, extra furniture or dismantling extend the job to nine hours, the move uses:
27 crew-hours.
The customer still pays £1,200.
Your revenue has not changed, but your labour requirement has increased by 50%. The delay may also affect your next job.
A full diary does not automatically mean a profitable removals business.
3. Compare estimated time with actual time
Now imagine two similar jobs.
| Labour measure | Job A | Job B |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated crew-hours | 18 | 18 |
| Actual crew-hours | 19 | 27 |
| Extra crew-hours | +1 | +9 |
| Labour above estimate | +6% | +50% |
Both jobs are complete, the invoices have been paid and the customers may be happy. However, Job B used 50% more labour than estimated.
That difference matters.
It could have been caused by an inaccurate inventory, difficult access, extra items, an undersized crew, a missed detail in the survey, the wrong vehicle or an estimate that was too optimistic. A consistent removals quoting process helps make those assumptions visible before the job is booked. One job running over may be unfortunate.
Twenty jobs running over in the same way is a business problem. Comparing estimated labour with actual labour helps you identify the cause before it becomes a regular cost.
4. Improve staff and vehicle utilisation
Labour cost is also about how effectively you use the people and vehicles already on your payroll and fleet.
Imagine you have five crew members available on Monday. Three work all day, while two finish by lunchtime.
By Friday, everyone is overloaded. Jobs are running late and overtime is building up.
You may not have too many or too few people.
The problem may be how the work is distributed.
The same applies to vehicles.
A crew waiting for a vehicle costs money, while an unused vehicle still costs money to keep on the road. Sending a vehicle that is too small can create extra journeys. And if one job runs three hours late, both the crew and vehicle may be unavailable for the next one.
That is why you need to look at the full picture:
People + vehicles + time + job value
Together, these figures show what each move really costs to deliver.
5. Track these seven operational numbers
You do not need to track every possible metric. Start with a focused set that shows how labour, vehicles and time affect the cost and profitability of each job.
| What to measure | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Labour cost per job | What the staff time actually cost to deliver the move |
| Estimated vs actual hours | Whether jobs regularly take longer than planned |
| Revenue per staff hour | How much revenue your deployed labour generates |
| Overtime | Whether extra hours are occasional or becoming normal |
| Staff utilisation | How much of your available workforce is actually being used |
| Vehicle utilisation | Whether vehicle capacity is being used effectively |
| Jobs running over | Which jobs or job types repeatedly take longer than expected |
You need enough information to spot a pattern before it becomes normal.
6. Don’t automatically cut staff. Fix the operation.
When labour costs rise, reducing staff can look like the quickest way to save money. However, the underlying problem may be how jobs are surveyed, estimated and scheduled rather than the size of your team. Looking at what owners need to control across the operation can help expose recurring issues that add hours or leave people and vehicles waiting:
- An incomplete survey can lead to extra hours.
- An inaccurate estimate can leave too little time in the schedule.
- Poor scheduling can leave staff waiting between jobs.
- The wrong vehicle can create extra journeys.
- Missing access details can turn a six-hour move into a nine-hour move.
- Poor communication can leave a crew waiting for keys or instructions.
Each of these operational problems increases costs without improving the customer experience. But before changing staffing levels, strengthen the way work is prepared and managed.
- Check surveys carefully.
- Compare estimated hours with actual hours.
- Confirm parking, access and key arrangements before moving day.
- Match the vehicle and crew size to the job.
- Leave enough time between jobs.
- Make sure crews have clear instructions.
Better planning and clearer information can help your existing team work more efficiently.
7. Know where your crew’s time goes
Labour will remain one of the biggest costs in a removals business. Wages are higher in 2026, sick pay rules have changed and more employment changes are coming, so simply trying to spend less on people is not enough.
The better approach is to understand where your money and time are actually going. Track what your team costs, how long jobs take, which jobs regularly use more labour than expected, and when staff or vehicles are sitting unused. Then look for the reasons behind those patterns.
Most importantly, make sure a busy diary is actually producing a healthy margin.
The takeaway
Labour costs are rising across UK businesses, but removals companies feel those changes particularly quickly. Labour is a major part of delivering each move, and small changes in crew time, overtime, access or scheduling can have a direct effect on margin.
The companies that stay in control will be the ones that understand the real cost of each job, spot where time is being lost and make better decisions before moving day.
You may not be able to control wage increases or employment law, but you can control how accurately each move is surveyed, costed, planned and delivered.