Toothfairy
UK Benefits Benchmark 2026
For HR, benefits & people leaders

UK Benefits Benchmark
See what your competitors
are offering. 100% free.

The full report below is free. Personalise it in the panel.  Benchmark your benefits package against your sector and headcount.

Five quick questions. Free.

Section 1 · Your benchmark
0
out of 100
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Overall benchmark score

Answer the questions to build your live score.

your sector · your size band UK employees

Average UK benefits spend runs 15-25% of salary. 48% of employers still offer no dental support at all.

You vs UK average
0
You
44
UK avg
Section 2 · Outcomes HR leaders measure

Your five outcome scores

Each score compares your package to UK peers, on outcomes benefits leaders own.

You · UK average
Talent attraction
56% of employers name talent competition their #2 benefits driver (WTW 2025). 22% of UK HR leaders make it their top 2026 priority (Toothfairy/YouGov 2026).
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0 / 100 · UK avg 44
Retention power
The average cost per leaver runs £25,182 to £30,614. Reasons to stay beyond salary decide the number.
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0 / 100 · UK avg 48
Offer competitiveness
87% of UK employees rate dental essential or a differentiator. High-signal benefits are what candidates notice in an offer letter.
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0 / 100 · UK avg 50
Benefit utilisation
52% of HR leaders say dental has not come up from employees in 12 months while clinical need is near-universal. That is the visibility gap between offering and usage.
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0 / 100 · UK avg 34
Care and wellbeing
68% of employees say motivation would rise with better dental support (BUPA). Winning on care, not just salary, is what happier and healthier teams look like.
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0 / 100 · UK avg 46

Answer the questions to build your score. Complete the form to unlock the full report below.

Priorities benchmark

Your priorities vs your peers

What UK HR leaders name as their top 2026 priority. Yours is highlighted so you can see where your focus sits against the market.

Employee demand

What employees actually ask for

Ranked demand across the 2026 UK workforce. Peach chips flag high demand with no matching provision once you've told us what you offer.

Provision landscape

The UK dental provision landscape

Share of UK employers offering a dental benefit versus those offering none, with a breakdown of how the 52% who offer something split by type.

Absence and access

The hidden absence problem

Only 38% of employers record absence by cause, and only 38% are confident staff could get urgent dental care within 48 hours.

Sector spend

What employers actually spend on benefits

Benefits spend as a percentage of salary by industry band. Your sector is highlighted so you can pressure-test your own package against the range.

Salary vs benefits

What a pay rise costs vs what it delivers

Take-home value of £1 extra salary at each tax band, compared to the face value of £1 of benefit. Illustrative, not tax advice.

Real cost to employees

What these benefits cost employees out of pocket

Approximate private prices in the UK, paired with employee demand. High demand plus high personal cost is where employer provision creates the most perceived value. Illustrative, private prices.

How employees value benefits

How employees rank benefits by perceived value

What employees actually say matters, using only the figures already sourced in this report.

Cost of standing still

What doing nothing already costs you

Applied to your size band using published UK averages. A conservative view of the exposure your benefits strategy is quietly carrying.

The gap most employers miss

Dental is the rare benefit relevant to 100% of your workforce.

It is among the most requested benefits by UK employees, yet 48% of UK businesses offer no dental provision at all. Closing that one gap is usually the highest-leverage move in a package that already looks competitive.

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Source: Toothfairy/YouGov 2026, n=838 UK HR decision makers.

Why it moves the needle
  • Relevant to 100% of your workforce, not just senior staff.
  • Requested by employees at rates only pay and flexibility beat.
  • Low-cost, high-frequency, and simple to justify at renewal.

Methodology: benchmarks derived from Toothfairy/YouGov 2026 (n=838 UK HR decision makers), WTW 2025 Benefits Trends Survey, CIPD Reward Survey Feb 2026 (n=1,059), BDA, BUPA, Oxford Economics methodology, National Library of Medicine and HMRC published rates. Every stat cited on this report is publicly sourced.