We're based in Norfolk, and we've built software for Meta, McDonald's, Amazon, Roberts Radio, Sony and many more.
Most established firms don't have an admin problem they can point to. Quotes, rotas and paperwork get done the way they always have, often for good reason. But the cost is spread out: some in what you pay others, some in a job you can't fill, some in the hours compliance takes. Admin never arrives as one bill, so it's rarely added up.
What the research shows
Across the UK
8 daysa month: the staff time the average UK business spent on regulation in 2024, up from 6.6 days in 2022.1
44 hoursand £4,500 a year: what the average small business spends on tax compliance alone.2
15%employer National Insurance on earnings above £5,000 since April 2025, up from 13.8% above about £9,100. The National Living Wage rose to £12.71 an hour in April 2026. Every hour of admin now costs more.3
303,412late-filing penalties levied by Companies House in 2025–26. Nearly a quarter (73,374) were doubled because the company was late two years running.4
In Norfolk
We looked at Companies House records for the 10,250 Norfolk companies that have been trading for 15 years or more.
1,273have 10 or more staff, or report turnover of £1m or more.
569of those are independently owned, with at least one director aged 60 or over.
325of the 569 have no director under 50.
1 in 5of the 569 filed their accounts or annual confirmation more than a month late at least once in the last three years. For a private company, late accounts bring an automatic penalty of £150 to £1,500.5
Put together, the picture is consistent. Compliance is taking more time each year, the people who do the admin cost more to employ, and many established Norfolk firms are still run by the people who built them, carrying most of the paperwork themselves. What none of this data can show is what admin costs your business. That's what the check below is for.
The health check
Five minutes: three questions about cost (what you pay others to do, a job you can't fill, the time compliance takes) and two short questions in your own words. Your total updates as you type. Nothing you enter leaves this page unless you choose to send it.
Your result
Fill in what applies above and your result will appear here.
You qualify for a free admin report. At this level, admin is costing you enough that some of it is likely to be cheaper to run differently. We'll send you a free written report with practical steps you can use to reduce it.
This opens an email with your answers filled in. Once you send it, we'll add you to the list.
In the meantime, here's some free advice to lighten your admin load:
Write down the jobs only one person knows how to do. A one-page note for each: what it is, when it happens, where things are kept. It's the cheapest cover you'll ever buy.
Keep one list of every deadline. Filings, insurance renewals, certificates, inspections: the date and who owns it, in one place everyone can see.
Check your subscriptions once a year. Cancel anything nobody used last month.
Invoice the day a job finishes. Most accounting software can send polite reminders at 7 and 14 days, so nobody has to chase by phone.
Before hiring for admin, write down a week of the job. Anything done the same way every time is a candidate for a template or a piece of software.
Founders with experience building for
Meta
McDonald's
Amazon
Roberts Radio
Sony
Meta
McDonald's
Amazon
Roberts Radio
Sony
Admin cost a month
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