Employee financial wellbeing for small businesses
A business with fewer than 100 employees pays Buzz's £99 monthly minimum for guidance for all of its staff: the Financial Freedom Score, a read-only bank Healthcheck, a free 30-minute call with a coach, quarterly webinars and WhatsApp questions. The CIPD's 2025 survey found 26% of private-sector small and medium employers offer financial education and support to all employees, against 53% of large private-sector employers.
Figures checked 27 October 2026.
What a small employer gets for £99 a month
- Every employee can take the Financial Freedom Score and connect their bank to the Healthcheck
- Every employee can book a free 30-minute call with a coach
- A launch webinar for the whole team, then one each quarter
- Launch email, manager briefing, intranet copy and a new-starter email, written for you
- Quarterly take-up figures and the topics raised, with nothing that identifies anyone
How it runs
Agree the scope
Headcount, which tiers you fund and the launch date, on one short call.
Launch
Your launch email goes out and we run the launch webinar.
Staff sign up directly
Employees take the score, connect their bank and book calls themselves.
Take-up figures
Numbers signed up, sessions held and topics raised.
Money worries in UK workforces
The FCA's Financial Lives survey found 24% of UK adults had low financial resilience in May 2024, 10% had no cash savings and another 21% had less than £1,000. In LCP's 2026 survey of 10,000 employees, 57% said financial concerns had affected their work. The CIPD's February 2026 reward survey found 15% of organisations have a formal employee financial wellbeing policy or strategy.
The owner's own plan
The employer contract includes a Financial Plan for the owner at £750, against £1,500 on its own. It models what you take from the company in salary and dividends, your pensions, and the business valued at zero and at the figure you have in mind, every year to age 100. Financial planning for business owners
Tax points for small employers
The first £500 a year of information or advice about an employee's pensions is tax-free when an employer pays for it, under section 308C of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003. A benefit that costs £50 or less and is neither cash, a reward for work nor part of the employment contract can be a tax-free trivial benefit, capped at £300 a year for a director of a close company. Welfare counselling is exempt, but HMRC excludes advice on finance from it, other than advice on debt problems. Is financial coaching a taxable benefit?
Common questions
Is there a minimum number of employees?
No. The minimum charge is £99 a month, which covers up to 99 employees. From 100 employees it is £1 per employee a month.
Can a business of five people use it?
Yes. It costs £99 a month, which is £19.80 per employee a month for five people. A smaller firm can instead pay for individual Money Road Maps at £299 each for the employees who want one, with no monthly fee.
Do employees have to connect their bank?
No. The Financial Freedom Score is self-rated and needs no bank connection. The Healthcheck gives a coach real spending figures, and it is read-only.
We already use Buzz Accounting. Does that change anything?
Set-up is quicker because we already know your payroll, and the owner's Financial Plan is £1,200 as a Buzz Accounting client, or £750 with an employer contract.
Sources
- CIPD, Health and wellbeing at work 2025
- CIPD, Reward survey: focus on employee benefits, February 2026
- FCA, Financial Lives 2024 key findings
- LCP, Employee wellbeing report 2026
- Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, section 308C
- GOV.UK: trivial benefits
- HMRC Employment Income Manual EIM21845: welfare counselling
Related guides
Guides for employers
- Financial wellbeing cost per employee in the UK
- Financial coaching for employees
- Is employer-paid financial coaching a taxable benefit?
- The £500 pensions advice exemption for employers
- What the 2029 salary sacrifice cap costs employers
- Employee financial wellbeing survey questions
- Automatic enrolment duties for small employers
- Earned wage access and salary advances for employees
- Supporting employees through life changes
- How to set up a financial wellbeing programme
- Financial wellbeing policy template
- Financial wellbeing providers' prices compared
- Salary sacrifice calculator
- Benefit or pay rise calculator