Guide · Prices and rates
Social secretariat costs:
where is
the price?
A social secretariat usually charges a one-off joining fee and then an amount per payslip or per employee per month, often with a fixed monthly fee on top. Comparison sites quote ranges from € 23 to € 75 per employee per month; what you actually pay depends on your joint committee, the type of employees and the services billed separately.
Business Centrum has no standard rate. Your price follows from a conversation.
By Business Centrum editorial teamPublished
Updated and figures checked on
How the price is built
Social secretariat cost in four layers
Every social secretariat slices its price differently, but nearly every offer is made of the same layers. Put them side by side and you finally compare like with like.
- 01
Entry
At the start you pay a joining or set-up fee. With it the secretariat opens your file: company details, the right joint committee, the employees and their pay elements. Some secretariats also ask for a deposit, an advance on a few months of administration fees.
- Joining fee
- File opening
- Deposit
- 02
Price per payslip or per employee
This is the core. You pay per payslip the secretariat produces, or a fixed amount per employee per month. The rate almost always decreases with volume: the more employees, the lower the unit price. Many secretariats also charge a fixed monthly file or management fee, even in a quiet month.
- Per payslip
- Per employee per month
- Monthly fee
- 03
Surcharges by employee type or shift
A white-collar employee on a fixed monthly salary is the simplest file. Blue-collar workers, students, flexi-jobbers, hospitality extras, shift or night work and variable schedules take more work. You see that in a surcharge or a higher price per payslip.
- Blue-collar
- Students and flexi-jobs
- Day-by-day work
- 04
Extra services
Whatever does not recur monthly often appears separately on the invoice: drafting an employment contract, exit documents such as the C4, certificates, the social balance sheet, legal advice, work rules or a salary simulation.
- Contracts
- C4 and certificates
- Advice
A real rate card
What a published price looks like
Recognised social secretariats rarely publish their rates. UCM, a recognised social secretariat from Wallonia, does. Its 2026 list shows how the layers appear on an actual invoice.
| Item | Rate, excl. VAT |
|---|---|
| File opening | € 115, one-off |
| Deposit on administration fees | minimum € 215 |
| Administration fee, first employee | € 60.61 per payslip, then decreasing |
| File fee | € 17.58 per month, plus € 1.74 per employee from the second |
| Egov contribution | € 10 per month |
| Company director | € 19.98 per operation |
| Work rules, assistance | € 150 per hour |
| Work rules, template | € 130 |
| Work rules, maintenance | € 65 per year |
| File closing | € 155 |
UCM itself states that the list is not exhaustive, that amounts exclude VAT and that they are indexed. We show them as an example of the structure, not as a market price.
Worked example
One employee, one year
Take an SME with one white-collar employee on a monthly salary, at the published rates above. No extra services and no director's pay.
- Payslip, first employee
- € 60.61
- File fee
- € 17.58
- Egov contribution
- € 10
- Per month
- € 88.19
- First year, incl. file opening
- € 1,173.28
At the start you also advance a deposit of at least € 215. It is not a cost, but it weighs on your cash in the month you hire. If this is your first employee, the NSSO covers € 36.45 per quarter of the administration fees, as long as you apply the first-employee reduction.
Watch out
Ask whether holiday pay and the year-end bonus count as extra payslips. For blue-collar workers, who are paid at least 2 times a month, the number of payroll runs rises too.
Included or extra
What your social secretariat costs include, and what comes on top
The line differs per secretariat. This is what you can expect in a base package, and this is what often shows up as a separate line in offers.
Usually in the base price
- Payroll calculation and the payslip
- Dimona filings when staff join and leave
- The quarterly DmfA return to the NSSO
- Calculating and filing payroll withholding tax
- The 281.10 tax forms at year end
- Tracking indexation and pay scales of your joint committee
Often billed separately
- File opening and closing fees
- Drafting or reviewing employment contracts
- Exit documents: C4, holiday certificate, notice calculation
- Certificates for health insurance, child benefit or a lease
- The social balance sheet for the National Bank
- Legal advice by the hour or per case
- Drafting and maintaining work rules
- Managing meal vouchers, eco vouchers or company cars
- Access to the portal or software, per user
- Corrections to payslips and filings after the fact
Get it in writing
Have every offer list which documents and filings the price covers. Anything missing from that list will show up separately on a later invoice.
What drives the price
Why two SMEs with the same headcount pay different prices
- Your joint committee
- Every committee has its own pay scales, bonuses and sector funds. Construction adds loyalty stamps and bad-weather unemployment, transport adds driving and rest times and overnight allowances, hospitality adds extras and flexi-jobs. More rules means more checks per payslip.
- Blue-collar or white-collar
- White-collar employees usually get a monthly salary. Blue-collar workers must be paid at least 2 times a month, with no more than 16 days in between. An advance plus a final settlement means more processing.
- Students, flexi-jobs and one-off shifts
- If you work with students, extras or flexi-jobbers, you often file a Dimona per shift and hours vary. Every shift is a registration, and some secretariats charge per Dimona or per contract.
- Pay components
- Meal vouchers, eco vouchers, a company car, a mobility allowance, group insurance: every benefit is one more line to calculate and report. A simple salary makes a cheaper payslip.
- Number of employees
- Almost every rate decreases with volume. The first employee is the most expensive per unit, because the fixed work on a file is spread over few payslips.
- How much you supply yourself
- If you send hours digitally and on time, your file takes less work than when the secretariat has to chase schedules every month. Some secretariats offer a cheaper package in which you enter more yourself.
Hidden costs
What is not on the first page of the offer
Indexation of the rate
The rate usually rises every year with the index. An offer without an indexation clause hardly exists. Ask which index the secretariat follows and when the rate goes up.
Exit fees and term
Leaving sometimes costs a fee to close the file: € 155 in the published list above. Also check the minimum term and the notice period of the contract.
Deposit
A deposit of a few months of administration fees, such as the minimum of € 215 above, is not a cost. It is money tied up for as long as you are a client.
Software and portal
A licence per employee or per user for the portal or app is often charged apart from the price per payslip.
Extra payslips
Holiday pay, the year-end bonus, a correction or a mid-month departure can each produce an extra payslip, at the full rate.
Advice billed by the hour
A question about a dismissal, a sanction or a new contract is sometimes billed by the hour. In the list above, assistance with work rules costs € 150 per hour.
VAT
Rates are almost always quoted excluding VAT. For a VAT-registered business that is neutral, for an exempt business or a non-profit it is not.
The cheapest offer
Why the lowest price can turn out expensive
The gap between two offers is usually a few euros per payslip. A single error or one missed reduction quickly costs more than a full year of fees.
€ 2,000
per quarter
Missed NSSO reduction
Since 1 July 2026, a new employer gets up to € 2,000 per quarter off NSSO contributions for a first employee, with no end date. If the NSSO reduction for the first employee is not applied, you lose up to € 8,000 a year. Overpaid contributions can only be reclaimed for 3 years.
€ 3,000
minimum fine
Missing Dimona
No Dimona is a level 4 offence, the most serious level. For facts since 1 February 2026, the administrative fine ranges from € 3,000 to € 35,000 per employee concerned. More in late Dimona.
€ 495.79
flat fee
Late quarterly return
If the DmfA is not filed on time, you owe a flat-rate penalty of € 495.79, and more when contributions are high. Late contributions carry a 10% surcharge and 7% interest per year.
5
years back
Wrong pay scale
A wrong joint committee or a forgotten indexation means back pay. An employee can claim it up to 5 years after the facts, and at the latest 1 year after the contract ends. If the claim is based on the offence of non-payment, it cannot lapse before the criminal action, so it can run longer. NSSO contributions on that pay come on top.
One year of a missed first-employee reduction weighs more than 6 times the entire first year of the worked example. So compare what a secretariat checks first, and the price per payslip second.
Self-employed or sole trader
Without staff you pay for something else
Self-employed without staff
Without employees you need no social secretariat, but a social insurance fund. There you pay your social contributions plus management fees: a percentage of your contributions that differs from fund to fund. People searching for social secretariat costs as a self-employed person usually mean those management fees.
Sole trader with staff
If you hire someone as a sole trader, you are an employer like any company. The same price structure applies, and so does the same NSSO reduction for your first employee.
Director of a company
If your company pays you a remuneration, the secretariat can also process your director's pay slip. That is a separate line: € 19.98 per operation in the published list above.
Comparing offers
The questions to ask before you sign
Price is one criterion. Knowledge of your sector and availability count just as much; for those, read the guide on which social secretariat to choose. To set the big names side by side, see the largest social secretariats in Belgium and the differences between Acerta, SD Worx, Securex, Liantis and Partena. For the costs, ask every candidate the same questions.
Already a client elsewhere and unhappy with the invoice? Read what is involved in changing social secretariat.
- 01Do you charge per payslip or per employee per month, and from how many employees does the price drop?
- 02Which fixed monthly fee or contributions come on top?
- 03Which documents and filings are included in the price, and which are not?
- 04What does a C4, a certificate or an employment contract cost?
- 05How and when is the rate indexed?
- 06What are the minimum term, the notice period and the cost of leaving?
- 07Who checks that every NSSO reduction is applied?
What Business Centrum does
A tailored price, after a conversation
Business Centrum in Ghent runs the HR administration of SMEs in transport, construction, hospitality and wholesale. We work as a partner of Acerta, a recognised social secretariat, and we are your single point of contact for contracts, Dimona and pay questions.
We have no standard price. First we look at your staff: how many people, which joint committee, blue-collar or white-collar, students or flexi-jobs, which benefits. Then you receive a proposal that states what the price includes and what it does not, so you can set it beside other offers.
At the start we check which reductions you are entitled to. In payroll administration we track the pay scales and indexations of your sector, so the errors listed above do not land on your desk.
No price on this page
You will not find a Business Centrum rate here. Every price follows from a conversation about your situation, and that conversation is free.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about social secretariat costs
Sources
Every amount and deadline on this page was checked against these official sources, last consulted on .
- Arbeidsovereenkomstenwet van 3 juli 1978, art. 15 (Justel)
- FOD WASO, Bedragen van de administratieve geldboeten
- FOD WASO, Loonbescherming: termijn en tijdstip van betaling
- RSZ, Administratieve instructies 2026/3, De verjaring
- RSZ, Administratieve instructies 2026/3, Doelgroepvermindering eerste aanwervingen
- RSZ, Administratieve instructies 2026/3, Gevolgen van niet-betaling
- RSZ, Administratieve instructies 2026/3, Sancties DmfA
- Secrétariat social UCM, Les coûts indirects liés à l'occupation d'un travailleur (tarifs au 04/2026)
More at Business Centrum
Social secretariat costs
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Your dedicated contact at Business Centrum looks at it for your situation, together with Acerta.