| Employee benefit expenses |
7 | Employee benefit expenses |
7.1Employee benefit expenses and average number of people employed | | | | | | | | | 2026 | | 2025 | | 2024 | | | £’000 | | £’000 | | £’000 | Wages and salaries (including bonuses) | | (263,653) | | (271,568) | | (316,341) | Social security costs | | (32,772) | | (35,755) | | (41,435) | Share-based payments (Note 28) | | (1,773) | | (1,581) | | (1,969) | Pension costs – defined contribution schemes (Note 29.2) | | (3,827) | | (4,352) | | (4,974) | | | (302,025) | | (313,256) | | (364,719) | Termination benefits recognised in exceptional items (included in Note 6) | | (5,588) | | (34,579) | | (12,334) | Total employee benefit expenses including exceptional items | | (307,613) | | (347,835) | | (377,053) |
Details of the pension arrangements offered by the Company and the Group are disclosed in Note 29. The average number of employees during the year, including directors, was as follows: | | | | | | | | | 2026 | | 2025 | | 2024 | | | Number | | Number | | Number | By activity: | | | | | | | Football – men’s and women’s players | | 150 | | 133 | | 136 | Football - technical and coaching | | 133 | | 164 | | 193 | Commercial | | 95 | | 129 | | 170 | Media | | 61 | | 82 | | 111 | Administration and other | | 369 | | 424 | | 530 | Average number of employees | | 808 | | 932 | | 1,140 |
The Group also employs approximately 2,614 temporary staff to perform, among other things, catering, security, ticketing, hospitality and marketing services during Matchdays at Old Trafford (2025: 2,238; 2024: 2,875), the costs of which are included in the employee benefit expense above. 7.2Key management compensation Key management includes directors (executive and non-executive) of the Company. The compensation paid or payable to key management for employee services, which is included in the employee benefit expense table above, is shown below: | | | | | | | | | 2026 | | 2025 | | 2024 | | | £’000 | | £’000 | | £’000 | Short-term employee benefits | | (4,510) | | (6,709) | | (2,938) | Share-based payments | | (1,110) | | (1,206) | | (2,341) | Termination benefits | | — | | — | | (5,725) | Post-employment benefits | | — | | — | | (26) | | | (5,620) | | (7,915) | | (11,030) |
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