Freelance admin - what rate to charge?

[pottypeppa77]

Having been a SAHM for the last 3 years, I've just been given the opportunity to do a few hours a week freelance admin work for someone on a self employed basis. I've been told that they may have work available for me depending on what my rate is and I've no idea what to suggest and wondered if anyone doing similar work on a self employed basis could help? I was thinking around £10 to £12 an hour? I can type extremely fast and am good with spreadsheets etc and earned about £10 an hour in my former permanent full time role (but obviously got holiday/sick pay/employer NI contributions). I am based in Beds/Herts. I'm really keen to get back to work and don't want to quote too high and lose the opportunity but don't want to undersell myself either.

I'd charge much more than that, though it's not my area of work. But if you earned that in your employed job that included the various benefits you listed then you'd want more money now to make up for the fact that you've lost those perks. I would say £25-£30 per hour and if the client balks then drop a bit. Don't start at rock bottom in the hope that they'll up it cos they won't.
Google 'virtual personal assistant' or 'virtual PA Herts' and get a feel for what others in your area charge.
Good luck!

Thanks for replying. Virtual pa's in this area seem to charge about £25 an hour as you suggest. However someone else suggested that I try to under cut what a local agency would charge for an admin temp (which I think would be around £12 an hour) but that would obviously be to work on an employer's premises where they foot the overheads. So perhaps I should try to find a happy medium between the two.

The advantage you have over a temp from an agency is continuity, trust that you'll do a good job and you'll build up knowledge of the business so won't require someone to explain what they want you to do.

If the client opted for the temp route then isn't there the risk that they might get a different person each time? And it might be someone who's not that great and almost certainly would need more instruction than someone who does the work on a regular basis.

If you are "worth" £10 as an employee, then you could probably assume you actually cost the employer more. A rough calculation:

£10 x 35 hrs x 52 weeks = £18,200.
Employer NI = £125 (is dependant on lots of things but I did a rough calc and lets call it £125 per month)
Pension @ 4% = £910 per yr
So £18,200 + £1500 (£125 x 12) + £910 = £20,610. That is £11.32 an hour. But you should also include the costs of sickness, holiday (ie on productivity), other benefits and training budget. So at least £12 ph.

Does the prospective client know your previous pay? They could well assume you were being paid more etc.

I think you also need to think about whether or not this is the start of a VA business. If it is, you need to think in terms of saving 25% for tax/NI (assuming you earn enough) expenses etc which will all eat into the hourly rate.

I personally (and it is very easy for me, a stranger online!) think you should go in at £15 per hour and see if they knock you down? Finding a reliable consistent person is very valuable. I would imagine most businesses would expect to pay that sort of rate. I don't think it is unreasonable.

There have been lots of threads on here where a lot of us (me included) all started off too low. Hate to say it but a man might well say "I am worth much more than I was paid previously, I'll ask for £25"!

Good luck.

As a thought, I have got more respect and better clients the more I charge.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I've just emailed the friend who has sourced the potential client for me to say that the going rate seems to be anything between £13 p/h up to £25 p/h and to ask if she has any idea what the person is looking to pay. I've said that I don't want to work for peanuts since I am hoping I could build this into a liveable part time job but, on the other hand, that I am really keen to get back to work (and work from home jobs are hard to come by!). I may be copping out a bit here by not quoting a definite rate but it's really hard to guess what someone will pay when I know nothing about them.

As this is your first client and you need the experience on your CV, I would go in a little lower too. I think £15 per hour is reasonable, allowing for the fact that you can also claim for things like printing, postage and other expenses. (make sure you do).

I do a little admin too and charge about that - but it is for a regular client who I know well and who I do writing work for at a higher rate. So it works out.