What is the cheapest way to start?

A two-hour ad-hoc booking at £35 an hour — £70 total, no commitment. Most clients use it to clear one specific backlog and decide from there.

Are there any set-up or minimum contract fees?

No set-up fee and no minimum contract. Retainers run month to month and can be scaled up or down at review.

Why not use an offshore VA for less?

It can be cheaper per hour, but you trade UK hours, UK invoicing and HMRC context, and often continuity. For client-facing admin most UK small businesses find the difference matters more than the rate.

Do you charge more for weekends?

Standard hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Weekend and out-of-hours work is available at a premium rate by prior arrangement.

Affordable support

Affordable virtual assistant support in the UK

Affordable does not mean cheap labour offshore. It means paying only for worked hours, at a transparent published rate, without recruitment fees, employer National Insurance, pension contributions or paid-but-unproductive time attached.

Book a free 20-min call

UK based, EnfieldFully insuredICO registeredUK GDPR compliantNo long tie-ins

£35 an hour, published

The rate is on the website, not quoted after a discovery call. Two-hour minimum for ad-hoc work, no set-up fee.

Retainers from £280

8 hours a month for £280, 16 hours for £560, 32 hours for £1,080 — month to month, with no long tie-in.

No hidden overhead

No employer NI, pension, holiday pay, payroll processing, desk, laptop, software licence or notice period on top of the rate.

Why a UK VA can be cheaper than a cheap hire

A £28,000 administrator costs closer to £34,000 once employer National Insurance, pension contributions, holiday and sick cover, equipment and payroll administration are added — and that is before management time. Spread over a working year, contracted hours are paid whether or not there is work to fill them.

At £35 an hour, sixteen hours a month costs £6,720 a year and covers the work most owner-managed businesses actually need. The VA versus employee comparison works through the numbers, and the ROI calculator applies them to your own hourly value.

Where cheap goes wrong

Rates well below the UK market usually mean an offshore pool, a different time zone, no UK invoicing or HMRC context, and a new person every few weeks. The saving disappears the third time you re-explain your process, and mistakes in client-facing work cost more than the hours saved.

Affordable, done properly, means one named UK assistant on UK hours, insured and ICO registered, billed on worked time with a timed breakdown so you can see exactly what you bought.

Scope

What you are not paying for

Recruitment or agency placement fees
Employer National Insurance
Workplace pension contributions
Holiday, sick and parental pay
Payroll processing and HR admin
Desk space, laptop and phone
Software licences and subscriptions
Notice periods and redundancy risk

Questions

Common questions

What is the cheapest way to start?: A two-hour ad-hoc booking at £35 an hour — £70 total, no commitment. Most clients use it to clear one specific backlog and decide from there.
Are there any set-up or minimum contract fees?: No set-up fee and no minimum contract. Retainers run month to month and can be scaled up or down at review.
Why not use an offshore VA for less?: It can be cheaper per hour, but you trade UK hours, UK invoicing and HMRC context, and often continuity. For client-facing admin most UK small businesses find the difference matters more than the rate.
Do you charge more for weekends?: Standard hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Weekend and out-of-hours work is available at a premium rate by prior arrangement.

Pricing Part-time virtual assistant VA vs employee ROI calculator

See the numbers before you commit

Twenty minutes, no obligation, no pitch — we work out the hours you need and what they would actually cost.

Request a consultation