Virtual Assistant Rates UK 2026: Hourly Rates, Packages & What to Charge

Virtual assistant rate calculator

Two questions, two answers. If you are a VA, work back from what you need the business to earn. If you are hiring, price up a retainer before you get on a call. Both tabs show the arithmetic so you can check it.

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UK virtual assistant rates by experience and specialism

Experience matters less than what you can take off a client's plate without supervision. These bands describe the work, not the years. The top three bands are anchored to the published rates in the table further down; the starting-out band is deliberately lower, because new VAs without a track record typically price below the published market to win their first clients.

What UK virtual assistants and agencies actually publish

Most rate articles quote a range with no source. These are the actual published prices we read, with links, so you can check every one. Providers whose published figure is not a standard hourly rate are listed but excluded from the median.

• VA-VOS

  Solo freelancer

  £25 an hour, one-hour minimum

  Combined VA and bookkeeping service, which is unusually good value at this rate.

• Admin and More

  Agency

  £30, £27.50 or £25 an hour depending on the block bought

  Packages: £300 for 10 hours, £550 for 20 hours, £1,000 for 40 hours

  Explicitly stated as plus VAT — one of the few providers that says so on the page.

• Time etc

  Agency

  £31 an hour falling to £27 an hour on larger plans

  Packages: £310 for 10 hours, £600 for 20 hours, £1,160 for 40 hours, £1,680 for 60 hours

• Virtalent

  Agency

  £31 an hour falling to £27 an hour on larger plans

  Packages: £310 for 10 hours up to £2,700 for 100 hours

• Virtually Edge

  Agency

  £30 an hour, ad hoc and across every package

  Packages: £300 for 10 hours, £600 for 20 hours, £900 for 30 hours

• The Virtual Colleagues

  Agency

  £35 an hour, held flat across every retainer band

  Packages: £525 to £2,100 a month for 15 to 60 hours

• Executive VA

  Solo freelancer

  “Prices start at £38 per hour”

  Executive-assistant level work rather than general admin.

• MK Virtual Assistant

  Solo freelancer

  £38 an hour, £50 an hour out of hours

  Packages: Day rate £350 for 7 hours

• Your Virtual Executive Assistant

  Solo freelancer

  £40 an hour ad hoc

  Packages: Day rate £275; monthly retainers £780 to £1,440

• The VA Hub

  Agency

  £60 an hour, but only for hours beyond the agreed retainer

  Packages: £300 to £2,200 a month, priced per project rather than per hour

  Excluded from the market calculation: the hourly figure is an overage rate, not a standard rate.

• Mad About Bookkeeping

  Specialist

  Bookkeeping from £34.65 an hour; £50 an hour manager; £100 an hour partner

  Excluded from the market calculation: a regulated bookkeeping practice rather than a VA service.

Independent benchmarks

• Average UK VA hourly rate

  £32.35 an hour

  Society of Virtual Assistants

• Specialist VAs

  Can command around £50 an hour

  Society of Virtual Assistants

• Associate (subcontracted) VA pay

  £21.97 an hour

  Society of Virtual Assistants

• Employed virtual assistant salary, England

  £30,982 a year average base salary

  Indeed, updated 18 June 2026, 23 salaries reported

Employed-salary data measures a different market from freelance pricing, so it is reported here for context and is not blended into the median above.

Monthly virtual assistant packages and what they cost

Nearly every UK provider sells blocks of hours rather than open-ended time. Typical figures are what the providers in our table publish; the wider range reflects specialist and executive-level services.

• 10 hours a month

  £300–£310

  Wider range £250–£400

  A sole trader drowning in inbox and invoicing. Roughly two hours a week — enough to hold admin steady, not to change anything.

• 20 hours a month

  £550–£600

  Wider range £500–£700

  A small business that wants a genuine second pair of hands most days, and can hand over a whole area such as scheduling or supplier chasing.

• 30–40 hours a month

  £900–£1,160

  Wider range £900–£1,440

  A founder handing over a defined function. At this level the relationship works far better with an agreed remit than a task list.

• 60+ hours a month

  £1,680–£2,700

  Wider range £1,600–£2,700

  Near-part-time cover. Compare against the cost of employing someone — the employed average base salary in England is £30,982 before employer costs.

Hourly, retainer or packaged: which pricing model to use

What moves a virtual assistant's rate

How specialist the task is

General inbox and diary work is the most competitive part of the market. Bookkeeping, CRM builds, paid social and launch management move you into the £45–£60 band because far fewer people can do them.

Who the client is

A sole trader buying five hours a month is price-sensitive in a way a funded startup buying forty is not. The same work is priced differently depending on what it is worth to the buyer.

Where the work comes from

Global freelance marketplaces push entry rates down hard. Direct referrals and a niche reputation are what let UK VAs hold £30-plus.

Out of hours and urgency

Evening, weekend and same-day work is legitimately charged higher. One provider in our sample publishes £38 an hour standard and £50 out of hours — a 32% premium.

Unbilled admin the client creates

Long calls, chasing information and scattered instructions all consume unpaid time. If a client generates a lot of it, price accordingly or agree a communication routine.

Whether you sell hours or an outcome

Hourly pricing caps your income at the hours you can work. Outcome pricing is the only route past that ceiling without hiring associates.

Hiring a virtual assistant: what to ask before you agree a rate

The headline hourly rate is rarely the whole cost. These seven questions explain most of the difference between two quotes that look identical.

1. 1. Is the rate inclusive of VAT?

   Most UK VA pricing pages do not say. A VAT-registered provider adds 20%, turning £30 an hour into £36. Ask before comparing quotes.

2. 2. What happens to unused hours?

   Expire monthly, roll over, or roll over with a cap — all three are common. This single answer can change your effective rate by a fifth.

3. 3. What is the overage rate?

   Some providers charge a materially higher rate for hours beyond the retainer. One in our sample publishes £60 an hour for excess hours.

4. 4. Is time billed in minutes or rounded up?

   A one-hour minimum on every small task makes a £30 rate behave like a much higher one if your work arrives in ten-minute pieces.

5. 5. Who actually does the work?

   Agencies may allocate an associate. That is fine, but ask about continuity, cover during holidays, and whether you get the same person each week.

6. 6. Are tools and subscriptions extra?

   Scheduling, design and project software is sometimes billed on top. Get it listed on the quote.

7. 7. Is it a contractor or an employee arrangement?

   A VA is a self-employed supplier who invoices you, controls how the work is done and works for other clients. If you are directing their hours like an employee, take advice on employment status.

Tax, VAT and getting set up

How we produced these figures

On 31 August 2026 we read the public pricing pages of UK virtual assistant freelancers and agencies and recorded what each one publishes. Where a provider publishes a sliding scale we used the midpoint of its own band. The median is calculated from the 9 providers publishing a comparable standard hourly rate; overage rates, regulated bookkeeping practices, offshore-staffing pricing and employed salary data are excluded and reported separately. One provider's page could not be retrieved and was left out entirely. No survey of our own sits behind these numbers.

Found your rate? Work out whether the business adds up

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Ready to launch?

You now know what UK VAs charge, how packages work and what your numbers could look like. The VA Launch Pack turns that research into a practical first-week plan.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge as a virtual assistant in the UK?

Across 9 UK providers publishing their own rates in 2026, hourly prices run from £25 to £40 with a median of £30 an hour. Most established general VAs sit between £27 and £35, executive-assistant work is £38–£45, and specialists such as bookkeepers and online business managers charge £45–£60 or price by outcome. Start from what you need the business to earn each month divided by the hours you can genuinely invoice, then sense-check it against those bands.

What is the average UK virtual assistant hourly rate?

The Society of Virtual Assistants puts the average UK VA hourly rate at £32.35, with specialists commanding around £50. Our own review of published UK provider pricing gives a median of £30 an hour, which is consistent once you allow for the fact that agencies discount larger retainers. Employed virtual assistants are a separate market: Indeed reports an average base salary of £30,982 a year in England.

Is £20 an hour too cheap for a virtual assistant?

As a permanent rate in the UK, yes for most people. At £20 an hour, 15 billable hours a week is about £1,300 a month before business costs and personal tax, and billable hours are always fewer than hours worked. Only one provider in our published sample charges below £27. Use a low rate deliberately and briefly — to win your first clients and testimonials — then raise it.

How much does it cost to hire a virtual assistant in the UK?

Expect roughly £300–£310 a month for 10 hours, £550–£600 for 20 hours, £900–£1,160 for 30–40 hours and £1,680–£2,700 for 60–100 hours from established UK providers. Check whether VAT is included, what happens to unused hours and what the overage rate is, because those three answers change the real cost more than the headline hourly rate does.

Should I charge hourly or use a monthly retainer?

Use hourly for new or unpredictable clients, and move anyone steady onto a monthly retainer paid in advance. Retainers are how almost every UK VA business in our sample sells, because they make income predictable for you and cost predictable for the client. Agree in writing what happens to unused hours and what you charge beyond the block.

How many billable hours can a virtual assistant realistically work?

Fewer than the hours you sit at the desk. Prospecting, proposals, invoicing, your own admin and unpaid calls are real work you cannot bill. A part-time VA doing 15 hours a week typically invoices 10–12 of them, so set your rate on billable hours only — that is what the calculator on this page does.

Do I need to register as self-employed and charge VAT?

You must register as a sole trader with HMRC if you earn more than £1,000 from self-employment in a tax year. VAT registration is only mandatory once your taxable turnover passes £90,000 in a rolling 12 months, which is well above most part-time VA income; you can deregister if turnover falls below £88,000. If you do register, your £30 rate becomes £36 to VAT-inclusive clients, so say clearly on your quotes whether prices include VAT. This is general information, not tax advice.

How do I raise my rates with existing clients?

Give notice in writing, at least a month ahead, with a specific date and a specific new rate. Do not apologise or justify at length. Point to what has changed — more responsibility, faster turnaround, a skill you now bring — and offer to keep the current rate for a fixed transition period if the relationship matters. Raising rates annually as routine is far easier than one large correction after three years.