Things might be looking up for the UK’s freelance consultants, but the pay they charge for their services has fallen by an average of 8 per cent, a sector report reveals.
Having surveyed more than 40,000 freelance professionals, Skillfair said their typical fee in 2009 stood at £523 a day, down from £565 a day in the previous year.
Given the state of the jobs market as a whole, the pay reading for 2009 suggests clients are “still prepared to pay realistic rates” for freelance skills, the staffing group said.
It also claimed that the dwindling rates were partly due to a growing number of freelancers working through agencies, where take-home pay was estimated to be 15 per cent less.
But the main cause of rates slipping, and the reason why a “lot of consultants” have “been asked to work for derisory rates” is the economy, said Skillfair founder Gill Hunt.
She told FreelanceUK: “Interestingly, they're quite comfortable with this if the client is in genuine need - but much less happy if they think an agency is protecting their margins by passing all the pressure down.”
According to the group, nine out of ten freelance consultants expect pay rates to stay the same or increase in 2010, indicating that the bulk of rate reductions are in place already.
The freelancers who have seen their rates reduce the least work in change management and other high level consultancy roles, including telecoms, engineering and IT management.
In contrast, consultants supplying financial services and retail clients have been the hardest hit, the findings show, with similar but less marked pay cuts for those providing IT solutions, IT project management and IT infrastructure services.
Daily rates for freelance researchers, writers, editors, graphic designers and PR practitioners have also fallen, and were sometimes even withdrawn in favour of requests to work ‘pro-bono.’
Mar 16, 2010
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