Rank: New forum user 
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Hi everyone
Does anyone know how much a retainer fee should be for a H&S person?
Sharon
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Rank: Forum user 
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Depends what youre doing and how often the person will be contacting you for information, if infrequent then I suggest a flat rate, more often then a flat rate breaking into a pay per consultation fee over a set amount of consults.
Our dangerous goods guy is on a £250 a month retainer and that is flat rate plus unlimited any time calls to advise on dangerous goods. He also carries out a yearly DSEAR survey at our site's.
The dangerous goods thing is infrequent contacts, mainly in exceptional circumstances and the yearly audits are fairly standard too, money for old rope if you ask me.
Oh btw, dont price yourself too low and you may want to consider a fixed contract of 6 or 12 months running into a monthly contract after that period.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Our company ensures that there are no Retainer Fees paid to any of our professional advisors including accountants, lawyers, CDM Co-ordinators, H&S bods etc.
If we require their professional expertise we pay the rate for their services. None of them require retainer fees, we hire them as required. We negotiate a firm and fixed price for their services.
Any consultant or other service provider peddling a retainer is dismissed without further engagement or process.
Works well for us and certainly weeds out a number of the less scrupulous actors.
Jon
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Jon,
I have just entered the world of consultancy & my first client has actually asked me to work on a retainer basis!
Whilst it might not work for your organisation, it doesn't mean that it can't for others & where is your factual evidence that anybody doing so has less scruples??
Zyggy
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Rank: Super forum user
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Sharon - it's impossible to say how much it should be without knowing the size of the business and what response / service the client expects.
One way to estimate is to see what you might actually be doing for the client (number of visits and so on) and base it on your daily rate.
Be very careful to set out a proper contract with the client though. If they think the retainer means they can call you 24/7 and you will turn up at their premises to do absolutely anything they ask, then you need to be sure they are paying you properly!
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Totally agree Zyggy - 10% of my clients prefer paying me a retainer. Admitedly, they are small businesses but it works very well for both the clients and myself. The much larger companies and 'blue chip' global corporations prefer 'pay as you go' and that works for both of us as well. A bit like a Health & Safety Policy/Manual really, in business there is no 'one size fits all'.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Totally agree Zyggy - 10% of my clients prefer paying me a retainer.
So 90% prefer not to pay a retainer - this seems to chime with my contention.
Zyggy.
We sought the services of a Consultant from a well known outfit. He (the employee) had 300+ clients to provide 2 visits per year all over the UK. A 315 A4 page H&S Manual containing 99% useless material would be presented on signing up for a 3 year deal at £3K per annum . There would be two visits per year one to review and the other to audit. Each visit would be followed by a Report of his findings. He had no exposure to our industry.
Take a look at the figures presented - 300+ clients from every corner of UK over a 42 week period.
Factor in travelling times and preparation of Reports to establish the quality of service provided. We used consultants as required and saved our £K9.
If you can persuade a punter to pay a retainer fee so be it. All I say is that it is not necessary or desirable.
Jon
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