Rank: Forum user 
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Hello all, I have a friend who has been asked to go to a property developer to provide service in the form of: - Safety management system - Risk assessment - policy writing, etc. I was wondering if anyone could help me out in advising a suitable day rate to charge, as this is a new area to both myself and my friend? Edited by user 22 March 2018 10:00:42(UTC)
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Rank: Super forum user 
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How long is a piece of string? Depends on many factors. However a typical H&S salary is around £45k Hint - there are about 220 working days per year or 1880hrs yr (40hrs/week x 47 weeks/yr). Are you expecting to get paid for every hour or as many consultants might only get paid for 75% of available hours. So back calculate from that a daily rate, not forgetting to allow for business taxes if working via your own Ltd company. I have recently seen rates as low as £30/hr... which is pathetic. What does your local plumber/electrican/garage charge? Presume you want to get paid at least the same.
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 1 user thanked Ian Bell2 for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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....and lots of other variables including the experience, qualifications etc of your friend, how much Professional Indemnity Insurance they want to take out and so on. Property Developer might well be looking for lump sum fees for certain elements. Beware if e.g. systems are going to end up going through numerous versions before adoption. Rates could also be variable according to the nature of the client and the type of work. For example, my hourly rate is much lower on work done under Frameworks for major clients than for e.g. expert witness commissions on a one off basis.
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1 user thanked peter gotch for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Excellent advice from both Ian & Peter, & it was something I agonised about when I first started out as a consultant!
There is always the phenomena where if you ask for a low rate, there is an assumption from some organisations that you can't be that good!
I found this out when I was approached to do some expert witness work by solicitors & our figures were miles apart....theirs were much higher!
So in a nutshell, don't undersell yourself!
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Rank: Super forum user
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Agree with #3. charge rates also depend on your own experience/qualification. Additionally which industry you work in also affects charge rates I work in design & process safety, even with relatively low oil prices fees remain better than general safety rates. Safety engineering commands (usually) a better rate than occupational safety.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Originally Posted by: Ian Bell2  However a typical H&S salary is around £45k
:o(
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Rank: Super forum user
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Originally Posted by: chris42 Originally Posted by: Ian Bell2 However a typical H&S salary is around £45k
:o(
:o( indeed...
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Rank: Super forum user 
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In IOSH's last salary survey, the average salary was £40k.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Its easy enough to get an initial ball park figure to work out what a consultant needs to charge to cover his salary. There are plenty of websites that produce tax estimates, broken down into annual/monthly/weekly amounts. I use this site https://worksmart.org.uk/tools/tax-calculator because it breaks figures down into the weekly/monthly figures etc. After that, add on an 'inefficiency' factor - to try and effectively get paid for 100% of the yearly hours - because in reality most consultants work probably more in the 60-75% rate of client chargeable hours. As previous also add in business taxes and business costs - insurance etc. The last time I called a plumber out to my house, he was charging £65/hr. I don't see that h&s consultants should be charging less.
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Rank: Forum user
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When I was self-employed, I had different rates - hourly rate, half day was 3 x hourly, whole day was slightly rounded down (not quite 8 x hourly). I had a different rate for the public sector/charity, mainly because the NHS have capped rates and local govt/charities were aware of it. I was also willing to negotiate a little lower for longer term/contract work.
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1 user thanked lorna for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Lorna, that's the way I have approached it as well, but the only addition I would make is to factor in what exactly the client wants me to do for them & the level of specialism/experience required.
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