A fair rate, £285 a day
To achieve an income comparable to a staff journalist on £25,000 a year, freelance journalists should be paid £285 for a day’s work, according to the 2009 Freelance Ready Reckoner.
The annual guide to the real cost of freelance work has been produced by Yorkshire freelance Andrew Bibby for the last four years. It provides, in tabular form, day rates for freelances working from their own premises, comparable to annual gross salaries in the range £20,000-£60,000.
The pay comparison table uses a range of publicly available data to calculate the real cost to employers of employing staff, covering such things as national insurance, employers’ liability insurance and the cost of recruitment, training and staff sickness, as well as business overheads.
The 2009-10 figures, released in October, actually show a slight decline on previous years, which Andrew Bibby says is attributable primarily to lower property costs.
As well as a guide to what freelances should be paid, the reckoner shows how badly employers exploit cheap freelance work, for few pay such rates. Full details at www.andrewbibby.com