I. J. on 16/06/2010 08:55
Under £10 an hour? No thank you.

S. H. on 16/06/2010 10:05
Iris has a point actually. The average hourly rate is over 3 times what you're offering. Even so, it's a lovely idea, and if it's in a good cause I might consider making a bid.
Could you let me know a little about yourself? Are you a charity, a business, or is this a personal mission?

J. O. on 16/06/2010 11:09
The problem with asking for lower rates for a good cause is that the person who does the work effectively makes a huge personal donation. In this case it\'s the other £200 that they could be earning in those 10 hours. And it\'s quite likely the person will have children themselves, who will then have to go without because their parent is not making a living wage.
But in this case of course the donation would be going to a commercial venture. I have checked out Voice in a Million and Classic Media Group and can find no reference of money being donated to BAAF or another charity, although it will raise awareness. Please correct me if this is wrong.
In any case, I think if you are charging £14 for a T-shirt you can afford to pay a living wage to your suppliers.

S. H. on 16/06/2010 11:39
Thank you for the invitation to bid which I am declining due to the low rate per hour.
Regards
Sian Hoskins

B. S. on 16/06/2010 12:41
Hi there

Am very interested in this work - could you possibly tell me if any of the work requires working directly with the press, or producing SEO web copy?

Many thanks!

J. B. on 16/06/2010 18:46
Hi,

The calculation of £75,000 a year from an hourly rate is, inevitably, based on an assumption that every freelance hour is spent on paid work. Just like you, freelancers have to go off on training courses, have meetings, keep briefed on specialist subjects, attend industry specific events, network, spend time on essential admin and pause for a cup of coffee (and a trip to the loo) between tasks. Not to mention write pitches for jobs on PPH (which take thought, effort and careful attention to detail to make a good impression - and that takes time, often without success). These hours are unpaid hours. Meanwhile, people in employed jobs do these tasks in paid time - and they usually have their coffee and loo paper (computers, printers, filing cabinets, files, landline and mobile phones, headed paper, pens, pads ...) provided by their employer. So, it is wrong to calculate our total income from an hourly rate.

The reality is that many freelancers earn very little - and to be expected to be paid even less per hour by PPH clients who pay themselves for these downtime tasks is rather rich, if you'll excuse the expression.

As an example, UK high street lawyers have an hourly rate of £195 (pretty typical these days) but their salary is in the region of £35,000 to £40,000. The rest goes on overheads, insurance, training, secretarial support and, yes, letting them out of the office for meetings, training, networking and providing them with the tools they need to do their job. So, if £195 an hour equals £35,000 to £45,000 a year; £30 an hour does not equal £75,000 a year.

I hope this explanation helps.

Jo

J. O. on 16/06/2010 22:21
The problem is this. very few freelancers can charge out more than half the time they spend working. £10 pr hour means less than £200 per week or £10000 pa, and that\'s if the work keeps coming in. As well as the expenses mentioned by Joanna, we have no sick pay, holiday pay, or pension provision. It all comes out of that tenner. Taking everything into account you would be lucky to clear £5k at this rate although in reality many freelances go without holidays and pension contributions.
I think what people find especially repugnant here is that this \'good cause\' is clearly a commercial venture, not a charity. You claim your aim is to make children happy, yet what about the people trying to raise kids on this kind of money? They will clearly just have to go without.
Sure you can get a reasonable job for the money. We\'ve just been through a recession and people are desperate. Is it OK to take advantage of that? You tell me.

J. B. on 17/06/2010 03:20
Hello again,

You have just made our point for us. "We are not philanthropists, we have limited resources and have a budget to work within." That is, I believe, what our collective comments were saying about freelancing - we are professionals looking for professional commissions at professional rates so we can eke out a living within our modest budgets.

My earlier comment was not as you say it was. I was not giving you a hard time or asking you to justify or apologise for offering the work. I was responding to your wild allegation (that £30 an hour enables us to earn £75,000 a year) by explaining the reality of how freelancers work and what we have to pay for out of the tiny hourly rate clients seem to expect us to pull out the stops for.

Judy's calculation is correct. If freelancers manage to charge for half the time they spend working they are considered to be doing very well. Our best incomes are low.

And the other thing to bear in mind is that many freelancers will already be doing voluntary work. We don't need to be given the chance to do more and nor do we appreciate having the wool pulled over our eyes. We are on this site to earn money.

It is unfortunate for you that you have been drawn into a long-running whinge from us but we are sick of reading exploitative offers from clients who are more than able to pay a decent rate but who hope they can pick up high quality on the cheap. You say you have 25 years' experience as if that will mark you out as somehow different from us. I've been in communications for over 30 years. I reckon that my value to clients is a lot higher than £10 an hour.

Jo

R. G. on 17/06/2010 07:55
As the comments now appear to be becoming rather heated in what seems to have turned into an open forum, I will no longer be responding. I have endevoured to clarify the work I am offering which I understood to be the purpose of this part of the site;and have received a number of suitable bids from some superb candidates. I have a business to run and can spend no more time in this unnecessary exchange of opinions.
I wish those of you that have aired your views the best of luck in finding work, with whatever level of remuneration you require or desire.