You want to earn £60,000 per year as a freelance consultant. What should you charge per hour?
Your Goal
Desired take-home: £60,000/year
This is what you want in your pocket after taxes, overhead, and all business costs.
Your Availability
Billable hours per week: 20 hours
You work 40 hours per week, but only half is client-facing billable work. The rest is:
- Proposals and quotes: 6 hours
- Admin and invoicing: 4 hours
- Marketing and networking: 6 hours
- Learning and development: 4 hours
Holiday weeks: 4 weeks
You'll take 4 weeks off per year (you deserve it).
Working weeks: 52 - 4 = 48 weeks
Total billable hours per year: 20 × 48 = 960 hours
Your Business Overhead (Monthly)
Software and tools: £150
Professional insurance: £80
Coworking space: £250
Website and marketing: £120
Phone, internet: £50
Accounting/legal: £100
Equipment, upgrades: £50
Total per month: £800
Annual overhead: £800 × 12 = £9,600
Running the Calculation
Pre-tax requirement:
£60,000 (income) + £9,600 (overhead) = £69,600
With 30% tax buffer:
£69,600 × 1.30 = £90,480
This accounts for income tax and National Insurance at roughly 30% effective rate.
Hourly rate needed:
£90,480 ÷ 960 hours = £94.25/hour
Round up to £95/hour or £700/day (8-hour day).
Does This Make Sense?
Let's verify:
Annual revenue: 960 hours × £95 = £91,200
Tax (30%): £91,200 × 0.30 = £27,360
After-tax revenue: £91,200 - £27,360 = £63,840
Minus overhead: £63,840 - £9,600 = £54,240
Wait, that's only £54,240, not £60,000!
The Fix: Increase Buffer to 35%
Let's recalculate with a 35% tax buffer to be safer:
With 35% buffer:
£69,600 × 1.35 = £93,960
New hourly rate:
£93,960 ÷ 960 = £97.88/hour
Round to £100/hour or £750/day.
Verification:
960 × £100 = £96,000 revenue
35% tax = £33,600
After tax = £62,400
Minus £9,600 overhead = £52,800
Still short! The issue is that 30-35% might not be enough for self-employment taxes.
The Real Calculation (Accurate)
Let's work backwards:
To net £60,000:
- Need after overhead: £60,000
- Add overhead: £60,000 + £9,600 = £69,600 before tax
- Add 40% tax (realistic for self-employed): £69,600 ÷ 0.60 = £116,000 gross
- Hourly rate: £116,000 ÷ 960 = £120.83/hour
Round to £120/hour or £900/day.
Why Such a High Rate?
You might think "£120/hour is crazy, that's £249,600 if I worked 40 hours/week!"
But you don't bill 40 hours. You bill 20.
Employee equivalent:
£60,000 salary = £30/hour (2,000 work hours)
Your £120/hour × 20 billable/week = £2,400/week
52 weeks = £124,800 revenue
Minus tax and overhead ≈ £60,000 take-home
Employee COST to company:
£60,000 salary + employer NI (13.8%) + benefits = £72,000-£75,000
So £120/hour for 20 billable hours is roughly equivalent to a £60k employee, which costs the company £72k-£75k.
Adjusting for Experience
Junior (1-2 years): £120 × 0.7 = £85/hour
Mid-level (3-5 years): £120/hour (as calculated)
Senior (5-10 years): £120 × 1.3 = £156/hour
Expert (10+ years): £120 × 1.8 = £216/hour
The Lesson
To earn £60k take-home as a freelancer, you need a rate much higher than the equivalent employee salary. This accounts for:
- Non-billable time (50% of your hours)
- Self-employment taxes
- Business overhead
- No paid holiday or sick leave
- Income variability buffer
Use the calculator to find your real target rate.
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