Employee or Freelancer? The UK Cost Comparison

Being an employer in the UK has undergone a massive shift. Between the 2024 and the new Employment Rights Bill, the true cost of a permanent hire is skyrocketing both financially and legally.

And salary is only the starting point. When you hire a permeant member of staff, such as a  website or SEO manager, you aren’t just paying for their time; you’re also paying for a significant list of legal and financial liabilities. These risks can be enough to put an SME off hiring someone, but it’s particularly off-putting if the role doesn’t warrant taking on a full-time employee.

Most SME’s don’t need a full-time website optimisation manager. But they do need someone to work on their website regularly and provide direction and planning. It may fall to the marketing department (or person), but they have limited specialist website experience, so the website doesn’t reach its full potential. Realistically, you only need someone to work on it for 1 or 2 days per week (or perhaps even less – some of my clients retain my SEO services for just half a day per week / 2 days per month). But employing someone for such a part-time role comes with risk and responsibility for the employer. So, you put it off, but, unfortunately, this means your website doesn’t get the TLC it needs.

But all the risk can be avoided by choosing to use a freelance website manager and SEO consultant instead of employing one. Freelancers can provide all types of roles and job functions from sales, account, systems or marketing, so if you can’t take on staff, look for an experienced freelancer instead.

Risk & The Employment Rights Bill

.The Employment Rights Bill means more risk by introducing “Day 1” rights for employees. This makes the risk of a bad hire more serious, as it’s harder to dismiss employees without longer notice periods, potential tribunal risks and HR headaches. Not what a business owner needs when they’ve made a hiring mistake!

Statutory Sick Pay and family, maternal and paternity leave are also becoming rights from the first day of employment. So even if you do take on a great new hire, you’ll have to deal with (and pay for) any potential time off immediately. Consider cancelling out all these potential costs and hassles with a freelancer.

Freelancers Reduce The Risk of a Bad Hire

• There are no redundancy costs, no “Day 1” unfair dismissal claims, and no pension paperwork.
• If a freelancer is sick, they don’t work and don’t get paid.
• If your business has a quiet month, you can scale back the hours. When cash flow has improved, you can pick it up again.
• If your online marketing strategy changes, you can end the monthly retainer with 30 days’ notice. There’s no need to keep a permanent member of staff or worry about the legal ramifications of letting them go.
• Freelancers are responsible for their own holiday pay and maternity leave pay, so you don’t pay for their time off.

£70k Salary (Pro-Rata)  vs. Freelance Rates

When a business needs senior, strategic expertise but only has the budget or workload for a single day per week, the overhead of a permanent senior employee is extraordinarily high. Here is the direct commercial comparison between a veteran freelancer charging £350 a day versus a part-time employee on a £70,000 pro-rata salary.

Figures based on the 2025/26 tax year

Despite the annual pay costing more, by the time employee costs are deducted, the total day rate for the freelancer is more than £70 a day cheaper. The freelancer has worked nearly six more days over the course of the year. That’s not even taking any sick days for the employee are taken into consideration.

And as the freelancer’s time tends to be much more focused as they work from their home office and have fewer distractions. They only charge for the hours worked, and there’s no time wasted on catching up at the water cooler, internal meetings or company emails/news.So, more work gets done!

There’s also no need to spend time on staff management or onboarding. The employee may need training on company policy and other onboarding processes. Whereas the freelancer brings their own tools and expertise, and gets on with the job.

The risk factor is also significantly reduced. You can get rid of a bad freelancer easily, but an employee is a permanent liability. If they underperform, you’re still stuck with having to pay sick pay, consider flexible working requests, and it’s difficult to dismiss them.

Choose Flexibility Instead of Employer Liability

If your business only needs one day of help a week, becoming an employer (or taking on more staff) is a massive administrative burden. By the time you’ve paid for the recruitment, the mandatory insurance, the payroll software, and their 5.6 days of holiday, you are paying more than a professional freelance day rate and have a whole heap of responsibility with it.

Why take on the legal risk of an employee when you can hire a specialist for a similar cost and keep your business lean and flexible?

Navigating 2026: Scale Your Website Without the “Employer Tax

As a business owner, your goal is to grow your website and increase leads—not to become a part-time HR manager.

By choosing a freelance website optimisation consultant, you are trading a fixed legal liability for a flexible professional service. You get senior-level expertise immediately, and you only pay for the results delivered to your screen. In an uncertain economy, flexibility is your best profit strategy.

Ready to Grow your Website Without the HR Headache?

Check out 4 benefits of working with a freelance SEO consultant to see how a specialist approach can get you better results for less risk.

You can also find out about my services and read customer testimonials. 

To book a call to learn more about working together, get in touch.