Survey reveals high recruitment costs force companies to push costs down

The online consultant's network, Skillfair, (www.skillfair.co.uk) has announced details of its fourth annual survey of fee rates charged by independent consultants. Findings reveal that independent workers in the third sector are feeling the most pressure to lower their rates. The survey, conducted amongst over 500 consultants working in a range of disciplines from IT to marketing, spanned the public, private and voluntary sectors across the UK.

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Consultants cite pressure from clients, fierce competition and the need to maintain a pipeline of work as the key reasons for lowering fees. Down on average from last year, the third sector has the lowest daily rates in comparison to the public and private sectors.

Skillfair, which provides an online meeting place for consultants to pitch for client projects, urges organisations to cut down on recruitment agency fees and unnecessary management overheads and use savings to invest in top quality consultants.

Gill Hunt, managing director of Skillfair says: This pressure to drop fees is a worrying trend for the third sector. With the increased emphasis placed by politicians on using this sector for the delivery of public services, it's more important than ever that they have the right level of experienced commercial support to do this. Paying below the market rate will mean that they do not gain access to the best consultants. Equally it could discourage the best people from working in this sector. Organisations need to make sure that all available budget goes towards buying the best consultancy value.

The results outline that while independent consultants generally charge more competitive rates than large consultancy companies, they often find it difficult to balance the value for their services with the chargeable rate. According to the survey, the average daily fee rate across the UK for an experienced consultant is 535, compared to an average of 450 for the voluntary sector.

Full survey results are available at