Salaries for temporary and contract workers

People often think that if they work on a temporary basis that they will earn less money. This is seldom the case. It works in a similar way to that if you were taking on a permanent position. Your hourly rate will be based on your notional market value as a permanent employee and your earnings should be comparable.

The sector may affect your income. Typically rates will be a little higher in the private than in the public sector.

In some cases, temporary or special project lawyers opt to undertake work for which they are over qualified. In such cases they do expect to take a rate that is less than their notional 'market' worth.

Hourly rates

However, working on a temporary basis usually means working on an hourly basis, and so you get paid for every hour that you actually work. On a permanent salary you often have to work over your standard hours for no more money. On a temporary basis, if your workload demands you "pulling an all nighter" - you usually get paid for it!

When we calculate your hourly pay rate, we will normally pro rata the amount that you would/do earn as an annual salary.

For example, if role for which you are applying would pay £50,000 per year on a permanent basis, we break it down as follows.

Firstly we divide by 52 as there are 52 weeks in the year - £961.54

Then divide by the standard weekly hours for that employer eg. 37.

£961.54 / 37 = £25.97 ( In addition you should earn working holiday pay under the Working Time Directive.)

If you are providing services via a Limited Company rather than PAYE, you are also entitled to your National Insurance payment in advance - currently at 12.8%. We simply add this to your hourly rate. Please note that temporaries who offer their services via a limited company are not entitled to working holiday pay.