What a Filipino virtual assistant costs in 2026, in pounds

Martyn Butler, founder · Updated 25 September 2026 · 6 minute read

The going rate, by experience

A useful starting point is the rate guide published by OnlineJobs.ph, a job board built for hiring Filipino remote workers. Its guide was last updated in April 2026 and gives local market rates for a general virtual assistant at three levels of experience. It quotes them in US dollars; we have converted them at the Bank of England's rate on 24 September 2026, $1.3220 to the pound.

Level	Per hour (USD)	Per hour (GBP)	Full-time month (USD)	Full-time month (GBP)
Beginner	$3 to $5	£2.27 to £3.78	$480 to $900	£363 to £681
Intermediate	$6 to $9	£4.54 to £6.81	$800 to $1,100	£605 to £832
Expert	$10 to $12	£7.56 to £9.08	$1,200 to $2,000	£908 to £1,513

What those levels mean

A beginner has not done the work before and needs a clear written process to follow. An intermediate VA has done similar work for other clients and needs a process rather than hand-holding. An expert can take a task and do it to a high standard with little instruction, and can be trusted with judgement calls on your behalf.

The bands overlap, and they are a guide rather than a price list. Exceptional people ask for more, and the same guide shows that what jobseekers say they want can sit above or below the local rate. Treat the table as where a conversation starts.

Exchange rates move. A pound bought $1.3220 on 24 September 2026; if it falls, the same dollar rate costs you more in pounds, and if it rises, less. If you pay in dollars, check the rate before you set a budget.

Why the rates look the way they do

Remote work for overseas clients pays well by local standards. The International Labour Organization's figures, drawn from the Philippine Labour Force Survey, put median monthly earnings for employees in clerical support jobs in the Philippines at ₱19,619 in 2024, which was about £268 at that year's average exchange rate.

That is the point to take from it. A good Filipino VA is not choosing between you and a local office job. They are choosing between you and other overseas clients who pay in dollars. That is your real competition when you set a rate.

Specialist roles cost more

Work that needs a trained skill or a specific platform commands more than general admin, especially at the top of the range. The same OnlineJobs.ph guide gives separate hourly bands for specialist roles. A few that UK small businesses often ask about, converted at the same rate:

Role	Beginner	Intermediate	Expert
General virtual assistant	£2.27 to £3.78	£4.54 to £6.81	£7.56 to £9.08
Accountant (the nearest role to bookkeeping)	£3.78 to £5.30	£6.05 to £7.56	£8.32 to £12.10
E-commerce VA	£3.40 to £5.30	£4.54 to £6.05	£7.56 to £9.08
Real estate VA	£3.03 to £5.30	£4.54 to £6.05	£6.05 to £7.56

Reading the specialist bands

Bookkeeping and accounts work sits highest, which fits: mistakes cost money, and experience with Xero or QuickBooks is worth paying for. E-commerce work is priced much like general admin at most levels.

Real estate VAs come out lower in the guide, but those bands are for property admin in general, not UK work. Experience of UK lettings, UK compliance dates or UK short-let platforms is harder to find, so expect to pay towards the top of the band, or above it, for someone who already knows the work. If you cannot find that experience, a capable generalist with good written procedures is often the better hire.

What a UK admin hire costs you

Now the other side. Below are two full-time UK admin hires, costed at the employer rates for 2026 to 2027: employer National Insurance at 15% on pay above £5,000 a year, and the minimum auto-enrolment pension contribution of 3% on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270.

	At the National Living Wage	At the ONS median for admin jobs
Salary	£24,785 (£12.71 an hour, 37.5 hours a week)	£30,787 (full-time median, year to April 2025)
Employer National Insurance	£2,968	£3,868
Employer pension (minimum)	£556	£736
Total a year	£28,309	£35,391
Per hour actually worked	£16.27	£20.34

How the UK figures are worked out

The National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026.
The ONS median is for full-time employees in administrative occupations in the tax year to 5 April 2025, the latest the ONS has published. Pay has generally risen since, so today's figure is likely to be higher.
Per hour worked divides the total by 46.4 working weeks of 37.5 hours, because a full-time employee is entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year.
Recruitment, equipment, software, sick pay and cover are not included. Each adds to the UK figure.

The Employment Allowance

Many small employers can claim the Employment Allowance, which reduces employer National Insurance by up to £10,500 a year in 2026 to 2027. For a first hire it may cover the National Insurance entirely. Not every business can claim it: a company whose only director is also its only employee paying National Insurance cannot, for example. Check with your accountant before you count on it.

Hiring direct or through a managed service

The rates above are what you pay a VA you find and engage yourself. That is the cheapest route per hour, and it is a good one if you have the time and the appetite for it. Everything around the rate is yours: advertising, screening, testing, the contract, paying across borders, cover when they are off, and starting again if it does not work.

A managed service costs more per hour than hiring direct and a good deal less than a UK hire. With Mango & Co., we recruit and vet people for your role, set the one you choose a paid task from your real work before they are hired, contract and pay your VA, supervise them from the UK, and replace them if it is not working, with your procedures kept. Your VA is contracted to us, so there is no employer National Insurance on your side, and the monthly price includes cover for their holiday and sick days.

Why paying too little costs you more

It is tempting to hire at the bottom of the beginner band and hope. OnlineJobs.ph's own guide warns against it: underpaid VAs are more likely to leave once something better comes along. It also warns against paying far above the market, which tends to attract people who are good at getting hired rather than good at the work.

Turnover is where the real cost sits. Each time a VA leaves, you lose the weeks spent training them, the knowledge of your business they had built up, and your own time finding and briefing the next one. A VA who stays three years at a fair rate costs far less than three who each stay a year at a cheap one.

Pay within the band for the level you actually need, not the level you hope to get away with.
Pay on time, every time, in the currency you agreed.
Review pay once a year, based on the work they have done.
Decide your position on holidays and a year-end bonus before you hire, and write it down.

Costs people forget when hiring direct

International transfer fees, and the exchange rate margin on each payment.
Any job board subscription or marketplace fee.
Software licences for the tools your VA works in.
Philippine public holidays, which do not line up with UK bank holidays.
Your own time: recruiting, onboarding and managing. For most owners this is the largest cost of all.

Work out your own numbers

The fairest comparison is not one hourly rate against another. It is everything a UK hire costs you against everything a VA arrangement costs you, for the hours you actually need.

Our page on what a VA costs has a calculator for the UK side, where you can put in the rate you would really pay. If you would like the whole picture for your business, including which jobs to hand over first and what a managed VA would cost next to a UK hire, our free plan at /fit takes about three minutes.