Martyn Butler, founder · Updated 24 September 2026 · 8 minute read
Why the Philippines
English is one of the Philippines' two official languages, and it is the language of its schools, its law and its business. The country also has a large, long-established outsourcing industry, so there are a great many people with years of experience in customer service, admin and back-office work for overseas companies.
The other reason is the clock. A UK working day falls in the Filipino afternoon and evening, so your VA can work your hours without working through the night.
Decide what the job is before you look
The most common mistake is hiring a person before deciding the job. "Help with admin" attracts everyone and suits no one. Before you look at a single applicant, write down:
- The tasks, in the order you would hand them over. Start with work that repeats and follows rules.
- The hours: how many a week, and which UK hours they must cover.
- The tools they will work in, and what access each one needs.
- What good looks like after three months, in a sentence or two.
Where people find them
There are three routes, and each suits a different owner.
- Job boards built for Filipino remote workers, such as OnlineJobs.ph. You advertise, screen and hire yourself. The widest choice and the lowest cost; all of the vetting is yours.
- Freelance marketplaces, such as Upwork. Good for a defined project or a few hours a week; less suited to a long-term role that becomes part of your business.
- An agency or a managed service. Somebody else recruits and vets; with a managed service they also contract, pay and supervise the VA, and replace them if it does not work. You pay more per hour for that.
Contractor, not employee
A UK business engaging a VA who lives and works in the Philippines usually does so as an independent contractor, not as an employee. Put it in a written contract that covers the work, the hours, the pay and how it is paid, notice on both sides, confidentiality, and how they handle your data.
Filipino freelancers are responsible for registering and paying their own tax in the Philippines. Employment status and tax depend on the facts of each arrangement, so take advice from an accountant or employment adviser before you sign.
Hours across two time zones
The Philippines is on UTC+8 all year and does not change its clocks. The UK moves between GMT in winter and BST in summer, so the gap is eight hours in the UK winter and seven in the summer. A 9am start in the UK is 5pm in Manila in winter and 4pm in summer.
Agree the hours in UK time, and write the Manila time beside them so nobody has to work it out. Remember the gap changes twice a year when the UK clocks go forward and back.
Late hours matter to Filipino workers. Philippine employment law gives employees extra pay for night work between 10pm and 6am, and many contractors expect the same. If your hours run past 10pm Manila time, decide your position on a night rate before you advertise, and say it in the advert.
Pay, and how to pay it
Agree the currency (US dollars are common), the rate, and how often you pay: weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Pay reliably and on the day; nothing loses a good VA faster than late pay.
Most payments go through an international transfer service rather than a bank wire, because the fees are lower and the money arrives faster. Agree which one before the first payday.
Employees in the Philippines receive a "13th month" payment by law. A contractor is not entitled to it, but many expect something like it at the end of the year, so decide what you will do and write it down.
Holidays
The Philippines has regular holidays and special non-working days, set each year by proclamation, and they do not line up with UK bank holidays. Agree which days your VA takes, whether they are paid, and who covers the work while they are off.
Data protection and access
If your VA handles personal data, such as tenants' details or guests' messages, you are sending it outside the UK. UK GDPR needs a lawful basis for that; the usual route is the ICO's International Data Transfer Agreement. Take advice if you are unsure.
Give your VA their own login to each system wherever the software allows, or share access through a password manager. Never share your own password. Then access can be changed or removed in one step.
The first month
- Hand over three tasks, not thirty. Add more once those run without you.
- Write each one down as a procedure before they start it. Our guide to handing work to a VA shows how.
- Ask for a short update at the end of every day: what was done, what is waiting, what needs you.
- Book half an hour a week to go through it together. Most problems are small in week two and large in week eight.
Or have us do it
This is the work Mango & Co. does for UK businesses. We recruit for your role, test people on a paid task before you meet them, contract and pay your VA, supervise them from the UK, and replace them if it is not working, with your procedures kept.