Just before the end of each calendar year we review our hourly rates and publish them on our web site; the new rates described below come into effect for all work performed from 1st January 2022.
The cost of living is set to rise by a considerable amount in 2022. UK inflation had already hit a 10 year high by November 2021; energy bills have already risen significantly and will do so again in April 2022. The government are unlikely to make any progress in changing to the ridiculous way the energy price is calculated and so 2022 is set to be a tough year for many, including the people you depend upon to provide meaningful IT support to your business.
While my staff are worried about paying their next energy bill or saving for a hefty deposit to get on the ladder in a broken UK housing market, they might not be able to work completely effectively – so in line with our Purpose and Values, we will be addressing the cost of living increase on two fronts:
- We will be increasing our hourly rate to accommodate the anticipated inflation rate for 2022 which is expected to comfortably exceed 5% in April when the cost of energy increases, though this may fall back towards the end of the year.
- We plan to be paying at least the Real Living Wage by the end of 2022 for all staff. This is higher than the governments “so called” national living wage rate. The real Living Wage rates are higher because they are independently-calculated based on what people need to get by.
In order to mitigate these factors we will be increasing our standard hourly rate from £53.50 per hour to £56.50 per hour from 1st January 2022, an increase of around five and a half percent. If you are one of our RMM subscribers, you will still receive your discount and so the effective hourly rates are will now be £50.85, £48.03 or £45.20 depending upon your business type. For more details please see our How We Work page which will be updated in January 2022 to reflect the new rates which are still very competitive.