NUJ Rate for the Job:
recent rates for Translation
Updated: 2025-09-27
These rates have been reported by members of the National Union of Journalists and others, and printed in the Freelance, newsletter of London Freelance Branch. They are sorted by publisher/publication, then by date (most recent first). TIP: Use the "Find in page" command under your browser's "Edit" or "Search" menu to be sure of finding all occurrences of a publication/publisher. AND do note the year in which the rate was reported! See also the Freelance Fees Guide, which gives general recommendations. And read the disclaimer and the key to exactly what the entries mean.
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Publication / Programme - details & terms | Group | Year | ![]() |
Total paid | GR |
XXXX |
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Buzzfeed per day (unspecified language pairs) | 2017 | ![]() |
160.00 | |||
Academic client translating 19th-century texts from German to English: terms unclear! | 2020 | ![]() |
2100.00 | |||
Management consultancy platform internationalising a platform - English to Portuguese - advertised on Twitter - per 1000 words | 2023 | ![]() |
120.00 | |||
TF1 - TV France 2000 words (French/English) | 2016 | ![]() |
570.00 | |||
Translation German-English and English-German, non-technical, per A4 page (via #FreelancerPayGap) | 2020 | ![]() |
80.00 | |||
Translation German-English and English-German, technical, per A4 page (via #FreelancerPayGap) | 2020 | ![]() |
100.00 | |||
Unnamed Public Relations departments translations of PR texts and newspaper articles per 1000 words | 2016 | ![]() |
80.00 | |||
Key to the rates, by column: |
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1 Publication / Programme, any details of work and licence | ||||||
2 Owner at the time the rate was reported, where known | Group | |||||
3 The year in which the rate was reported | Year |
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4 Currency: either ![]() ![]() ![]() | ![]() |
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5 Amount paid (total of basic licence and extra licences for web use, database resale...) | Amount |
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7 "Going Rate" according to experienced NUJ members - do try to better it: | GR |
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or Minimum rate set out in NUJ House Agreement: | HA |
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8 Underpaid, in the fallible opinion of the Freelance editor: | ![]() | 50.00 | X |
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or Just sometimes we're pleasantly surprised: | ![]() | 1500.00 | O |
Other recent rates:
Type of work: | In the "sector": (click or tap below!) | ||||||
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Words, per 1000 | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
Words, other | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
Photography | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
Broadcasting | News | Local | Other including podcasting | ||||
Shifts | News | Local | Mag | online | Book | PR | Other |
Other: | Cartoons | Crosswords | Illustration | Punditry | Retainer | Teaching | Tip-off | Translation | ||||||
Recently reported rates | all from the past few months |

