NUJ Rate for the Job:
Shifts / online

Updated: 20 December 2017

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" 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.

Shifts / online Writing and editing work primarily for online-only use, paid by the day or the hour. (The 'extras' column is irrelevant for subbing shifts. For writing, it would refer to additional print use.) August 2012: We've moved rates for online editions of newspapers and magazines into the 'news' or 'mags' listings.
Tell us what you've been paid for Shifts / online		Freelance Fees Guide
Publication / Programme - details & terms	Group	Year		Basic fee	Extras	GR	XXXX
Electronic Telegraph subbing day	_Holl	1997		120	-		X
Financial Times subbing day	_Pearson	1999		105	-		X
FT.com day	_Pearson	1998		105	-		X
Guardian 8 hours 'community management', community coordination training journalists on community issues etc.	_GMG	2013		85		GR	XXXX
Infrastructure Journal (TopRight Group) reporting day		2013		106.50
Mail on Sunday writing day	_Assoc	1998		150	-
NME reporting day, 8 hours (4pm-12pm weekdays)	_Metro	2016		90			XXX
The Inquirer 4 news stories per day, min 300 words no expenses, syndicated where necessary across sister publications with no extra fee	_IncisiM	2016		50	0	GR	XXXX
Top Gear website Subbing, per day	_BBC	1998		105	-
Adfero news feed 2 x 200 word pieces per hour		2008		7			XX
Advertising agency Flash designer per hour (from gisajob.com)		2006		26
BBC editing day, 10 hours includes casual holiday pay (works out as £17 per shift)	_BBC	2013		157		GR
BBC Audiobooks per day - website update	_BBC	2007		250
BBC Ceefax subbing day	_BBC	1998		126	-
BBC multimedia news content editing day (10 hours)	_BBC	2011		140
BBC website editing day	_BBC	1998		105	-		X
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency www.becta.org.uk subbing, per hour	_HMG	2005		28.10
Business-to-Business Publisher junior HTML editor - with HTML, CSS, Photoshop - per hour (from contractoruk.com)		2006		15
Channel 4 writing programme support booklets + web material, per day	_C4	2002		155
Channel 4 News online news day (8 hours)	_ITN	2011		130
Channel 4 website per day writing/research	_C4	2000		140	-
Channel 4 websites writing, per day	_C4	2005		155
Channel 4 websites subbing, per day	_C4	2005		190
Channel 4 websites web design, per day	_C4	2005		250
condenet.com subbing and editing, $25-$50 per hour equals for 7-hour day up to	_CondN	2001		242
Corporate social media consultancy per hour		2017		150
Corporate websites web design, per day (7 hours)	_C4	2005		350		GR
Crash.net providing features, interviews, news articles, and audio files from a four-day F1 grand prix weekend, working 14/h per day for £300 for the weekend. No travel, food, hotel expenses covered, was left out of pocket. , prod/exes 0		2017		75	0		XXXX
English Heritage website web editing, 5200 words	_HMG	2013		800
ENN.ie Electric News Network reporting shift		2005		100			X
European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) web content writing per hour		2013		28			O
ExaroNews.com day shift (entry level)		2011		80			XXX
ExaroNews.com day shift (standard)		2011		120			XX
Generic web-design work 2004 going rate (according to contractoruk.com) - per hour		2006		26		GR
Government per day (doing what?)	_HMG	2015		250		GR
Government website web content editor - with security clearance and Frontpage/WebEditPro - per hour (from contractoruk.com)	_HMG	2006		17
Government website web developer with Java, Perl, ASP, XML/HTML, CSS, SQL, Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Biztalk - per hour (from contractoruk.com)	_HMG	2006		34
HE (higher education?) website content generation, per hour		2015		25
Help the Aged per day		2005		120
Icons Project day researching and writing features for website		2006		100		GR	XXXX
Individual client writing/editing per hour		2014		32
Individual client writing/editing per hour		2014		32
Individual client writing/editing per hour		2014		32
iVillage.co.uk day subbing website		2006		150
LabourList.org (Labour Party) reporting and subbing day		2017		85			XX
Landscape Institute newsletter news stories, day shift from home	_LineOne	2017		250			O
Learning and Skills Council website per day FBS	_HMG	2004		250
Lexis Subbing per hour	_RE	2000		20
LGC Net reporting day	_EMAP	1998		115	-
Manufacturer research + scripting website, per hour		2004		75
Modis IT agency web design with C#.NET Pro plus XML/XSL, HTML, XHTML, CSS 2.0, J2EE, Java - W Yorks - per hour (from contractoruk.com)		2006		35
News International Online day	_NI	1996		120	-		XX
NME subbing day or writing day on new online version, in office (less if work at home) (f IPC contract offered, read carefully!)	_IPC	2015		90			XXX
NME online 8am-4pm working at home	_IPC	2015		70			XXXX
NME online 4pm-midnight at home (weekends)	_IPC	2015		85			XXXX
Non-profit websites web design, per day (7.5 hours)	_C4	2005		300		GR
One World Online subbing/design day		1998		150	-		X
Online retailer business analyst per hour (from contractoruk.com)		2006		425
PA Teletext subbing day	_PA	1995		89.56	-		X
PA teletext subbing day	_PA	1994		89.56	-		X
PA Teletext subbing day	_PA	1994		89	-		X
Photographer's website Editing words, per hour		2012		30
PMR Technologies IT agency web design with ASP, SQL Server, MS.net, XML VBScript, HTML, CSS and SQL Server 2000 - Middlesex - per day (from contractoruk.com)		2006		350
Pub and B&B website per day for website design all rights in edited / created webcontent		2015		197
Recruit Media agency feature research and writing for major online sites, per day		2004		120			XX
Ski Resort - guides website editing day		2010		150
Specialist music website writing day		2014		180
Specialist music website writing day		2014		180
Specialist music website writing day		2014		180
T3.com day news writing, web editing	_Future	2010		120			X
Telecoms company designer/architect for mobile data services per day (from contractoruk.com)		2006		409
Teletext subbing day	_Assoc	1997		200	-
Teletext subbing day	_Assoc	1996		125	-
Thames Reach Bondway (homeless charity) Web content editor - per hour (from contractoruk.com)		2006		15
Tourism website editing day		2014		165	0
Tourism website editing day		2014		165	0
Trade news service reporting, news, some features per hour		2017		16
UK-based non-profit organisation online day		2013		175
University per day - same rate paid for content strategy and actual editing (implementing) as part of consultancy package.		2014		250	0
University per day - same rate paid for content strategy and actual editing (implementing) as part of consultancy package.		2014		250	0
unnamed research company website web, copywriting plus editing, research, per day		2013		500			O
Unnamed website content generation, per hour		2015		30
Virgin OnLine Writing Web pages on writing Web pages, day	_Virgin	1997		225	-
The above are the rates for Shifts / online notified by members up to 20 December 2017.
Key to the rates, by column:
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
4 Currency: either or
5 Amount paid for basic licence - e.g. first use in print:				Basic fee
6 Paid for extra licences - web use, database resale... (no data pre Jun 2000)				...	Extras
7 "Going Rate" according to experienced NUJ members - do try to better it:				...	...	GR
or Minimum rate set out in NUJ House Agreement (more will be made soon):				...	...	HA
8 Underpaid, in the fallible opinion of the Freelance editor:				50	0		X
or Just sometimes we're pleasantly surprised:				1500	300		O

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