Hi All,I work for one of the largest UK charities. I hold a masters and PhD in my field. I prepare complex reports for my employer. I'm very good at my job and need almost no supervision. My work is used to influence government policy, amongst other things.I currently earn £30 an hour, which was my starting rate, pre PhD. I've also not had an annual pay-rise for the two years I have been with the organisation.My current problem is this, I enjoy my job, however I'm also self employed which gives me an hourly income of about £60+ an hour.So it is costing me money to remain in my current employment (part-time).Could anyone give me feedback, is £30 an hour a reasonable amount for my position? I work from home so I have no colleagues to make a compassion with. I'm debating if I should leave the organisation as I have plenty of private work, or ask for more money???????..............Any feedback would be appreciated.

if as you say you can earn twice the rate per hour working for yourself, and already work from home (so dont see any benefit from the office environment) then it looks like a no brainer - go out on your own. You just need to be confident you can maintain enough work as a freelancer, but I expect you are already pretty sure you have the pipeline of work you need.

Marsay, thank you for the reply and yes you are correct.However, I think my employer will offer me more money to stay, as it would be difficult for them to replace me.I believe they would employ me as a private consultant, but I don't have a clue how much I could charge.Any ideas?

ahh I think you may be blurring the boundaries a little nicola123...do you want to be a freelancer able to charge whatever clients will bear, or do you want the stability of a the current job and take some compromises on remuneration? as a private consultant you can charge whatever they will agree to obviously, so you could either charge on an hourly rate as you have been, or move to day rate like a contractor and work through your own limited company or an umbrella company. If you start by looking for say a median between top end of what you make privately and what you make in the charity then I would say that would be reasonable, but be prepared to negotiate. So if you make 60 ph private and 30 currently, split the difference and ask for 45 p/h as goodwill gesture to start negotiations. Bear in mind if you go freelance and work with them as a contractor you will have to do your own accounts etc or get an accountant which will eat into your cash flow to name but one consideration.

Thank you, you're right. This isn't about them, its about how much I'm worth in the context of my other work.Great advice!