Hire Virtual Assistants for Busy Founders in Manchester, UK in 60 Minutes

What is a virtual assistant?

A virtual assistant is a remote talent that works ideally from a remote setup anywhere across the world and helps businesses with their operational and administrative needs like filing paperwork online, applying for bank accounts, doing patent searches, social media management, lead generation, cold calling, marketing, and other executive, personal, and administrative tasks.

What does a virtual assistant do?

A virtual assistant is a jack-of-all-trades. You can delegate work to a dedicated full-time or part-time Virtual Assistant without hiring them on your own payroll. They help you stay organized across work and family schedules by taking over non-CEO tasks where your expertise is not needed, and that are recurring tasks, for instance, managing shared inbox like sorting, flagging, drafting template replies, sending reminder emails for sessions, and payments, appointment setting, operations, and CSM, etc.

How much does it cost to hire a virtual assistant in Manchester, UK?

Typical costs to hire a virtual assistant in Manchester range from approximately £25 to £45 per hour for general admin via reputable UK providers and marketplaces, with specialized or senior support reaching £60 to £100+ per hour. Agency bundles can bring effective rates into the mid-£20s with monthly plans and volume discounts. 

For entry-level or overseas talent, rates can start in the £10–£20 range; however, local UK-based assistants generally charge higher rates for time-zone alignment, compliance, and client-facing work quality.

But hiring a VA from Wishup (that is managed VA services) is budget-friendly and costs you only £7.40/hr. You pay a monthly flat fee of £743 for 80 hours/month and £1,338 for 160 hours/month.

What are the core services offered by virtual assistants in Manchester, UK?

Manchester virtual assistants typically cover administrative support, client communications, scheduling, marketing operations, CRM/data hygiene, bookkeeping and finance support, as well as industry-specific tasks such as real estate administration and medical front-desk work. These services are delivered remotely, with UK time-zone alignment and GDPR-aware practices.

What are the benefits of hiring virtual assistants for Manchester, UK?

Manchester virtual assistants deliver clear operational benefits across the core service areas they handle, helping small and mid‑sized teams stay lean, responsive, and compliant in the UK context.

How much can Manchester businesses save annually by hiring a VA?

Manchester businesses can often save £5,000–£15,000+ per year by hiring a virtual assistant instead of a part-time or full-time in-house admin/PA, depending on the hours, scope, and whether agency bundles are used. Savings are achieved by avoiding employer on-costs (NIC, pension, holiday/sick pay), office overheads, and recruitment/training fees, while only paying for productive hours on flexible plans.

Evidence-based scenarios

Replace part‑time hire (10 hrs/week): A 2025 UK example prices a part‑time employee at ~£9,175–£10,500 annually, including NIC, pension, holiday, training, and recruitment, versus a VA package around £3,600/year, yielding ~£5,000–£7,000 in annual savings at similar support hours.

Replace full‑time junior admin (~£25k–£30k salary): Once on‑costs and overhead are included, total employer cost typically exceeds £30k; VA packages cited by UK providers can deliver comparable admin output for £8k–£12k/year, implying £15k–£20k+ savings if workflows are well‑scoped and hours are optimized.

PA benchmark context for Manchester: Local PA salaries around £30,000 suggest even larger differentials when substituting a VA for appropriate portions of the role, especially when only a fraction of a full-time week is truly needed for administrative tasks.