The rates of pay

That's kind of dodging the question. If £90 is not enough, what is?

It's not dodging the question - every company has their own costs, risks, etc so there's no fixed answer to "how much is enough?". Which police force pays £90 per hour? It's more like £35 per hour from what I've heard.

Which Police force pays £35 per hour? I knew the Met had ample budgets, but I didn't realise they were THAT ample.

AFAIK most forces pay between £15 and £20 per hour, with some misers paying less than £10 per hour.

I have thought about this quite a bit, as I had the opportunity to relocate to several locations in Europe and Asia, from the USA.

If we take London, UK and Baltimore, MD, USA in general, then the UK brethren are significantly underpaid.

The cost of living adjustment, Baltimore being 100%, is 131.25% in London. (Source numbeo)

I haven't included how much one keeps after taxes, fees, licensing, medical coverage, benefits, vacation, etc.

Since there are not enough (IMHO) random numbers in this thread, I'll throw in a few
http//www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/pay_and_employment/pay_inc_min_wage.html
http//www.peopleperhour.com/hourlies
http//epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Labour_cost_index_-_recent_trends
together with a nice article
http//consultantjournal.com/blog/setting-consulting-fee-rates
containing pearls of wisdom like 😯

To set fees, some consultants simply take the hourly wage (plus benefits) that they would earn when working on salary for someone else and then double or triple it. If you’re doing this, you’ll probably find that tripling your hourly wage is the best move.

For NO apparent reason
http//i.chzbgr.com/completestore/2009/2/4/128782685664515853.jpg

jaclaz

For NO apparent reason
http//i.chzbgr.com/completestore/2009/2/4/128782685664515853.jpg

jaclaz

Amazing! Bookmarked for later use. )

I can't imagine the public sector cost for forensics has gone down to a 1/3 or less of what they were paying four years ago. If I worked eight hours a day, 5 days a week and didn't live in london, I could probably just make it on £20 per hour, I can't imagine what a company with overheads would need to do.

I would really like to know who is paying £20 per hour and who is taking that amount?

Although in most countries that is true Adam, but setting a fee by any government, makes a very strong implication as to the value of a certain expertise. That action in turn limits the rate of the expertise.

Jhup, when a government body sets rates, it is based on their desire to establish or meet a budget, not on the market value of an expertise.

That is why in many cases, a government body will set a rate that is lower than the market rate. And if their budgets get cut, they may lower the rates of pay to offset that fact.

I have some difficulties with the math. 😯

I guess everyone of the pro's here has before or later whined a bit about the long hours of work.

365-2*52-(say) 40=221 (which is sound as at least here in Italy we conventionally calculate days of actual work per year in 220 days/year).
220*8=1760 hours/year
Since the issue is "long hours", I would say that 220*10=2200 hours/year could be reasonable, but let's go "midway", at 2000 hors/year.

Are you telling me that most of the experienced guys here do actually have a (gross) income of around US$ 250*2000=500,000 or more?

jaclaz

We probably need to start a new topic since this seems to have changed to "how much can I charge?" or "how do rates affect how much I can make?"

If you are looking at this from the standpoint of an independant consultant, it gets complicated.

I will be happy to write a post on how you figure out what you have to charge and what you can probably charge, and how to figure out what you would probably make.

When people look at an hourly rate that is being charged, they get the impression that is income for the examiner, but it is actually income for the business. What the examiner makes is not connected to the hourly rate directly.

Depending on your perspective, you have to view rates two different ways

1. From a pure cost basis, as in an internal department that does not bill for their services.
2. From a profit basis, as in a company that is taking on projects in order to make a profit.

The first is a zero based budget process and is very simple to do; the second is a pro-forma process that can get pretty complicated if you are planning on starting and running a consulting business even as a solo.

I was making my observation from the market perspective. I do not think the market cares what is the reason for the government rates.

Although in most countries that is true Adam, but setting a fee by any government, makes a very strong implication as to the value of a certain expertise. That action in turn limits the rate of the expertise.

Jhup, when a government body sets rates, it is based on their desire to establish or meet a budget, not on the market value of an expertise.

That is why in many cases, a government body will set a rate that is lower than the market rate. And if their budgets get cut, they may lower the rates of pay to offset that fact.

I can't imagine the public sector cost for forensics has gone down to a 1/3 or less of what they were paying four years ago.

No need to imagine it manuld - it's a fact.