Best Virtual Assistant Companies in the UK (2026)

Most UK business owners start looking for a virtual assistant when the admin finally outgrows the evenings: inboxes, diaries, invoices, customer emails, CRM updates and the hundred small jobs that keep the business running. The harder question is where to get one, because “virtual assistant company” covers very different things in the UK: UK-based assistants on monthly hour plans, premium subscription services, managed executive assistants, and agencies that recruit a dedicated full-time VA from the Philippines.

This guide compares 8 virtual assistant companies serving UK businesses in 2026, with every price taken from the provider’s own website (checked October 2026) and shown in pounds next to the full-time monthly cost. If you’re not limited to the UK market, our worldwide comparison of virtual assistant companies covers more providers.

How We Ranked Them

VA MASTERS wrote this guide and ranks its own service first, so here is exactly how we judged everyone. Every competitor fact comes from that provider’s own website, checked in October 2026. Where a provider doesn’t publish a price, we say so instead of guessing. We only list providers whose published prices are above ours or who don’t publish prices.

We ranked on value for a UK business that wants reliable, ongoing help, weighing five things:

• Model: a dedicated person recruited for your role, an hour plan with a UK-based assistant, a subscription, or a managed executive assistant.
• True monthly cost in pounds: the full-time price like for like, plus minimum terms, set-up fees and VAT where the provider mentions it.
• Vetting: how candidates are tested on work like yours before you meet them.
• UK fit: whether the assistant can work your UK hours and handle UK-specific work.
• Continuity: an assistant who learns your business over years is worth more than one who rotates.

No provider wins on all five. A UK-based assistant buys you local knowledge and your own time zone at UK rates. A premium subscription buys you experienced staff and a backup. A dedicated VA through an agency buys you a full-time person, starting at the lowest published full-time price on this list.

UK Virtual Assistant Companies Compared (2026)

Prices are from each provider’s own website (checked October 2026). US-dollar prices are converted at a rate derived from ECB euro reference rates, 23 October 2026 ($1 = £0.748, rounded to £0.75), and rounded. “Not published” means the provider quotes per client. Full-time means about 160 hours a month.

The 8 Best Virtual Assistant Companies in the UK

Ranked by overall value for a UK business that wants dependable, ongoing support, with an honest note on who each one suits better than us.

1. VA MASTERS: Best for a dedicated VA from $6.50/hr (about £4.90)

VA MASTERS is a virtual assistant recruitment agency. Instead of selling a block of hours, it recruits one dedicated person for your account, for the hours you book, working in your tools on your UK hours. Every search is custom-built for the role and powered by a database of 400,000+ pre-assessed Filipino applicants, AI-assisted screening and human recruiters; where the role needs it, candidates take a skills test built for it, and you interview the top 2–3, usually within about 2 business days of the role being agreed.

VAs cost $6.50–$15/hr depending on the role (about £4.90–£11.25), or about £780–£1,800 a month full-time; administrative VAs are $6.50–$10/hr (£780–£1,200 a month). It costs nothing to start: no upfront fees and no setup fees. After the hire you get regular check-ins and account management, and if the VA isn’t the right fit, a free replacement. There’s no fixed contract term: you work month to month, with 30 days’ written notice, and the first 30 days with each new VA are a trial period. VA MASTERS was founded in 2021 and has placed 1,000+ VAs with 500+ clients; UK businesses make up 11% of its active clients (as of July 2026).

Best for: UK owners who want one dedicated person, part-time or full-time, for a real role. Trade-off: your VA works from the Philippines. If the job needs someone in the UK (in-person tasks, a UK-based phone presence, or only a few hours a month), a UK-based service below fits better, and we’ll tell you so on the call.

2. Time Etc: Best for a UK-based assistant a few hours a week

Time Etc’s UK service pairs you with a dedicated UK-based assistant on a monthly hour plan: £310 for 10 hours, £600 for 20, £1,160 for 40 and £1,680 for 60 hours (£28–£31 an hour), excluding VAT. There’s no setup fee, no notice period, and unused hours roll over on most plans; bigger plans are available on request.

Best for: owners who need a UK-based assistant for a few hours of admin a week. Trade-off: at £28–£31 an hour, a full-time workload gets expensive quickly; 60 hours a month (£1,680) already costs more than a full-time VA MASTERS administrative VA (about £780–£1,200). See our Time Etc alternatives if you need more hours.

3. Virtalent: Best for a UK-based assistant on a larger monthly plan

Virtalent includes a dedicated UK-based virtual assistant on every plan, from £310 for 10 hours to £1,160 for 40 hours and £2,700 for 100 hours a month (£27–£31 an hour). Plans are rolling monthly with no setup fee, and you can change or cancel with 7 days’ notice before your billing date; check how VAT applies to your business.

Best for: UK businesses that want a UK-based assistant for more hours than a small plan covers. Trade-off: there is no full-time plan listed, and 100 hours a month (£2,700) costs more than a full-time VA MASTERS VA at the top of our range.

4. Get Ahead VA: Best for UK-based specialist help with no minimum hours

Get Ahead VA is a British business support network operating since 2010. Regional directors match clients with “Virtual Experts” for admin, marketing, finance, HR and more, and every expert in its network is UK-based. It has no minimum number of hours, no fixed package and no fixed monthly retainer, and it doesn’t publish prices.

Best for: UK businesses that want UK-based specialists for occasional or project work. Trade-off: you need a quote to compare costs, and UK-based rates apply.

5. Boldly: Best for premium assistants on a subscription

Boldly sells premium subscription staffing with experienced assistants, a trained backup for holidays and sickness, and your choice of North America or Europe-based staff; besides New York, it lists an office in Towcester, Northamptonshire. Its pricing page lists $2,600 a month for 40 hours ($65 an hour, about £48.75), up to $6,500 for 100 hours, with bigger plans on request, no start-up fees and cancel-anytime terms.

Best for: executives who want a senior assistant with backup cover and will pay for it. Trade-off: 40 hours a month costs more than a full-time VA MASTERS VA. Compare the two in Boldly alternatives.

6. Prialto: Best for managed executive assistants on UK hours

Prialto provides managed executive assistants with assistant hours on US and UK time zones. Its pricing page starts at $1,500–$1,600 per 55-hour unit a month (about £1,130–£1,200), full-time from $3,600 a month (about £2,700) for 165+ hours, with a 90-day minimum per unit and a $250 set-up fee that is waived on a 1-year agreement.

Best for: executives who want a managed EA with a team behind them. Trade-off: the 90-day minimum and a full-time price more than double a full-time VA MASTERS administrative VA. See Prialto alternatives.

7. Wishup: Best for a cancel-anytime VA subscription

Wishup sells remote VA subscriptions and has a page aimed at UK businesses, with prices in US dollars: Prime VA $1,299 a month for 4 hours a day or $1,999 for 8 hours (about £975 or £1,500), Elite VA $1,999 or $2,999, with cancel-anytime terms (its FAQ describes a month-to-month subscription).

Best for: owners who want a cancel-anytime subscription. Trade-off: a full-time Prime VA costs about £300–£720 a month more than a full-time VA MASTERS administrative VA.

8. Stealth Agents: Best for a fixed full-time offshore plan

Stealth Agents offers VA plans with VAs in the Philippines. Its pricing page lists Core Support at $1,600 a month for 160 hours (about £1,200), with a 3-month commitment and a one-time onboarding fee (the amount isn’t stated).

Best for: owners who want a fixed full-time plan and don’t mind a 3-month commitment. Trade-off: the commitment and the onboarding fee; VA MASTERS has no setup fee and no fixed contract term.

UK vs Philippines Virtual Assistants

The real choice for most UK businesses is not which brand, but where your assistant is based. A UK-based VA costs roughly £27–£31 an hour through agencies such as Time Etc and Virtalent; a dedicated Filipino VA through VA MASTERS costs $6.50–$15 an hour (about £4.90–£11.25). Both can do excellent work. They fit different jobs.

Choose a UK-based VA when the role is a few hours a week, depends on UK-specific knowledge you can’t document, or needs someone who can occasionally be there in person. Choose a Filipino VA when the role is 80 hours a month or more: at £27–£31 an hour, 80 hours with a UK-based VA would cost about £2,200–£2,500, while a full-time Filipino VA through VA MASTERS costs about £780–£1,800.

The honest downsides of hiring from the Philippines: your VA won’t know UK processes on day one, so expect to write them down; phone-heavy roles need a candidate whose accent and call style suit your customers, which is exactly what the interview is for; and you’re managing someone remotely, so clear daily priorities matter more than they would in an office.

Why UK Businesses Hire Filipino VAs

Three reasons come up again and again. Cost: a full-time Filipino VA costs about £780–£1,800 a month, against a UK employee whose employer cost starts at about £25,300–£28,300 a year even at the National Living Wage (see the cost section below). English: the Philippines ranks 28th of 123 countries in the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, in the “High” band and second in Asia, and 80% of the VAs VA MASTERS placed between January 2025 and July 2026 report fluent or native English. Hours: your VA can work any schedule you need, including UK office hours; we recruit for your hours.

For many small firms, a first VA isn’t replacing anyone: it’s the hire they couldn’t justify locally.

Virtual Assistant Services UK Businesses Delegate

UK businesses most often hire virtual assistants for admin and diary management (the role many UK owners call a virtual PA), customer service, bookkeeping, marketing and social media. These are VA MASTERS rates by role, with the full-time monthly cost in pounds.

Part-time works too: 41% of VA MASTERS clients start at 80 hours a month (data through July 2026, Filipino Virtual Assistant Statistics 2026), which halves these monthly figures. For specific roles, see our administrative virtual assistants, virtual executive assistant services and Xero and QuickBooks bookkeeping VAs.

The Real Cost Comparison for UK Businesses

Comparing UK virtual assistant companies on hourly rates alone misleads, because they charge in different ways: hour bundles, subscriptions, per-unit plans or an hourly rate for a dedicated person. The fair comparison is the monthly cost for the hours you actually need, against what the same hours would cost you in-house.

The in-house floor. Even at the National Living Wage (£12.71 an hour from April 2026), a full-time UK employee on 37.5 hours a week earns about £24,800 a year. Add the minimum employer pension contribution (3% of qualifying earnings above £6,240, about £560) and, unless your Employment Allowance (up to £10,500 a year) already covers it, employer National Insurance (15% above £5,000 a year, about £2,970). The employer cost is about £25,300–£28,300 a year, roughly £2,110–£2,360 a month, before recruitment, equipment, holiday cover or any pay above the legal minimum.

Against the legal minimum cost of a UK employee, a full-time administrative VA through VA MASTERS costs about 43–67% less. Against a typical UK salary for an experienced assistant or a specialist, the gap grows, which is where the up to 80% savings versus local hiring come from. You pay the provider’s rate; ask your accountant how VAT applies to services bought from abroad.

For a full breakdown of UK rates by role and city, read our virtual assistant cost UK guide, or run your own numbers in the VA cost savings calculator.

Since working with VA Masters, my productivity as CTO at a fintech company has drastically improved. … I no longer have to worry about scheduling or follow-ups, which lets me focus on strategic decisions. … This has saved us significant costs compared to local hires while maintaining top-notch quality. …

Ori

CTO, Fintech

★★★★★

UK Hours, GDPR and Time Zones

Hours. The Philippines is 8 hours ahead of the UK in winter (GMT) and 7 hours ahead during British Summer Time, because it doesn’t change its clocks. That is geography, not a working pattern: VA MASTERS VAs can work any schedule you need, including UK office hours, early mornings or a split shift, and we recruit for your hours. Agree the schedule in the discovery call, and candidates are screened for it. For more on working across time zones, see our time zone guide.

GDPR. If your VA handles personal data about your customers or staff, you stay responsible for it under UK GDPR, wherever the VA works. Giving someone outside the UK access to personal data is generally a restricted transfer, which usually needs safeguards such as the ICO’s International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses, plus sensible access controls. Ask any provider how it supports this, and check your own set-up with your data protection adviser.

Access and confidentiality. Give your VA their own logins with only the permissions the role needs, keep two-factor authentication on, and remove access the day someone leaves. Every VA MASTERS VA is required to sign written confidentiality undertakings, and if you have your own NDA, we require your VA to sign it. Details are on our security page.

How to Choose the Right One

Start with one question: how many hours a month will the work really take?

• Under about 40 hours, UK-specific work: a UK-based service such as Time Etc, Virtalent or Get Ahead VA.
• 80 hours or more, a defined role: a dedicated VA recruited for you (VA MASTERS), part-time or full-time.
• A senior assistant with backup cover and a premium budget: Boldly or Prialto.
• A cancel-anytime subscription: Wishup.

Then check UK fit: can the VA work your hours, does the provider screen for the tools and UK knowledge the role needs, and how does it handle personal data. A specialised role (Xero bookkeeping, PPC, a particular CRM) needs a provider that recruits and tests for that exact role, not a general assistant.

London, Manchester, Edinburgh or anywhere else: virtual assistant companies work remotely, so where your business is based doesn’t limit your choice. A local agency only matters if you want occasional in-person help. If you’re outsourcing a whole function rather than hiring one person, see our comparison of outsourcing companies for UK businesses.

What Makes a Great VA Company for the UK

Beyond the model, three qualities separate a great provider from an average one. The first is role-specific vetting: a real test of whether a candidate can do your work, not just a CV filter. Providers that test on tasks that mirror the job deliver better hires than those that match on credentials alone.

The second is fit with how UK businesses work: your hours, UK English, UK-specific tools where the role needs them, and careful handling of personal data. The third is transparency: a published or clearly quoted price, no surprise fees, and a model where you know exactly what you pay for and when. Weigh these three more heavily than a slick website or a big headline number.

Why the #1 Pick Ranks First

A dedicated VA tops this list for UK businesses with a real, ongoing role because of what happens before you meet anyone: a 6-stage recruitment process built around your job. Only about 1 in 508 applicants is placed (166,350 applications, January 2025 to July 2026, Filipino Virtual Assistant Statistics 2026).

When the role calls for one, the skills test is the stage that matters most: you see how a candidate handles your kind of work before you commit, not just how the CV reads.

Common Mistakes When Choosing a VA Company

Red Flags to Watch For

Be cautious of any service selling VAs at rates far below the market, such as $2–$3 an hour. Rates that low usually mean high turnover, and a VA who leaves after three months costs you more than a fairly paid one who stays for years.

Other red flags: vague or hidden pricing, no clear vetting process, long lock-ins that aren’t explained up front, and no support or replacement after placement. Ask every provider how candidates are tested, whether the VA can work your UK hours, how personal data is handled, what happens if a hire doesn’t work out, and exactly what you’ll pay and when. A reputable provider answers all of these clearly.

Scaling From One VA to a Team

Many UK businesses start with one virtual assistant and, once they see the difference, add a second and third role. How a provider handles that growth matters as much as the first hire. With a job board or a freelance marketplace, every new role is another search you run yourself.

With a recruitment agency, each new role becomes a briefing: it already knows your business, standards and tools, and the vetting stays the same for every hire. For a UK founder planning to add a support VA, then a bookkeeper, then a marketing assistant over the next year, that consistency adds up quickly.

Questions to Ask Any VA Company

Put every provider on this list through the same checklist before you commit.

• Do you recruit for my role, or assign someone from your existing team? A search built around your role fits specialised work better.
• Do you test candidates on real tasks? A test task predicts fit better than a profile.
• Can the VA work my UK hours? Confirm the exact schedule before anyone starts.
• How is personal data handled under UK GDPR? Ask what safeguards are in place for access from outside the UK.
• Is the assistant dedicated to me or shared? Dedicated builds deeper knowledge of your business.
• What happens if the hire doesn’t work out? Look for a replacement at no extra cost.
• What is the full monthly price, including VAT? Compare like for like in pounds.
• Is there a set-up fee, onboarding fee or minimum term? Get it in writing before you start.
• How fast will I see candidates? About 2 business days is realistic for a dedicated search with VA MASTERS.
• What support do I get after the hire? This is the biggest difference between the models.

Ask those ten questions and the right choice for your business usually becomes obvious.

What Our Clients Say

Thomas

Founder, Content Development & Social Media Marketing

★★★★★

Before working with VA Masters, AI video generation was eating up an enormous amount of my time, the kind of work that had to get done, but kept pulling me away from everything else. We started with 2 VAs and have since grown the team to 4. … VA Masters made scaling from 2 VAs to 4 an easy call, since the recruitment and onboarding was handled on their end. …

Yotam

CEO, Medical Tourism Agency

★★★★★

… VA Masters helped us map out our processes and routines, identifying tasks that could be outsourced to optimize our workflow. Hiring four Virtual Assistants for administrative tasks, operations, customer support, and social media allowed us to streamline daily operations without losing control or quality. The cost savings have been significant—over 30% in administrative and operational expenses. …

Liad

Co-Founder, Growth Marketing Agency

★★★★★

Before working with VA Masters, our agency relied solely on local employees. Since partnering with them, we’ve embraced outsourcing, which has opened up new opportunities for scaling and saved us tens of percent in operational costs. Bringing in virtual assistants for campaign management, data analysis, and even a personal assistant has allowed us to grow faster without compromising on quality. …

Mary

Co-owner, Custom Textiles & Accessories

★★★★★

… Bringing on Teo as our graphic designer through VA Masters was a great decision. His skills genuinely surprised us. … The whole process was easy on our end, VA Masters found him, handled onboarding and the admin, and we just got to work. Three months in, he’s part of how we operate. …

Real Messages from Real Clients

Happy VAs Deliver Better Results for Your Business

VAs who feel supported stay longer, learn your business more deeply and take more ownership of the work. Here is what our VAs say about working with VA MASTERS.

Hear From Our VAs

Jennelyn

Operation Manager VA

Working at VA Masters has been a life-changing experience. I’ve felt genuinely supported, valued, and trusted every step of the way. What stands out is how much the company cares about our growth. …

Leony

Customer Support Specialist

… These past two years have been nothing short of transformative, both professionally and personally. … The opportunities I’ve been given to develop my skills, take on new challenges, and contribute to meaningful projects have been invaluable. …

Gabby

Administrative VA

I’m incredibly grateful to VA Masters for helping me transition from working on-site to becoming a virtual assistant. … What really made the difference were the weekly kamustahan sessions and monthly check-ins. …

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