Costs and pricing
Part of Social media agency vs in-house: a UK cost example
Social media agency vs in-house: a UK cost example
A Greater Manchester bakery example compares a social media agency retainer with part-time in-house support and shows which costs less.
What to take away
- For the bakery example, an in-house social media manager costs about £110 a month less than a social media agency retainer at ten hours a week; at 20 hours, the agency is cheaper.
- Employer National Insurance and pension contributions push the real cost of a salary above the advertised figure.
- Agency retainers for small UK brands commonly run from about £800 to £3,000 a month.
- The roughly 15-hour threshold is a guide, not a rulecompare the scope and costs, as the bakery example shows.
- Compare cost per finished piece of work, not cost per month, before you request quotes.
What in-house really costs
An in-house hire is a salary commitment, not a price. You carry pay, employer National Insurance, pension contributions, software and holiday cover. Every figure in this piece is a planning number, not survey data.
Pay is only the visible part. Employer National Insurance and pension contributions sit on top, and scheduling, design and reporting tools are usually charged per user.
Build the true in-house cost
- Start with advertised salary
- Add employer National Insurance
- Add minimum pension contribution
- Add software, equipment, training
- Divide annual total by 12
- Add holiday and sickness cover
What a UK agency retainer buys
An agency retainer buys hours and skills, not a person. The studio already owns the software and the reporting setup, so you can start within days.
That lower entry price comes with shared attention. Your account sits alongside others, so replies take longer and requests join a queue. How retainer versus project pricing is structured changes what you actually get for the money.
Most retainers bundle a set number of posts, community replies and a monthly report. Paid ads, video and influencer work are usually quoted separately.
Ask what happens when a post underperforms. Agencies that report monthly give you a decision point; those that only post leave you guessing.
Illustrative UK cost figures
These are planning examples, not surveyed UK salary or retainer benchmarks. The figures below show the costs used in the bakery example and the retainer ranges stated in this article.
| Role or package | Illustrative cost |
|---|
Salary and retainer bands
- Assistant£22k/yr
- Executive£27k/yr
- Manager£34k/yr
- Head of social£48k/yr
- One channel£800-1,200/mo
- Three channels£2,000-3,000/mo
| Role or package | Illustrative cost |
|---|---|
| Full-time-equivalent salary in bakery example | £30,000 a year |
| Bakery in-house option (10 hours a week) | About £670 a month in salary; about £45 in employer costs; £75 towards recruitment |
| Bakery agency option | £900 a month |
| One-channel agency retainer | About £800–£1,200 a month |
| Three channels plus paid ads | Above £2,000 a month |
| Small-brand agency retainers | About £800–£3,000 a month |
Use the bakery example as a calculation template, then compare local job adverts with written agency quotes for your own workload, channels and deliverables.
Worked example: a bakery in Greater Manchester
A bakery with one site wants eight posts a week, replies five days a week and a monthly report. Every figure here is illustrative.
Agency option: a retainer of £900 a month covering the posts, replies and report, with no recruitment cost and no employer duties.
In-house option: ten hours a week at a £30,000 full-time equivalent, about £670 a month in salary, about £45 in employer costs as an illustrative allowance, and £75 towards recruitment.
On those illustrative numbers, in-house is about £110 a month cheaper. That comparison includes the stated £45 employer-cost allowance and £75 towards recruitment. The in-house option is thinner: one skill set and no cover during leave. If the real workload needs 20 hours, the salary cost roughly doubles and the agency becomes the cheaper option.
Local supply matters too. A bakery in Greater Manchester can compare Manchester agency options before requesting quotes, which makes studio visits easier to arrange.
Where the real difference shows
Control is the clearest split. An employee works only on your brand; an agency spreads attention across accounts and bills for scope changes.
Breadth favours the agency. Copywriting, editing, paid media and reporting rarely sit in one hire, and recruitment for a single role can take months.
Compliance sits with you either way. If anyone handles customer data, the ICO guide to UK GDPR sets out what must be in place first.
Paid partnerships and influencer posts are covered by the advertising codes published by the ASA and CAP, and the brand carries the responsibility even when an agency runs the campaign.
Common questions
Is an agency cheaper than hiring in-house?
There is no universal answer. In the bakery example, a part-time employee is about £110 a month cheaper on the illustrative figures; at 20 hours, the agency becomes cheaper. The gap can narrow once recruitment, software, cover and training are counted.
How much is a social media retainer in the UK?
Plan for about £800 to £1,200 a month for one channel; three channels plus paid ads pushes most small-brand retainers above £2,000.
When does outsourcing make sense?
The roughly 15-hour mark is only a guide: in the bakery example, in-house is cheaper at ten hours, while the agency becomes cheaper at 20. Outsourcing also suits briefs that need several skills at once and campaigns that cannot wait three months for a hire.
What should we check before signing?
Check scope, notice period, account ownership and whether the fee covers replies as well as posts. Ask for the deliverable list in writing.
