Where the rate data comes from
Every page here that quotes a day rate says the UK bands are taken from live listings rather than a survey. A claim like that is worth what the reader can check, so this page sets out the method, labels which figures are first-party and which are observation, and links the raw data so anybody can disagree with it properly.
Three kinds of number, labelled
The UK day rate bands. These are what operators who are actually available have set as their own rate on their own listing. Not a survey, not scraped job adverts, not another firm's figures republished. It is the one claim on this site that no aggregator can copy without becoming a bench themselves.
The US and UAE bands. There is not yet enough first-party volume in either market to publish a band off listings, so these are stated as observation and labelled that way on the pages that carry them. Calling them data would be the easy thing and the wrong one.
The full-time salaries in the cost calculator, the 20 per cent search fee, and 46 billable weeks a year. Each is a judgement rather than a measurement, and each is shown on the page as one.
The constants, and why each one is what it is
- 46 billable weeks a year, not 52. Holiday, admin, business development and the gaps between clients take the difference. A month is therefore 3.83 weeks, not 4.33, and using 4.33 overstates every monthly figure in this market by about thirteen per cent.
- 232 working days in a UK year, after statutory leave and bank holidays.
- Employer national insurance at 15 per cent, and the pension at the statutory 3 per cent of qualifying earnings rather than of full salary. Modelling the generous version would inflate the full-time side, which is the side this business does not sell.
- A 20 per cent search fee in the comparison. The published market bands are 15 to 25 per cent contingency and 25 to 33 per cent retained, so 20 sits inside the lower band and below the higher one. Anything larger would flatter the fractional case.
Why this site can publish at all
Nothing is taken from an operator's rate here. No commission at the booking, none at renewal, no percentage of the engagement ever. That is a structural fact rather than a virtue, and it is the reason the number can be public.
A platform that takes a cut of the rate has an interest in the rate being higher and in the buyer finding out late. It is not that anybody at such a business is dishonest. It is that the incentive points one way and published pricing points the other, so the pricing quietly loses.
Republishing another firm's survey under your own brand is common in this category and perfectly legitimate when it is labelled. The problem is only ever the labelling, and that is why every figure on this site says which of the three kinds above it is.
Take the data
Edition 2026-Q3, last reviewed 2026-09-27. Published as JSON and CSV with no key, no gate and CORS enabled, under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.
- UK rates, JSON and CSV
- US rates, JSON and CSV
- UAE rates, JSON and CSV
If you are writing about fractional pay, take it and cite it. Attribution and a link back is the only condition. A rate card that only exists inside a lead form is marketing rather than data, and this one is meant to be checkable by people who disagree with it.
What is deliberately not published
- Any individual operator's rate outside their own listing.
- Counts of who is on the bench, which is a vanity number and moves for reasons that have nothing to do with a reader.
- Client names, brief contents, or anything said inside an engagement.
How the rest of the research is done covers the non-rate figures, and the rules cover the commercial positions that constrain all of it, including the ones that cost this site money.
Common questions
Where do getoperators day rates come from?
The UK bands are taken from live listings on this bench: what operators who are actually available have set as their own rate. They are not a salary survey, not a scrape of job adverts, and not another firm's figures republished. The US and UAE bands are stated as market observation rather than first-party data, because that is what they are.
How often is the rate data updated?
The bands are reviewed alongside the statutory figures in the cost model, and the edition is stamped on the dataset itself so anybody quoting it can see how current it is. A rate card with no date is a rate card nobody can check.
Can I reuse the getoperators rate data?
Yes. It is published as JSON and CSV with no key and no gate, under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. Take it, republish it, put it in a board pack or an article. Attribution and a link back is the only condition.
Why publish rates at all?
Because nothing is taken from the operator's rate here, so there is no commercial reason to keep it opaque. A platform that takes a percentage has an interest in the number being higher and in the buyer discovering it late. That is a structural difference rather than a claim about anybody's character.