UK pricing, and what it takes to get a project approved
In most UK organisations the hard part is not agreeing a price, it is getting that price through the people who have to approve it. Finance wants a purchase order and a VAT invoice that matches it. Procurement wants supplier details, insurance and references. Legal wants a data processing agreement. Each of those can change the scope, and a quote produced before anyone asked usually has to be revised. This page sets out what UK approval processes ask for, which of those requirements genuinely affect the figure, and how VAT is handled.
A proposal that cannot survive contact with procurement is not a proposal, it is a delay. Everything below is what we have learned to put in front of that process at the start rather than discovering it in week four.
UK buyers are frequently given a quote that is accurate for the work and useless for the approval. It has no purchase order reference, VAT is ambiguous, there is no data processing agreement attached, and accessibility is not mentioned. The supplier then spends three weeks producing documents that should have accompanied the first proposal, and in organisations with a quarterly budget cycle that delay can cost the project its funding entirely. The price was never the obstacle.
When this work makes sense
Questions worth asking any supplier
Whether accessibility is contractual. Building to WCAG changes design, markup, content and testing, and it is far cheaper built in than retrofitted after an audit finds problems.
Whether personal data is processed, which determines whether a data processing agreement is required and what it has to say about sub-processors and hosting location.
Whether your procurement requires insurance certificates, references or a supplier questionnaire, since these are best supplied with the proposal rather than after it.
Whether a purchase order is required before work starts, because in many organisations an invoice without a matching PO simply will not be paid.
Whether the budget sits in a financial year that is about to end, which changes how the milestones should be arranged more than it changes the total.
Deliverables
A proposal formatted for internal circulation, with scope, exclusions and assumptions separated
VAT shown as a separate line at the applicable rate, with our registration details on every invoice
Purchase order reference carried on invoices where your process requires one
A data processing agreement where personal data is involved, naming sub-processors and hosting location
A stated accessibility target, with what is tested and how it is evidenced
Milestone invoicing that can be arranged around a financial year end where that matters
Full transfer of code, domain, hosting and analytics access on completion
Process
UK engagements front load the paperwork deliberately. Before a proposal is finalised we ask what your approval process requires, because the answer usually changes the document rather than the work. Where accessibility is in scope it is treated as a requirement with its own acceptance criteria rather than a quality aspiration, which means it is testable and therefore signable. Where a data processing agreement is needed it is drafted alongside the proposal, not after the contract, since that is the stage at which legal review most often sends a project back to the start.
The standard nine stages, discovery, strategy, UX/UI, development, content and SEO, testing, launch, measurement and continuous improvement, apply to every project. The paragraph above is what differs for this one.
What moves the number
Pricing depends on scope, functionality, integrations and content requirements. These are the factors that change it most:
Agency, freelancer, or a small team, against what UK approval actually requires
A large agency
Fits: Complex stakeholder structures and organisations that need formal account management
Limits: Overhead and rate card are carried whether or not your project needs that structure
A freelancer
Fits: Small, well defined pieces of work with a single decision maker
Limits: Procurement paperwork, insurance and cover when one person is unavailable are all genuine gaps
A small team
Fits: Projects needing real documentation without an agency rate card behind it
Limits: Less in person presence than a local agency, which is a fair trade to weigh rather than a claim
Case studies
No UK client names, contract values or project costs are published here. There are no published case studies, because we have neither permission to name clients nor figures a reader could independently verify. When a client agrees to be named, it will be published here.
MBGDesk operates from 4 offices in India, United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates. We hold no industry certifications and do not imply otherwise.
Frequently asked questions
Is VAT included in your quotes?
Quotes state the amount before VAT, with VAT shown separately at the applicable rate. This is deliberate so that two proposals can be compared on the same basis, and so the figure your finance team approves matches the figure on the invoice.
Can you work to a purchase order?
Yes. Tell us at proposal stage if a PO is required before work can start, because in many organisations an invoice without a matching PO reference will not be paid regardless of whether the work was delivered.
Do you provide a data processing agreement?
Where the work involves processing personal data, yes, and it names the sub-processors and where data is hosted. Your own legal adviser should review it against your obligations. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
Do you build to WCAG?
We build to a standard agreed at the start and state which one. It is worth being precise about the level rather than saying accessible, because the difference between levels is real work. Retrofitting after an audit typically costs more than building to the standard from the beginning, so this is a decision worth making before the design stage rather than after it.
Our budget has to be spent this financial year. Can you work with that?
Usually, by arranging milestones so that deliverables genuinely complete inside the window rather than by invoicing for work that has not happened. Tell us the date early. It rarely changes the total and it frequently changes the sequence.
Can you complete our supplier questionnaire?
Yes. Send it with the brief rather than after the proposal, because security and data handling requirements can change the hosting arrangement and therefore the cost, and finding that out after a price has been agreed helps nobody.
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