Costs and pricing
Part of Building a reputation budget from a defined case and blank cost fields
The full economic cost of one review case, with no market averages
Build the full economic cost of one England review case from blank supplier, labour, assurance, operation and exit fields, without market averages.
This cost guide builds the full economic cost of one review case for a fictional Harbour Lane Furniture Repairs Ltd in England. It does not estimate a market price.
No market average exists for this unit because every case differs in evidence, work and risk.
The blank envelope starts with every cash amount, staff rate and workload as UNKNOWN until an admissible buyer or supplier record arrives.
Admissible evidence means a record the buyer or supplier can produce, such as an invoice, contract, timesheet, system log or written policy. An unsigned estimate or a statement of intent is not admissible on its own.
The cost unit is one eligible item taken through source capture, fact checking and response approval. It also covers complaint or correction handling, publication decision and archive. Public relations, search work, media buying and crisis advice sit outside that unit.
What to take away
case full economic cost = allocated supplier cash + authorised internal effort + external review + operating control + incident allocation + exit allocation
For the illustrative case, the six lines sum to £8,960. Supplier cash is £3,000, internal effort is £3,120 and external review is £1,320. Operating control is £530, incident allocation is £250 and exit allocation is £740.
- Every cash amount, staff rate and workload stays unknown until an admissible buyer or supplier record is provided.
- Internal effort counts as an economic cost even when no extra cash leaves the business.
- Budget invitation design and evidence separately from monitoring an existing review item.
- Label each line as recurring, one-off or exception-triggered before aggregating any costs.
Open a case-cost envelope
Give the case an evidence ID and period. Then create these cash lines. The figures here are illustrative case assumptions for Harbour Lane. Replace them with invoice evidence when available.
Case cost envelope fields
- Evidence ID and period
- Supplier subscription allocation
- Usage, connector, storage, overage
- Implementation and migration
- External legal, privacy, security
- Support, incident, renewal, exit
- supplier subscription or service allocation£480;
- usage, connector, storage or overage charge£120;
- implementation and migration£650;
- external legal, privacy, security, accessibility or accounting work: £900;
- support£300;
- renewal£150;
- exit payment£400.
Those lines give allocated supplier cash of £3,000.
Every entry needs currency, VAT presentation, unit and quantity. It also needs billing period, term, eligibility and inclusions. Add exclusions, source date and assumptions.
The GOV.UK invoice requirements include a clear service description, supply and invoice dates, amounts and VAT information where applicable.
Use those fields to reconcile the invoice with the order. They do not prove that a charge is correct under the contract.
Add the work people actually perform
Create a separate time record for each task. Routine case work covers monitoring, source validation and repair record checks. It also covers response drafting, complaint handling and approval. Add accessible content review, publishing and correction. Then add reporting and archive.
Build a time record
- List each task and owner
- Define eligible event
- Set start and stop rule
- Record authorised hours and evidence
- Apply loaded rate only if documented
Include procurement, configuration and training outside routine case work. Add security assurance, data mapping and exit exercises.
For Harbour Lane, assume 78 authorised hours at a loaded £40 an hour. That is £3,120 of internal effort. The hours split as follows.
- Monitoring 12 hours, source validation 6, repair record checks 5.
- Response drafting 8, complaint handling 4, approval 2.
- Accessible content review 3, publishing 2, correction 4.
- Reporting 3, archive 1, procurement 6.
- Configuration 4, training 3, security assurance 5.
- Data mapping 4, exit exercise 6.
For each task, record owner, eligible event, start and stop rule, authorised hours and evidence. Multiply by a loaded rate only when finance documents its currency, components, effective period and treatment.
Do not insert an advertised salary or England average. Internal effort is an economic cost even where no extra cash leaves the business.
Budget decisions that software cannot make
If Harbour Lane requests reviews, CMA guidance for businesses and agencies says not to write or commission fake reviews or offer inducements for positive reviews. Budget the invitation design, evidence and consumer review separately from monitoring an existing item.
Likewise, a public comment does not automatically authorise promotional contact. The ICO's direct marketing guidance was updated in April 2026 and covers identifying direct marketing, planning, collection and preferences. Include qualified classification and suppression work without assuming a legal basis or a universal cost.
For Harbour Lane, operating control is £530. Invitation design and evidence is £150. Qualified classification and suppression is £200. Hosting, accessibility monitoring and reporting is £180. Incident allocation is £250 for a disputed takedown request or similar exception.
These are illustrative case figures, not market averages.
Make assurance and departure visible
The NCSC supplier-assurance questions cover security governance, incidents and data. They also cover offshoring, independent testing, subcontractors and exit. Translate relevant questions into evidence tasks with named owners. A badge or questionnaire answer is not the same as examining scope, expiry and exceptions.
For Harbour Lane, external review and assurance is £1,320. Exit allocation is £740. The component costs are:
- supplier assurance evidence
- 10 hours at £45;
- independent testing or questionnaire review
- £600;
- NCSC question evidence
- 6 hours at £45;
- export
- £160;
- isolated restore
- £300;
- account revocation
- £80;
- continuity rehearsal
- £120;
- deletion state check
- £80.
The illustrative total is in What to take away. These are illustrative case figures, not market averages.
Before aggregation, label each line recurring, one-off or exception-triggered. A routine monitoring task and a disputed takedown request must not share an average without evidence.
Record whether staff time was measured, estimated by its owner or unknown, with the measurement period. Finance can then decide which costs are cash, committed capacity or wider economic use. Those labels do not create a saving when released time has no documented alternative use.
Do not calculate the formula while any material term is UNKNOWN. The final record should show what is known, what is missing and who can supply it, rather than manufacture a persuasive total.
Before you act
- Give the case an evidence ID and period.
- Create separate cash and time records for each task.
- Record owner, start and stop rule, authorised hours and evidence.
- Mark each line as recurring, one-off or exception-triggered.
- Keep the manual spreadsheet route until recovery is proven.
- Show what is known, what is missing and who can supply it.
Common questions
What must each cash line entry include?
Every entry needs currency, VAT presentation, unit and quantity. It also needs billing period, term, eligibility and inclusions. Add exclusions, source date and assumptions.
Why should invitation design be budgeted separately from monitoring?
CMA guidance for businesses and agencies says not to write or commission fake reviews or offer inducements for positive reviews. Budget the invitation design, evidence and consumer review separately from monitoring an existing item.
A public comment does not automatically authorise promotional contact, so include qualified classification and suppression work without assuming a legal basis or a universal cost.
What should the final cost record show?
The final record should show what is known, what is missing and who can supply it, rather than manufacture a persuasive total. Do not calculate the formula while any material term is UNKNOWN.
Finance can then decide which costs are cash, committed capacity or wider economic use, and those labels do not create a saving without a documented alternative use.
