HOW TO HIRE · MARKETING, DESIGN & TECH · CHECKED OCTOBER 2026
How to hire a web designer in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.
No licence applies to web designers. Here is how to keep the domain, hosting and design in your name, and what a fair website quote should list.
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THE 60-SECOND VERSION
Hiring a web designer in five steps
- Look at live sites they builtOpen them on your phone. Check speed, layout and whether the business owners are happy to talk to you.
- List the pages and featuresPages, forms, bookings, shop, blog: the scope is the price.
- Register the domain yourselfDomain, hosting and admin accounts in your business's name, with the web designer added as a user.
- Get the design assigned to youCopyright in the design, graphics and any custom code passes to you on payment.
- Agree what happens after launchFixes, updates, backups and support, with their monthly cost.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Check before you book
No register applies
No law licenses web designers in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland and no qualification is needed. Check live work, references and the contract; that is where the real protection is.
Ask for three live sites and a client you can call.
Copyright in the design and code
Website designs, graphics and code are protected by copyright, and under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 the freelance creator owns them first. An assignment only takes effect in writing signed by the web designer (section 90). Themes and plugins they buy remain under their own licences.
Put an assignment of the custom design and code in the contract, and a list of third-party themes and plugins with their licences in your name. legislation.gov.uk →
Cookie consent (PECR)
Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations a site must tell visitors about cookies and get clear consent, except for cookies that are strictly needed to provide the service they asked for.
Check the finished site asks before setting analytics or advertising cookies, and that saying no works. ico.org.uk →
Privacy notice and the ICO fee
Data protection rules mean that when your site collects personal data through a form, you must tell people who you are and how you will use it. Most businesses processing personal data must also pay the ICO data protection fee.
Ask the web designer to add a privacy notice and to set forms to collect only what you need. gov.uk →
VAT
Web design is standard-rated, so a registered web designer adds 20% to the design, the build and the support period; hosting and domains are billed by those suppliers. Registration becomes compulsory once a web designer has VAT-taxable turnover over £90,000 in any rolling 12 months; from then VAT must be charged and shown as a separate line on the invoice.
Ask the web designer for the VAT number at contract and for the design fee and VAT shown separately. gov.uk →
A good answer: Yes, without hesitation. The web designer works as a user on accounts you own and can be removed if you part ways.
A good answer: You do, by a signed assignment on payment; bought themes and plugins are licensed, and the web designer lists them.
A good answer: A number, usually two, on the home page and a template page, with the cost of more.
A good answer: A consent banner that blocks non-essential cookies until visitors agree, a privacy notice, and forms that collect only what you need.
A good answer: Training on the content system and a short guide, with which changes need the web designer.
A good answer: A fixed period for snagging, then optional monthly support for updates, backups and security.
A good answer: Mobile layouts designed and shown to you, not just squeezed versions of the desktop pages.
Getting the quote right
- Each page and feature listed, with what the content system lets you edit
- Who actually attends to the design and the build: the web designer named, an employee, or a subcontracted developer
- Design rounds included, and the rate for extra changes
- Copy, photography and content migration: included or extra
- Third-party costs listed: hosting, domain, paid themes and plugins
- Copyright in the custom design and code assigned to you
- Launch date, post-launch support period
- The VAT number, with VAT at 20% on the design and build fee
Walk away if
- Insists on registering the domain in their own name
- Will not give you an admin login
- No live sites to show
- A site with no cookie consent or privacy notice
- The full fee up front
- A monthly fee you cannot leave without losing the site
What a web designer costs: £500–£12,000 per project
Web designers quote a fixed price per project from the pages and features, with hosting, domains and paid plugins as separate running costs. Web Designer price guide →
Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.
KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE
Web designers near you, with the badges that matter shown
ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.
Or post the job free and let them come to you.
- DiscoveryGoals, audience, pages, features and examples you like agreed in writing.
- DesignPage designs for desktop and mobile, revised within the agreed rounds.
- BuildThe site built on the chosen platform, with forms, consent banner and privacy notice.
- TestingPages, forms and speed checked on different devices and browsers.
- Launch and trainingThe site goes live on your domain and you are shown how to edit it.
- Domain
- Your web address, registered with a domain registrar in someone's name: it should be yours.
- Hosting
- The server space where the site's files live.
- Content management system
- The software you use to edit the site's pages yourself.
- Responsive design
- Layouts that adapt to phones, tablets and computers.
- Theme
- A ready-made design template, licensed rather than owned.
- Cookie banner
- The notice that asks visitors to accept or refuse non-essential cookies.
AFTER
When the job is done
Hiring a web designer: questions people ask
No. No licence, register or qualification applies to web designers in any UK nation.
You own the custom design and code only if copyright is assigned to you in a signed document. Themes and plugins stay licensed. The domain and hosting should be in your name from the start.
If it uses cookies that are not strictly necessary, such as analytics or advertising cookies, PECR requires you to tell visitors and get their consent first.
Between £500 and £12,000 per project, most often near £3,000. The number of pages, custom design rather than a theme, and features such as a shop or bookings set the price. For the reasons behind the range, read the web designer price guide; for local web designers, enter your town above.
If the domain, hosting and admin logins are in your name, another designer can pick up the site. That is why ownership matters more than anything else in the contract.
Small sites usually take two to six weeks; larger or e-commerce sites two to four months.
MORE GUIDES
More hiring guides in marketing, design & tech
Web designers near you
Sources — checked October 2026
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 90 — assignment in writing
- ICO — cookies and similar technologies (PECR)
- gov.uk — data protection and your business
- gov.uk — pay the data protection fee
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
- Citizens Advice — more help with a consumer issue
- gov.uk — make a court claim for money: court fees
- VAT rates — VAT rates for goods and services: standard rate 20% on most goods and services
- GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register