Agency advertise contract for rate 400 - 460 per day, how much should I ask?

[blinko]

Alot of the times the jobs are fake, they simply put up a high rate to attract your CV.

From your CV they will have leads of clients that use contractors and they will probably ask you for references so now they have a contact and a client that could provide them with sales.

[SueEllen]

Thing is, these offshore people know you are going to decline that rate and that is part of their plan. They want to go back to our incompetent authorities and 'prove' that there is no one available in the UK to do that work, so they can therefore bring in cheap labour from overseas.

Even if you do pretend that you will accept their rate they will make up another reason that you can't do the role i.e. your CV isn't a 100% exact match to the job spec. This means they can then bring in someone from overseas as the skills are lacking in the UK.

[Wanderer]

Imagine if the situation was reversed - you agree £420 and the agent then says that even though you've got the gig, the agency is now offering you £380 instead.

Are you serious? Clients and agencies would NEVER do such a thing!!

Just go back to the agency and tell them you've been offered another gig at £500/day and ask if they will match it, then negotiate from there. Also ask the agency how much margin they are on. If they won't tell you then there is definitely room to increase your rate because they will be ripping it. Tell them you will go and negotiate directly with the client if they won't play ball - that really upsets them because they often don't want the client knowing how much margin they are taking.