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Sub-editors’ group votes for minimum daily wage of £130

An online group of sub-editors has voted to ban adverts which offer wages of less than £130 per day.

SubsUK is a Yahoo! group that was set up in 2005 to help freelance subs to keep in contact with each other and allow employers to advertise vacancies, often at very short notice, for free.

Now 70pc of the 800-strong group who voted said they wanted to ban employers from posting vacancies that offered a rate of less than £130 per day.

Group moderator Puneet Bhandal said: “Members were fed up with day rates that have been stagnant since the 1990s. In fact, in some cases they have gone down, forcing many talented sub-editors to consider careers elsewhere.

‘If you compare the rates of a freelance sub-editor with other professional contractors, and take into account their skills, day rates are pitifully low. Freelance subs seem to have had enough.”