Costs and pricing
Part of A UK scoping framework for social media scheduling
A blank social scheduling budget with exact units, VAT and reforecast triggers
Use a blank social scheduling budget template for England that records exact units, VAT, labour, assurance, risk, renewal, exit, owners and reforecast triggers.
This social media scheduling budget template is blank by design. Fill it with an exact supplier quote and the organisation's own workload evidence. Do not insert an online average where a quantity, rate or tax treatment is unknown.
What to take away
- Fill the blank template with an exact supplier quote and your own workload evidence.
- Version every update and lock the prior version so a favourable new estimate cannot erase the history.
- Close the budget with stop, recovery and reapproval conditions, and stop launch if a required control has no funded owner.
Project header
Copy these fields into the working sheet:
Project header fields
- Legal buyer and England unit
- Service purpose and exclusions
- Supplier entity, product, plan
- Quote reference, currency, expiry
- Contract start, end, notice, renewal
- VAT statement and tax reviewer
- Budget owner and approval ceiling
- legal buyer and England operating unit:
- service purpose and excluded activities:
- supplier legal entity, product and plan:
- quote reference, currency and expiry:
- contract start, end, notice and renewal dates:
- VAT statement and qualified tax reviewer:
- budget owner, operational owner and approval ceiling:
- baseline option and comparison period:
HMRC's Notice 741A (Place of supply of services) place-of-supply notice shows why business status, customer location and service type matter. Record the reviewer's conclusion and supporting evidence rather than choosing treatment from this template.
VAT is UK-wide. At the time of writing, the UK VAT registration threshold is £90,000 of taxable turnover in a rolling 12-month period, and the standard rate is 20%.
A standard-rated digital scheduling service from a UK supplier would carry VAT at 20%. Input tax recovery depends on business purpose and records.
Cost lines
Create one row for each item, with columns for unit, quantity, unit cost, currency, VAT, billing period, term, inclusion, exclusion, evidence URL or record, date, confidence and owner.
Cost line categories
Category
- Subscription
- Seats, profiles, overage
- Set-up
- Migration, integrations, tests
- Content
- Copy, design, licences
- Assurance
- Privacy, security, tax review
- Operations
- Admin, training, support
- Resilience and exit
- Recovery, export, deletion
Typical items
- Subscription
- Quote and plan terms
- Set-up
- Contract and test records
- Content
- Approval and claim evidence
- Assurance
- Reviewer conclusions
- Operations
- Tickets and reports
- Resilience and exit
- Test and deletion evidence
Evidence to record
- Subscription
- Set-up
- Content
- Assurance
- Operations
- Resilience and exit
- Subscriptionbase plan, users or seats, profiles or channels, usage, add-ons, overage and payment fees.
- Set-upprocurement, contract work, account mapping, integrations, migration, configuration and synthetic tests.
- Contentplanning, copy, design, licences, accessible alternatives, claim evidence, approval and correction.
- Assuranceprivacy and PECR (Information Commissioner's Office), advertising (Advertising Standards Authority), security (National Cyber Security Centre), accessibility, IP, employment, procurement, finance and tax review.
- Operationsadministration, access changes, training, support, complaints, platform changes and reporting.
- Resilience and exitincident response, manual continuity, recovery tests, export, transition and deletion evidence.
The NCSC's Cloud security guidance: Choosing a cloud provider supplier assurance guidance supports budgeting evidence review to the level required by the intended service. It does not provide a fixed assurance allowance.
Worked example row (illustrative figures only, not a quote):
| Item | Unit | Quantity | Unit cost net | VAT | Period | Net total | VAT amount | Gross total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | user seat per month | 10 | £10.00 | 20% | 12 months | £1,200.00 | £240.00 | £1,440.00 |
Replace each illustrative figure with the exact supplier quote and your own quantity before using the sheet. VAT is shown at the standard rate for a standard-rated digital service.
Blank equations
supplier cash before tax = sum of fixed charges + quoted unit price x contracted quantity x billed periods + add-ons + overage
internal economic cost = sum of role hours x approved loaded hourly cost + allocated existing-resource cost
whole-service economic cost = supplier cost excluding recoverable VAT + internal economic cost + contractor cost + risk allowance + exit cost
For each equation, write the currency, period, data owner, source and exclusions. Avoid double counting contractor work inside both an implementation fee and internal hours. Keep VAT cash timing outside the economic-cost line until a tax specialist confirms recovery.
HMRC says a VAT-registered business may reclaim VAT on qualifying business expenses when conditions and records are met in its Reclaim VAT on business expenses reclaim guidance.
Control sheet
Add columns for approved budget, committed cash, paid cash, accrued amount, forecast completion, variance reason and corrective action. Set the organisation's own tolerance and escalation owner.
Use thresholds such as these. Notify the budget owner when actual or committed cash exceeds the approved budget by 5% or £1,000, whichever is greater. Reforecast when forecast completion moves by 10% or £2,500, whichever is greater.
| Tolerance | Reforecast trigger | Escalation owner |
|---|---|---|
| 5% or £1,000, whichever is greater | 10% or £2,500, whichever is greater | budget owner |
Useful triggers include a plan change, more users, another platform, foreign-exchange exposure, delayed integration, a failed accessibility test, new legal work or an unproven export.
Version every update. The change record should name the editor, date, altered assumption, supporting evidence, approval and effect on cash and economic cost. Lock the prior version so a favourable new estimate cannot erase the history. Reconcile committed amounts to purchase orders or contracts and paid amounts to invoices, while keeping unpriced risks visible.
The 2026 Green Book recommends examining risk and uncertainty rather than relying on a single optimistic case. Use a base case plus lower-benefit, higher-cost and later-delivery sensitivities. Do not borrow government percentage adjustments without checking whether they fit the project.
Close the budget with stop, recovery and reapproval conditions. A required control with no funded owner stops launch. Archive the quote, tax advice, assumptions, approvals and reforecast history. This template is general information, not accounting, tax, investment, legal or procurement advice.
Before you act
- Copy the project header fields into the working sheet.
- Create one cost row per item with unit, quantity, unit cost and VAT.
- Write the currency, period, data owner and source for each equation.
- Avoid double counting contractor work in fees and internal hours.
- Set your own tolerance and escalation owner on the control sheet.
- Archive the quote, tax advice, assumptions, approvals and reforecast history.
Common questions
What evidence should support a cost line?
Use the supplier quote for price, rate and period. Use internal records for quantity, hours and loaded cost. Record the source and date for each figure.
What should the change record contain when I update the budget?
Name the editor, date, altered assumption, evidence, approval and effect on cash and economic cost. Lock the prior version.
How should I handle risk and uncertainty in the budget?
Use a base case plus lower-benefit, higher-cost and later-delivery sensitivities. Keep unpriced risks visible.
