Fractional PA · Fractional personal assistant · Set days or hours

Hire a fractional PA · a personal assistant for part of the week

A fractional PA is one named personal assistant who works for you on set days or hours each week, on an ongoing basis.

They run one person’s diary, inbox, travel and personal admin, without a full-time role.

To hire a fractional PA, decide the hours, the pattern and what the PA owns, then send us the brief.

We recruit PAs and executive assistants on fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent terms.

Brief us on a PA hire →See the roles

How a brief runswhat we undertake

01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief

Shortlist3–5

3–5

Shortlist · with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 set out

Five stages

Vetting · before a candidate reaches you

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a fractional PA

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Personal Assistant candidates, their day rates and availability.

0115 minutes, video or phone
02We scope the role and the days a week
03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs

Prefer email? Use the booking page →

Pick a day that suits · live availability

Open the booking calendar →

On the board · last 3 months

Fractional PA jobs on the board

0 Fractional PA · 3 operations leadership

No Fractional PA roles on the board in the last three months. Showing operations leadership roles instead.

Browse every role on the board →

Current PA and executive assistant roles

Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Personal Assistant brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.

01/ the role

What is a fractional personal assistant?

A fractional personal assistant supports one person for part of the week: a founder, a chief executive, a partner or a private principal.

The arrangement is ongoing, with the same PA each week, so they learn how you work.

Fractional describes the time, not the level.

A fractional PA can be very senior and still work only two days a week, or a few hours each morning.

Named person, set hours, ongoing

You hire a person, not a pool of hours.

The same PA turns up each week and keeps the context.

Three things separate it from other support.

You know who the PA is, the days or hours are agreed in advance, and there is no fixed end date.

The National Careers Service profile groups personal and executive assistants together and sets out the routes in.

The difference is in who they serve and what they own, which the next section sets out.

02/ scope

What a PA covers, and where an EA or a virtual assistant differs

A PA works for one person and looks after their time and their life admin.

The work is practical and often personal.

Diary and inbox

Owning the calendar, triaging email and keeping the week workable.

On the PA’s days off, clear rules decide what can be booked.

Travel and logistics

Trips, bookings, visits and events, planned on the working days.

One itinerary document covers the days the PA is out.

Personal admin

Household suppliers, appointments, renewals, gifts and the paperwork that otherwise lands on the principal.

This is where a PA most differs from an EA.

Where an EA differs

An executive assistant supports an executive’s business agenda: board papers, projects, stakeholders and the leadership team.

A fractional EA works that agenda part of the week, often for more than one leader.

Where a virtual assistant differs

A virtual assistant works remotely, usually by the task or the hour, and may support many clients through a service.

A virtual executive assistant is the remote version of the EA role.

03/ economics

Hire a fractional PA — how the hire works

Start with the principal’s week: when they travel, which days they are in, what cannot wait.

That sets the PA’s days or hours.

Then write down what the PA owns, who covers the other days and how fast they reply outside their hours.

Hire for judgement as well as organisation: a messy week of diary clashes shows what a candidate protects.

Employed part-time, or self-employed

A fractional PA can be your part-time employee or self-employed, invoicing through their own company.

Employment status decides the rights on each side, and Acas explains that it turns on how the organisation and the individual actually work together.

An employed PA has part-time workers’ rights, and you must check their right to work before they start.

If a PA works through their own limited company, the off-payroll working (IR35) rules can apply: status depends on how the work runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination.

04/ comparison

Fractional PA, EA or virtual assistant

Three kinds of part-week support. They differ in who they serve, what they own and how continuous the person is.

Fractional PAFractional EAVirtual assistant

Who they supportOne personAn executive or a leadership teamOften many clients

The workDiary, inbox, travel and personal adminDiary plus board papers, projects and stakeholdersDefined tasks, usually admin

WhereRemote, on site or bothRemote, on site or bothRemote

ContinuityOne named person, set hoursOne named person, set hoursVaries; may be a team

ContractPart-time employee or self-employedUsually a contract for servicesSelf-employed, or a service bought from a firm

05/ timing

When a fractional PA fits

It fits when one person needs a dedicated assistant who knows them, but the work does not fill a full week.

Scenario 01

A founder is doing their own admin

Time

Diary, travel and personal paperwork are taking hours a week.

Two days of a good PA hands them back.

Scenario 02

Life admin and work admin have merged

Order

The same person books the board dinner and the boiler service.

A PA holds both, in one place.

Scenario 03

A full-time PA would be idle

Fit

The work is real but uneven.

Set hours match the load without paying for slack.

Scenario 04

The business side needs more

Scope

If board papers and projects dominate, the brief is an EA.

See the fractional EA route instead.

06/ vetting

How we vet fractional PAs

What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.

01
Qualification screen
Verify Personal Assistant tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING
02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING
03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY
04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5

07/ support

Fractional PA support what it covers, and how to scope it

Fractional PA support is scoped by hours and by ownership.

Agree the days, the reply times on the other days and the tasks the PA runs end to end.

Most fractional PA support in the UK is remote for much of the week, with on-site days where the work needs them.

Write down what happens when the principal travels or the PA is on leave.

Access is the next question.

A PA reads the inbox, sees the calendar and handles personal details, so settle confidentiality and data handling in writing before the first day.

If the PA is self-employed and handles personal data on your behalf, they may be your processor; the ICO sets out how controllers and processors differ under the UK GDPR.

If they are your employee, the ICO’s employment guidance covers keeping their records and monitoring at work.

If the work is more executive than personal, hire a fractional executive assistant instead.

If you want an employee on set days, see part-time executive assistant.

08/ london

Fractional PA in London office days, home days and travel

A fractional PA London brief usually turns on presence.

Before you hire, decide how many days the PA is with the principal, at the office or at home, and how the rest is run remotely.

A fractional personal assistant London principals hire often covers both the working week and the household.

Say which, because it changes who fits and where they need to be.

Pay in London generally sits above the rest of the country.

Our executive assistant salary page sets out the sourced EA figures; we quote no PA rate without a source.

For permanent and part-time hires in the capital, see executive assistant recruitment London.

Open roles are on executive assistant jobs.

09/ questions

Fractional PA FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a fractional PA.

One named PA who works for you on set days or hours each week, on an ongoing basis. They run one person’s diary, inbox, travel and personal admin, as a part-time employee or self-employed.

A PA supports one person, with the diary, inbox, travel and personal admin. An EA supports an executive’s business agenda, such as board papers, projects and stakeholders; fractional EA covers that route.

Fix the days or hours around the principal’s week, write down what the PA owns and who covers the rest, and test candidates on judgement. Or send us the brief: we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

We have no published PA rate we can cite, so we do not quote one. We set out the day or hourly rate on every shortlist, so you compare real figures for your hours.

Usually diary and inbox management, travel, appointments and personal admin, for agreed hours. Agree the reply times on the other days, cover for leave and what the PA can access.

Yes: many London briefs combine set days with the principal, at the office or at home, and remote support on the others. Put the days and reply times in writing.

Either: employment status depends on how the work is actually done, not only on the contract. An employee needs a right to work check; a PA working through their own company may fall under the IR35 rules, depending on how the work runs.

Only what the work needs: usually the inbox, the calendar and the travel accounts. Put confidentiality and data handling in writing before the first day.

Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5

Bring the brief. We architect the team.

A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

Book a call →Submit a brief